GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers appear set to play their starters – at least a little – for Saturday night’s preseason game against the New York Jets. One key starter definitely won’t play, though.
All-Pro safety Xavier McKinney sat out Thursday’s practice with a calf injury.
“I’ll be good,” McKinney said. “I’ll be ready. I’ll be ready when I’ll be ready.”
He didn’t anticipate playing in the preseason but said he’d be ready for “Week 1. Yeah, I’ll be ready.”
McKinney called it a “lingering” issue.
“I’m just going with the plan,” he said. “Obviously, glad that we caught it when we caught it, so just trying to take it slow and then the buildup, obviously. But I’ll be ready when it’s time to go, for sure.”
After the longest practice of training camp on Wednesday, coach Matt LaFleur scaled things back on Thursday. The players worked in shells rather than full pads.
Here are the highlights from the 12th public practice of Packers training camp.
Jordan Love’s Day
Jordan Love had a lighter workload than usual, too. During individual drills, he went through the typical footwork drills and threw the ball into nets. During the next period, which was with the running backs, he only went through the motions of throwing the ball while the other quarterback did throw it.
He took his usual reps in 11-on-11, though, and was sharp, going 9-of-11 passing with three touchdowns. Of the two incompletions, one was perhaps a questionable call by the official and the other was an intentional throwaway.
For more on his day, follow to the next segment.
Player of the Day: Jordan Love
Jordan Love was sharp from the start. His first pass was a bullet into traffic to Savion Williams, who made a leaping catch in front of Bo Melton.
A red-zone period started with a short completion to Matthew Golden. On the next play, Love fired one over the middle, with Tucker Kraft making a one-handed catch in the back of the end zone against Quay Walker. Defensive backs coach Ryan Downard signaled that Kraft was out of bounds, and the official eventually agreed.
On the next play, Love rifled one over the middle to Williams, who caught the ball just beyond the goal line and contorted his body for what would have been a big hit by linebacker Edgerrin Cooper if it were a game.
On the next play, Love threw a touchdown pass to Golden – more on that in a moment. On the next play, Love perfectly worked an old-school quarterback option. Isolated one-on-one with linebacker Isaiah Simmons, Love faked the pitch, Simmons took the bait and Love cut inside for the touchdown.
Love’s final snap of the day was a touchdown pass of about 20 yards to Romeo Doubs. Doubs beat Corey Ballentine up the sideline. The coverage was good but the throw was better, with Doubs making the catch by the pylon. He continued on for a “Nitschke Field Leap” with some fans sitting in the bleachers.
Play of the Day: Matthew Golden
One play after Tucker Kraft’s one-handed grab was ruled incomplete, Jordan Love zinged a pass into the back of the end zone to Matthew Golden, who made a sensational catch by keeping both feet inbounds while landing on his back.
Here's what Packers receiver Christian Watson had to say about his comeback from last year's torn ACL. https://t.co/LajNQLcEJg
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) August 7, 2025
Packers Injury Updates
New injuries: WR Jayden Reed (foot), S Xavier McKinnney (calf), C Elgton Jenkins (back).
Old injuries: WR Christian Watson (knee), WR Dontayvion Wicks (calf), CB Nate Hobbs (knee), RB Emanuel Wilson (knee), RB MarShawn Lloyd (groin), CB Kamal Hadden (hip), linebacker Collin Oliver (hamstring), DE Arron Mosby (groin), LT Rasheed Walker (groin), offensive lineman John Williams (back), G/T Travis Glover (shoulder).
Returning from injuries: DT Warren Brinson (unknown), DT Karl Brooks (unknown).
Lloyd, who was injured during the first day in pads, didn’t practice but was wearing his helmet while working with a trainer.
“Feel pretty good. It wasn’t a big thing that set me back too far, just something that I’ve got to take in and just do as much as possible throughout the week,” he said.
Packers Practice Highlights
- Kicker Brandon McManus doubled his count of missed field goals during his sensational camp. On Thursday, he made 4-of-6 field goals, with the misses being wide right from 47 and wide left from 52. Still, he’s 48-of-52 this summer.
- Lukas Van Ness continues to deliver strong play against the run. On the second play of the day, he overpowered his blocker to stuff Josh Jacobs in the hole.
- Malik Willis’ first pass of the day was almost intercepted by safety Kitan Oladapo as Willis threw too high for tight end Ben Sims.
- Willis’ next pass, however, was a downfield strike to tight end John FitzPatrick, who made a nice adjustment to make the play.
