The Lions rolled into Thursday’s practice week with a clean bill of health, while the Packers finally got Josh Jacobs back on the field for the first time this season.
Detroit and Green Bay meet in a Week 7 division matchup, and the Lions had all 51 players on their active roster practice on Thursday, along with the two players expected to come off injured lists. Green Bay, after opening the week with a walkthrough, saw its lead running back take part in practice for the first time since training camp.
For Detroit, the only player listed as limited was cornerback Rock Ya-Sin, who is still working back from a hamstring injury. Even so, his second practice of the week is a positive sign. He is not in the running for a starting outside cornerback job right now, but he remains an important piece on special teams and useful depth in the secondary.
The Lions also got full practices from center Cade Mays and safety Brian Branch, both of whom are expected to be activated in the next few days. Mays, coming back from a wrist injury, is expected to be removed from injured reserve this week. Branch, who is working back from Achilles issues, is expected to come off the PUP list.
There had been a little uncertainty earlier in the week about how ready Mays would be to step in at center, but that sounds settled now. On Wednesday, Dan Campbell said he felt Mays was ready, and offensive coordinator Drew Petzing confirmed it Thursday.
“He plays at a high level. He’s big, he’s physical, he’s really smart,” Petzing said of Mays.
“The communication piece is a huge part of playing that position. So, that’s just kind of a number of things off the top of my head, but excited to see him back out there.”
Branch’s role is still being handled carefully. Campbell had been hesitant to say he was ready for a full workload, and defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard said Thursday there isn’t a fixed snap count in place.
“Yeah, we haven’t given a rep count or anything like that,” Sheppard said of Branch. “It’s going to be more of a feel thing as the game goes and we’ll pick and choose what’s right and what’s not.”
Green Bay’s biggest development came with Jacobs, who was finally cleared to practice after being on the Commissioner’s exempt list. With the Packers holding a walkthrough Wednesday, Thursday was his first real work with teammates since training camp. He’ll have at most two practices this week, but both the Packers and the national media expect him to play and start Sunday against Detroit.
“We’ve been getting him ramped up,” Packers Matt LaFleur said on Wednesday. “He’s been in the building.
We’ve been doing things with him, in terms of our strength staff, our athletic training staff. You can’t simulate football until you get out there.
These next two days are going to be great work for him as we ramp him up.”
The Packers’ Thursday report also included several other names. Bo Melton did not practice because of a back issue.
Limited participants were wide receivers Matthew Golden, Christian Watson and Savion Williams; left guard Aaron Banks; defensive tackles Anthony Campbell and Jordan Riley, with Riley listed as a return-from-IR candidate; edge rusher Lukas Van Ness, who was a new addition because of illness; linebacker Zaire Franklin, also a new addition with a shin issue; and cornerbacks Brandon Cisse and Benjamin St. Juste.
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