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Later today, we’ll get the first full injury report for this Green Bay Packers roster since September 26th, but Packers head coach Matt LaFleur gave us a preview of what is to come in his pre-practice press conference. Specifically, he touched on the status of receiver Christian Watson, right tackle Zach Tom and swing tackle Anthony Belton.
When asked if Watson, who had his 20-day practice window open on Monday, is going to do team drills anytime soon, LaFleur stated, “I think every day he’ll just start to do a little bit more.” So, it sounds like Watson’s ACL handled his Monday training well. Watson tore his ACL back in the 2024 regular season and has been on the physically unable to perform list for the start of this year.
Tom missed Week 2 with an oblique injury, only to return in Week 3 for one snap before dropping out due to pain. He also did not participate in the Packers’ last game, Week 4 against the Dallas Cowboys. On the topic of Tom, LaFleur said, “He’s doing well right now. He’ll be limited.”
Notably, Wednesday’s practice is a padded practice, of which the Packers are only allowed 11 in the first 11 weeks of the season. For the year, NFL teams are only allowed 14 total padded practices. So this is probably going to be the only chance that Tom will be able to get work in shoulder pads leading up to Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Hopefully, his oblique issue is behind him.
Now, it’s time for some bad news. When asked if Belton is going to come back anytime soon, LaFleur responded with just one word: “No.” LaFleur initially stated that Belton’s ankle injury, which was suffered in practice on September 24th, was not going to be a long-term issue. Now, the tone seems to have changed.
The press hasn’t asked about left guard Aaron Banks, who has been unable to play a full game in the 2025 season thus far. As long as Banks and Tom can go this week, the Packers’ offensive line shouldn’t be stretched too thin. If even one of them, on top of Belton, can’t play against the Bengals, though, Green Bay will be down to just seven healthy offensive linemen — meaning that they’ll either have to call up a practice squad offensive lineman for game action or Jacob Monk, whose practice window opened up on Monday, will have to be brought off the injured reserve.
LaFleur also didn’t comment on the status of defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt, who was called week-to-week by the coach when he suffered his knee injury against the Dallas Cowboys. Wyatt didn’t practice with the team on Monday, and his absence was felt strongly in the second half of the Cowboys game, when the Packers were forced to play undrafted rookie Nazir Stackhouse for the majority of snaps following Wyatt’s injury. In that game, Stackhouse graded out as the worst Green Bay player in any...