- During his red-zone period, Willis was 2-of-4 passing. His first pass was batted down by cornerback Kalen King and his second was dropped by Will Sheppard. He followed up with a superb touchdown pass to receiver Julian Hicks, who made a tumbling catch at the pylon against Isaiah Dunn, and a short completion to receiver Cornelius Johnson.
- During the next period, defensive end Arron Mosby – who was back in the lineup after missing a few days – batted down a pass by Willis. A handful of plays later, Willis’ screen to Jalen White was deflected into the air and almost intercepted by defensive end Brenton Cox.
Talking about deflected passes before practice, coach Matt LaFleur said, “First of all, the rushers aren’t always going after the quarterback with the same fury that they’re going to go after an opposing quarterback when they’re live, so you tend to get a little bit more of those. Especially if the guy’s getting stalemated at the line of scrimmage, you’re going to get more batted passes in practice.”
- King struck again later. Willis went deep up the right sideline to Johnson, with King making a leaping breakup of what essentially was a 50/50 ball.
“I’m feeling really good,” King said after practice. “I’m very confident. I’ve made a lot of plays this camp and I’m really looking to build on that going into preseason.”
- Practice ended with Willis throwing a bullet to the right to Hicks, with former-turned-current Packers cornerback Corey Ballentine exploding forward to make a diving deflection.
To play or not to play? That is the question. Ok I'm not trying to sound like Shakespeare, but to answer that question, Matt LaFleur is following the data. https://t.co/YYE42fVroz
— Jacob Westendorf (@JacobWestendorf) August 7, 2025
Packers Lineup Notes
- With Elgton Jenkins out and Rasheed Walker out, the No. 1 line consisted of left tackle Jordan Morgan, left guard Aaron Banks, center Jacob Monk, right guard Sean Rhyan and right tackle Zach Tom. When Banks false-started once, he was pulled for Donovan Jennings.
After a week at left tackle, how has Morgan performed?
“Some good and then some where he’s got to get better,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “I think you can say that about everybody. Again, he’s a young player, but he’s getting a lot of exposure at that spot, so with that comes a lot of opportunity.”
- With Nate Hobbs out with a knee injury and Keisean Nixon getting a vet-rest day, the No. 1 cornerbacks were Carrington Valentine and Bo Melton.
“I don’t really look too deep into it,” Melton said of getting first-team reps over some of the younger corners. “I just really look at it as an opportunity to go out there and prove I can still hang with them. For the most part, it’s been good. We have a ton of talent on offense, as you guys can see. Just going against them and getting those reps, getting those reps every single day can make me better.”
- With Xavier McKinney out, the No. 1 safeties were Evan Williams and Javon Bullard. In nickel situations, Zayne Anderson came in at safety and Bullard moved to his usual role in the slot.
“We got a really good room,” McKinney said. “We got a lot of guys that could play a lot of different spots. I think over the course of the year, we’re going to see that. We’re going to see Bull go from nickel to playing the boundary safety to playing the field safety, maybe even playing dime.
“But we got a lot of guys like that in our room that can play in different spots and have that versatility. And not only that, but have the smarts to be able to even do that, to process information that fast and to know the scheme or defense. I think you’re going to see that throughout the course of the year in a lot of different guys.”
- Quay Walker and Edgerrin Cooper will start at linebacker and be the every-down players at the position. The other spot appears to be a wide-open battle between Isaiah McDuffie and Isaiah Simmons.
When the defense pulled a linebacker to go into nickel, Cooper and Walker formed the No. 1 tandem. Up next, it was Cooper and McDuffie. After that, it was Simmons and McDuffie.
Packers Training Camp Schedule
Incredibly, Ray Nitschke Field will host only three more open practices during training camp. Next week, the Packers will practice at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday. On Thursday, they’ll have a joint practice in Indianapolis before the preseason game against the Colts. The following week, the Packers will hold a regular practice on Tuesday before the joint practice against the Seahawks on Thursday. Both of those practices will start at 10:30 a.m.
Quote of the Day
Does Josh Jacobs need some preseason carries? Here’s what he said.
“I feel like it depends on what situation you’re really in. If you’ve been in the system, if you’re a new guy coming in trying to make the team, all those kinds of things kind of play a factor into playing in the preseason. But for me, knowing this offense and going into Year 2, just really feel like I’m hitting my stride. I don’t know if I’m too much worried about it. Obviously, I do need to get tackled a couple times to see if I’m ready for it. But, yeah, I think that’s about it.”