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GREEN BAY – Two hours earlier, Brian Gutekunst was knocking on his wooden podium for good luck. All he needed was to hear MarShawn Lloyd’s name. Instincts did the rest. The Green Bay Packers general manager tightened his knuckles and tapped that podium four times, because he knows his running back needs all the fortune he can get.
The 2024 third-round pick is officially the healthiest he’s ever been, for the longest he’s ever been, as a pro. A whole week into camp. His fourth straight padded practice. Maybe, just maybe, Lloyd is feeling a little too good. Because Lloyd found himself wide open on a second-and-goal flat route Aug. 6, waltzed across the goal line, and the joy of a player who has “blessed” tattooed on the left side of his neck – and never thought once to remove it these past two years – took over in the end zone.
Lloyd startled the bejesus out of everyone watching practice, celebrating with a backflip.
“It’s dicey,” said Jordan Love, the quarterback who threw Lloyd that touchdown. “I can’t do it myself. So it’s scary. You don’t want anything to go wrong, but if you can do it, you can do it.”
Lloyd has done it as long as he can remember. His uncle taught him how to backflip when he was 6 years old. Now 25, he said it’s like riding a bike. Once you learn, it’s hard to forget.
Didn’t matter one bit to Matt LaFleur. Or that Lloyd said he can’t dance, so pulling off an end zone backflip is much easier. Once the Packers coach could find his pulse, he walked up to Lloyd, who was happily trotting off the field.
“He said it was cool,” Lloyd relayed, “but he said, ‘Let’s not do that.’”
The Packers could exhale, even joke a bit afterward, because even a backflip hasn’t slowed Lloyd down in this camp. A running back was held out of this practice. It was Josh Jacobs, sidelined with a pulled groin. Lloyd keeps on trucking into Family Night, something he’s only ever watched from the sideline, injured.
They must know even the thought of executing a backflip was an emphatic sign indicating how healthy the backup running back feels. No chance, Lloyd said, he’d even consider it if his body wasn’t fully healed. The Packers desperately want to keep it that way, and it’s not only because their depth is thin behind Jacobs. Lloyd has done enough in this opening week to show he can be more than Jacobs’ insurance policy.
Even on a lighter workload day in practice, Lloyd left his mark. Before his 6-yard touchdown from Love, he raced 49 yards down the right sideline for a score. Ran away from the Packers defense on his way to the end zone. It’s that burst, that tantalizingly twitchy athleticism, that bought him unending patience from the Packers after playing only 10 snaps in his first two seasons.
Now healthy, knock on wood, Lloyd is showing that long wait might have been worthwhile.
“Every time he’s gotten an opportunity, when he’s been healthy and he’s out there, he’s been impactful," Gutekunst said. "And he’s continuing to do that. I’m excited for him. Again, very early. We’ve got a long way to go, but when he’s out there he’s making plays, and he’s turning heads.
“He always kind of has done that since he’s been here when he’s been able to be out there.”
The Packers can’t help but be cautious. It’s like they’re handling a priceless heirloom, something they can’t help but touch, even as they’re terrified it might break. The time for bubble wrap is coming to an end as the season approaches, now only five weeks until Week 1. They know Lloyd can’t be shielded from the blunt force contact of pro football much longer.
Offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich forecasted Lloyd will get a heavy dose of snaps this preseason. The Packers don’t have a choice. They need to know what Lloyd can do after missing two years, and they have only six NFL carries on which to base their evaluation. But Stenavich said he’s becoming more encouraged as time passes his offense might have another playmaker.
“Every day he’s out there and doing it,” Stenavich said, “I have a little bit more. It’s just one of those things, how his career has gone so far, I just want to take it one day at a time with him. Every day he’s out there, he’s doing a great job, he’s competing. So I’m very optimistic and hopeful that it works out and we’re good, but I think this preseason is going to be a huge telling point of what we can do with him for sure.”
It’s the same guarded optimism everyone around the team carries as Lloyd keeps stringing together healthy practices. Even those who haven’t been here in the past. Earlier in camp, linebacker Zaire Franklin approached Lloyd in the weight room. The veteran who was traded from Indianapolis this spring hadn’t realized Lloyd’s long journey back to the field.
How was Lloyd doing? After having his season derailed just days into training camp each of the past two years, Lloyd is still in pads. Couldn’t be better.
Understand that unbridled happiness, if not also relief, when you think of Lloyd backflipping in the end zone. And remember how precarious his healthy remains as LaFleur approached him immediately, saying not again. Doesn’t matter if it’s no more challenging for him than riding a bike.
Lloyd flipping through the air is something nobody with the Packers is ready to see, at least not yet.
“If he says it’s over,” Lloyd said, “it’s over. I’ve got to figure something out.”
For Lloyd, it’s not a hard request to honor. He knows how uncommon it is for an NFL team to stick by a player with his kind of injury history. The end of Lloyd’s backflips is what the Packers hope will be the start of something much better.
“You don’t have two years and not play,” Lloyd said. “This organization is great, and I respect them and appreciate them the most. Now it’s my time to give back. I’m excited. I’m ready to go. And I’m going to show them why they picked me in the third round in 2023.”
