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The Green Bay Packers announced on Monday that the following players will be allowed to practice with the team for up to 21 days before the team needs to make a decision about their 53-man roster future: running back MarShawn Lloyd, defensive end Brenton Cox Jr. and defensive end Collin Oliver. Both Lloyd and Cox were on the injured reserve, while Oliver was on the team’s physically unable to perform list.
Lloyd, a 2024 third-round pick, has only played in one NFL regular-season game in two years due to a multitude of injuries, but the Packers recently sent him to a specialist to find imbalances in his body. Green Bay usually carries three to four backs on the 53-man roster, meaning that Lloyd’s addition to the trio of Josh Jacobs, Emanuel Wilson and Chris Brooks doesn’t necessarily mean that one of those backs has to be cut, but the team is about to feel a roster crunch as guys get healthier.
Cox has played 12 games in three NFL seasons after beginning his pro career as an undrafted free agent. He suffered a groin injury in Week 2, after making the initial 53-man roster, and has been on the injured reserve since.
The Packers already carry six defensive ends on the team in Micah Parsons, Rashan Gary, Kingsley Enagbare, Lukas Van Ness, Barryn Sorrell and Arron Mosby. It seems highly unlikely that the team will release any of the first five names on that list, considering four are significant contributors and Sorrell’s release would subject his four-year rookie contract to waivers.
In the seven games that Mosby has been active for, he’s played 76 percent of the team’s special teams snaps and has been one of the team’s top players in the kicking game. Notably, Cox has only played 49 special teams snaps in three seasons, as the team seems to believe that he doesn’t have a knack for contributing there outside of a punt rusher.
Oliver is a hybrid linebacker-defensive end, but he’s well behind the curve, considering that he missed all of training camp with a hamstring injury that was initially talked about as a short-term issue but then required surgery. The rookie is a speed rusher who was drafted in the fifth round out of Oklahoma State in April.
With the return designations to Lloyd and Cox, along with the prior designations of receiver Jayden Reed and center Jacob Monk, the Packers have now exhausted four of their eight allotted return designations from the injured reserve for the 2025 season.
With that being said, Green Bay isn’t really pressed on IR designation front right now, as the injuries to tight end Tucker Kraft, offensive lineman Elgton Jenkins and linebacker Nick Niemann are believed to be of the season-ending variety. Offensive lineman Travis Glover was placed on the injured reserve, too, but he was done so before the roster cutdown deadline, so he’s not eligible to return this year. Those are the only four other members on the...
