The Green Bay Packers were certainly ecstatic when they were able to remove star pass rusher Rashan Gary from the physically unable-to-perform list early in training camp. He suffered an ACL tear in Week 9 last season against the Detroit Lions and has been working his way back since.
It has been a long, strenuous road to recovery for the 2019 first-round pick out of Michigan. While he was cleared to return to practice a few weeks ago, Gary has only been taking part in individual drills since August 7th.
But, another milestone was reached this week as Gary participated in the Packers’ full 11-on-11 team period during Monday’s practice. That was the first participation that he had in a full team activity since injuring his knee last November.
“It’s big,” said Gary about being back on the field in team drills. “Just getting back to playing real football and moving without thinking. Just being back out there with the defense, feeling that energy, flying around with my guys. There’s no other feeling like it, and I’m happy to be back.”
Things are certainly heading in the right direction in terms of Gary being on the field for the Packers in Week 1 when they face off against the Chicago Bears. That game will be held on September 10th, meaning he has just under three weeks to prepare.
But, he doesn’t want to get ahead of himself. While on track to be ready to go, he isn’t making any bold proclamations about when he will be on the field with his teammates again. “We’ll see,” said Gary after Tuesday’s practice. “Right now just taking it day by day.”
Gary was in the midst of a breakout season in 2022 before the knee injury. He is an ascending pass-rushing star and his absence was felt by the Packers, whose numbers plummeted when it came to rushing the passer and piling up sacks.
Green Bay can afford to bring Gary along slowly because they look to have put together a formidable pass-rushing group around him. Preston Smith, who led the team with 8.5 sacks last season, is back.
Justin Hollins is back for another season as well. Kingsley Enagbare looks to have taken a big step in his development with his performance this season. A first-round pick was used on Lukas Van Ness in the 2023 NFL Draft, while undrafted free agent Brenton Cox Jr. is pushing for a roster spot.
