The Packers’ backfield is still very much a work in progress, and Week 2 only made that clearer. With Kaleb Johnson now in the mix, Green Bay is spreading the work across three backs while trying to sort out what comes next after Josh Jacobs was placed on the commissioner exempt list.
At the moment, MarShawn Lloyd is the one with the most volume. He leads the team with 19 carries and 57 rushing yards, which works out to 3.0 yards per carry.
But even that lead comes with some caveats. Against the New York Jets, Lloyd was on the field for the same number of snaps as Johnson, tying for second and last among the backs, and he didn’t get another carry after losing a fumble on a drive starter that handed the Jets an easy field goal.
Chris Brooks has been the busiest back in terms of snaps, even if that doesn’t show up much in the run game. He has logged 59 offensive snaps this season, which is 15 more than Lloyd and 45 more than Johnson.
Still, Brooks has carried the ball on only 19 percent of his on-field plays. Lloyd sits at 43 percent, while Johnson is at 57 percent.
That tells the story pretty clearly: Brooks is on the field a lot, but most of that work is coming as a pass protector, play-action decoy or route-runner.
Johnson’s usage jumped quickly from one week to the next. He played no offensive snaps in Week 1, then was up to 14 in Week 2, trailing only Brooks’ 22.
A good chunk of that action came later in the game, after Lloyd appeared to be benched following his fumble. Johnson also put the ball on the ground, though the Jets were unable to recover it.
The question now is simple: which of these backs deserves the next chances? The carries have been split three ways, and the Packers are still searching for the answer.
In Other News...
Packers Fans Got Caught In Foxs Most Infuriating Broadcast Mess
Fox Sports turned a busy Week 2 Sunday into a strange viewing experience for fans following the Packers and the rest of the early slate, as audio feeds did not match the games on screen for multiple contests. For Green Bay viewers in particular, the problems were compounded when the network briefly lost its scorebug during overtime of the Packers-Jets game, adding another layer of confusion to a broadcast day that was already off the rails.
The network did get the audio issues corrected before the primetime Cowboys-Commanders matchup, but the afternoon left plenty of viewers wondering how so many technical glitches lined up on the same broadcast window. Even by NFL TV standards, it was the kind of mess that overshadowed the football for a while, and Packers fans had every reason to feel caught in the middle of it. [Read more 🡒]
Packers Nearly Faced A Wild In-Game Fix During Jets Win
In a game that was already tight all afternoon, the Packers got pushed to the edge up front when injuries thinned out their offensive line against the Jets. The situation got so thin that the staff had to consider a wildly unconventional fix, with Tucker Kraft even in the conversation as a possible emergency option at tackle while the group tried to hold together.
Jacob Monk ultimately got the green light to play, which kept Kraft where Green Bay needed him most, and the Packers were able to lean on rookies Jager Burton and Anthony Belton to help steady the line. It was the kind of survival-day football that can decide a September win, and Green Bay barely got through it with a 20-17 victory. [Read more 🡒]
Two Packers Drew NFL Discipline After The Vikings Game
The Packers latest trip through the rivalry with Minnesota carried the usual physical edge, and the league office noticed. Green Bay came away with a pair of fines tied to actions from that game, with linebacker Lukas Van Ness and safety Evan Williams both cited for plays the NFL judged to be over the line.
Van Ness was fined for a hit to the head or neck area of a quarterback, while Williams was penalized for unnecessary roughness on a defenseless player. The dollars from those fines will be funneled to the Professional Athletes Foundation and the NFL Foundation, which use the money to support athlete health and wellness programs. [Read more 🡒]