The Green Bay Packers were certainly ecstatic when star pass rusher Rashan Gary was cleared to return to practice during training camp. He is one of the most important players on the team, and the defense is immensely better when he is on the field.
The team was taking things slow during camp, as they are easy Gary back into action. He tore his ACL in Week 9 last season against the Detroit Lions and they want to avoid any set backs. Getting him back on the practice field was certainly a step in the right direction, but there is still some work left to do.
While he is trending in the right direction in terms of his availability in Week 1, it certainly won’t be for a full allotment of snaps. Packers head coach Matt LaFleur revealed that the team is going to limit how many plays their star pass rusher is on the field for.
“Yeah, we’ll put him on a pitch count. We’re going to be smart with him, knowing this is a marathon. Working with our athletic training staff, just in terms of how much volume we want to give him,” LaFleur said.
This isn’t a surprise as Gary hasn’t been participating in 11-on-11 drills very long. When he was first cleared to return, he was only doing individual drills.
There is also no reason to rush him back into action. Unlike last season, when their pass rush was Gary or bust, the Packers have an impressive stable of players who can get after the quarterback on their depth chart this season.
Edge rusher is no longer a weakness with veterans Preston Smith and Justin Hollins being joined by second-year JJ Enagbare and rookies Lukas Van Ness and Brenton Cox Jr. If Gary needs more time to get up to speed, those five showed this offseason they are capable of picking up the slack.
Green Bay is set to take on their NFC North rivals, the Chicago Bears, on September 10th in the season opener. Gary will almost certainly be on the field with his teammates, but the Packers aren’t going to fully unleash him yet.
