GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers and New York Jets will field real football teams for their preseason game against the New York Jets on Saturday.
Green Bay’s Jordan Love and New York’s Justin Fields will start the game at quarterback. Josh Jacobs, Romeo Doubs and Kenny Clark are scheduled to be in the lineup for the Packers. Breece Hall, Garrett Wilson and Sauce Gardner are slated to start for the Jets.
In total, 10 starters are on the teams’ inactive lists, including six members of the Packers: linebacker Quay Walker (ankle), receiver Jayden Reed (foot), cornerback Nate Hobbs (knee), All-Pro safety Xavier McKinney (calf), left tackle Rasheed Walker (groin) and Elgton Jenkins (back).
“I’ll be good,” McKinney said. “I’ll be ready. I’ll be ready when I’ll be ready.”
Along with the starters, these players also are on the will-not-dress list for Green Bay: receiver Christian Watson (knee/PUP), receiver Dontayvion Wicks (calf), running back Emanuel Wilson (knee), running back MarShawn Lloyd (groin), cornerback Kamal Hadden (hip), linebacker Collin Oliver (hamstring), offensive lineman John Williams (back) and receiver Savion Williams (unknown).
Love, who said the offense is in a “good place” this week, said it was important to get back into “game mode.” When he talked to reporters this week, he wasn’t sure how long he’d play.
“At the end of the day, Matt has the final say,” Love said. “Whatever he’s feeling for the offense, how many reps we’re going to get, whether it’s a drive, whether it’s a quarter, and just basing that off how our bodies are feeling, things like that, and, obviously, how everybody else is feeling because when you’re out there, you want to have the 1 group out there and be on the same page with those guys.
“So, it’s something that we’ll talk about, we’ll figure out. I don’t expect too much, but I think in the past, we’ve played a drive and sometimes we’ve played a quarter. So, it will be around there.”
Love and Doubs in uniform. pic.twitter.com/FK7HMP788B
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) August 9, 2025
Jacobs, who will lead a short-handed backfield with Emanuel Wilson and Chris Brooks injured, said he wanted to play “at least a couple” series.
“I think it’s going to be very exciting to hit somebody else, see a different scheme; see unfamiliar faces, just go hit somebody else for a while,” he said.
Things might change the next couple weeks, with the Packers scheduled to have joint practices with the Colts and Seahawks before those preseason games. But, for this week, at least, starters will start.
“You’ve got to feel where your team is,” LaFleur said. “My experience, I would say that I think it’s good for all of our guys to kind of go knock the rust off a little bit, understanding there’s a little bit of a risk with that. Now, according to my sources, there’s a lot of injury data that supports playing guys in the preseason in regards to reducing the injury risk early into the season.”
The Packers’ challenging start to the season, leading off with home games against the Detroit Lions, who won the NFC North, and the Washington Commanders, who reached the NFC Championship Game, probably is on LaFleur’s mind.
“Yeah, I mean, we got our ass kicked” to start the 2021 and 2022 seasons, he said. “You try to learn from every situation. And I just think that it’s a different feel when you go out there. I think it’s every opportunity you go out there, and just the process I would say of getting ready to compete and go play a collision sport. You’ve got to get your mind right.”
The Jets will play without four injured starters: guard John Simpson (back), defensive end Jermaine Johnson (Active/PUP) and defensive tackles Quinnen Williams (calf) and Byron Cowart (ankle).
Also out are quarterback Tyrod Taylor (knee), receiver/returner Xavier Gipson (shoulder), tight end Mason Taylor (ankle), receiver Irvin Charles (Active/PUP) and cornerbacks Azareye’h Thomas (shoulder), Jarrick Bernard-Converse (unknown) and Kris Boyd (shoulder).
Otherwise, the Jets’ top players will get at least a little action as new coach Aaron Glenn tries to build his program.
“I want to play. That’s the reason,” Glenn told reporters in New York.
Here are a dozen players you should keep an eye on tonight for the #Packers, including RB Israel Abanikanda, who was drafted by the Jets in 2023.
“I’m trying to show everybody what they think I couldn’t do: catch, block, kick return,” Abanikanda said.https://t.co/7cA1RX1cAr
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) August 9, 2025