This article originally appeared on Packers News: MarShawn Lloyd's backflipping days are over, but journey just beginning
Continue reading...
The 2024 third-round pick is officially the healthiest he’s ever been, for the longest he’s ever been, as a pro. A whole week into camp. His fourth straight padded practice. Maybe, just maybe, Lloyd is feeling a little too good. Because Lloyd found himself wide open on a second-and-goal flat route Aug. 6, waltzed across the goal line, and the joy of a player who has “blessed” tattooed on the left side of his neck – and never thought once to remove it these past two years – took over in the end zone.
Lloyd startled the bejesus out of everyone watching practice, celebrating with a backflip.
“It’s dicey,” said Jordan Love, the quarterback who threw Lloyd that touchdown. “I can’t do it myself. So it’s scary. You don’t want anything to go wrong, but if you can do it, you can do it.”
Lloyd has done it as long as he can remember. His uncle taught him how to backflip when he was 6 years old. Now 25, he said it’s like riding a bike. Once you learn, it’s hard to forget.
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Didn’t matter one bit to Matt LaFleur. Or that Lloyd said he can’t dance, so pulling off an end zone backflip is much easier. Once the Packers coach could find his pulse, he walked up to Lloyd, who was happily trotting off the field.
“He said it was cool,” Lloyd relayed, “but he said, ‘Let’s not do that.’”
The Packers could exhale, even joke a bit afterward, because even a backflip hasn’t slowed Lloyd down in this camp. A running back was held out of this practice. It was Josh Jacobs, sidelined with a pulled groin. Lloyd keeps on trucking into Family Night, something he’s only ever watched from the sideline, injured.
They must know even the thought of executing a backflip was an emphatic sign indicating how healthy the backup running back feels. No chance, Lloyd said, he’d even consider it if his body wasn’t fully healed. The Packers desperately want to keep it that way, and it’s not only because their depth is thin behind Jacobs. Lloyd has done enough in this opening week to show he can be more than Jacobs’ insurance policy.
Even on a lighter workload day in practice, Lloyd left his mark. Before his 6-yard touchdown from Love, he raced 49 yards down the right sideline for a score. Ran away from the Packers defense on his way to the end zone. It’s that burst, that tantalizingly twitchy athleticism, that bought him unending patience from the Packers after playing only 10 snaps in his first two seasons.
Now healthy, knock on wood, Lloyd is showing that long wait might have been worthwhile.
“Every time he’s gotten an opportunity, when he’s been healthy and he’s out there, he’s been impactful," Gutekunst said. "And he’s continuing to do that. I’m excited for him. Again, very early. We’ve got a long way to go, but when he’s out there he’s making plays, and he’s turning heads.
“He always kind of has done that since he’s been here when he’s been able to be out there.”
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The Packers can’t help but be cautious. It’s like they’re handling a priceless heirloom, something they can’t help but touch, even as they’re terrified it might break. The time for bubble wrap is coming to an end as the season approaches, now only five weeks until Week 1. They know Lloyd can’t be shielded from the blunt force contact of pro football much longer.
Offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich forecasted Lloyd will get a heavy dose of snaps this preseason. The Packers don’t have a choice. They need to know what Lloyd can do after missing two years, and they have only six NFL carries on which to base their evaluation. But Stenavich said he’s becoming more encouraged as time passes his offense might have another playmaker.
“Every day he’s out there and doing it,” Stenavich said, “I have a little bit more. It’s just one of those things, how his career has gone so far, I just want to take it one day at a time with him. Every day he’s out there, he’s doing a great job, he’s competing. So I’m very optimistic and hopeful that it works out and we’re good, but I think this preseason is going to be a huge telling point of what we can do with him for sure.”
It’s the same guarded optimism everyone around the team carries as Lloyd keeps stringing together healthy practices. Even those who haven’t been here in the past. Earlier in camp, linebacker Zaire Franklin approached Lloyd in the weight room. The veteran who was traded from Indianapolis this spring hadn’t realized Lloyd’s long journey back to the field.
How was Lloyd doing? After having his season derailed just days into training camp each of the past two years, Lloyd is still in pads. Couldn’t be better.
Understand that unbridled happiness, if not also relief, when you think of Lloyd backflipping in the end zone. And remember how precarious his healthy remains as LaFleur approached him immediately, saying not again. Doesn’t matter if it’s no more challenging for him than riding a bike.
Lloyd flipping through the air is something nobody with the Packers is ready to see, at least not yet.
“If he says it’s over,” Lloyd said, “it’s over. I’ve got to figure something out.”
For Lloyd, it’s not a hard request to honor. He knows how uncommon it is for an NFL team to stick by a player with his kind of injury history. The end of Lloyd’s backflips is what the Packers hope will be the start of something much better.
“You don’t have two years and not play,” Lloyd said. “This organization is great, and I respect them and appreciate them the most. Now it’s my time to give back. I’m excited. I’m ready to go. And I’m going to show them why they picked me in the third round in 2023.”
This article originally appeared on Packers News: MarShawn Lloyd's backflipping days are over, but journey just beginning
Continue reading...
