The Green Bay Packers held their first practice of the week on Wednesday after a win over the Pittsburgh Steelers over the weekend. In it, three players were non-participants: receiver Dontayvion Wicks
(calf), defensive end Lukas Van Ness (foot) and linebacker Nick Niemann (pectoral). Both Wicks and Van Ness were inactive due to injury against the Steelers, while Niemann dropped out of the game with an injury. As of now, the Packers are calling Van Ness’ status day-to-day.
The limited players in practice today for Green Bay were running back Josh Jacobs (calf), receiver Christian Watson (knee), left guard Aaron Banks (shin), right tackle Zach Tom (back) defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt (knee) and kicker Brandon McManus (quad). The only new injury out of this group was to Banks, who was listed as a limited participant last Wednesday with a groin injury, but didn’t have a shin issue up to this point.
Interestingly, McManus, who missed two field goals on Sunday in his return from his quad injury, was only a limited participant in practice today despite kicking in the practice, per head coach Matt LaFleur’s pre-practice presser. It appears that the kicker still isn’t 100 percent, which won’t make fans who believe that Lucas Havrisik should have kicked in Pittsburgh feel any better about the situation.
Maybe more importantly, though, the Carolina Panthers had a quarterback held out of practice on Wednesday, but it wasn’t the one you expected. Quarterback Bryce Young missed last week with an ankle injury, but he was a full participant today. Instead, Andy Dalton, who came in as the injury replacement starter for Young, was actually out with a right thumb injury on Wednesday. The Panthers better hope that Young can go.
If not, their options against the Packers will be Mike White, who was signed to their practice squad last week, and/or Hendon Hooker, who was signed to the practice squad after roster cutdowns. Hooker was called up to the game-day roster last week with Young out, but he didn’t get on the field. He’s thrown nine regular-season pass attempts since being drafted in the third round by the Detroit Lions in the 2023 draft.
Outside of the quarterbacks, the Panthers had six other non-participants in practice today, including three offensive linemen. Their preferred center, right guard and right tackle all missed practice on Wednesday. If that holds, former Packer Yosh Nijman will probably get some playing time this week against his former team.
