One game in two years, and now the job
The NFL placed Josh Jacobs on paid leave. That decision handed MarShawn Lloyd the Green Bay backfield.
Lloyd opens the season as the Packers’ No. 1 running back. Nobody has put a date on Jacobs returning to the picture, which leaves the 2024 third-round pick with a runway he has never had.
He has barely had a runway at all. Injuries kept Lloyd off the field for all but one of Green Bay’s games across the last two seasons. Whatever made him a third-round selection has yet to appear on a Sunday in any real volume.
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Lloyd will take whatever they give him
He answered the workload question directly through the team’s website. “I’m ready to play as much as they want me to play,” Lloyd said. “I’m excited. It’s a dream come true playing for the Packers, so however much carries I get, however much they put me in the game, I’m ready to go.”
The answer matters because Green Bay lacks an obvious fallback. Jacobs has been the workhorse since he arrived, and the depth chart behind him was shaped to complement that role rather than take it over.
What it changes for the offense
Green Bay leans on the run to set up everything else it wants to do, and a backfield with no proven lead back alters how defenses can attack first down. Lloyd gets the first crack at proving the injuries are behind him.
His durability, not his talent, is the question the Packers carry into Week 1.
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