Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur said Tuesday it is too early to say whether wide receiver Jayden Reed will play again this season, a comment a sports medicine physician said points to a potentially severe neck injury.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Tom Silverstein wrote that LaFleur offered no timetable after Reed returned from an overnight hospital stay in New Jersey.
“#Packers coach Matt LaFleur said it’s too early to make predictions on when WR Jayden Reed will be back, whether this season or not. Said he is back in Green Bay and will continue to be evaluated,” Silverstein posted.
Dr. Jesse Morse, a board-certified sports and family medicine physician, replied that LaFleur’s caution itself was telling.
“The question is whether or not Jayden Reed will be able to return this season, insinuates the fact that he likely has an injury to the spinal cord or a possible fracture,” Morse wrote.
Reed was hurt on the Packers’ second snap Sunday in a 20-17 overtime win at the New York Jets. He caught a 4-yard swing pass from Jordan Love, lowered his head and was hit by linebacker Demario Davis, with defensive end Kingsley Enagbare also in on the play.
Reed went down immediately and remained on the turf as medical staff from both teams attended to him. After several minutes he was strapped to a backboard, his helmet secured, and carted off as teammates knelt around him. The Packers ruled him out with a neck injury.
“That was a very real possibility after he was stretched off the field,” Morse wrote. “The good news is that he was not paralyzed, but obviously with swelling and injuries around the spinal cord it is nothing to play with.”
LaFleur said after the game that Reed had movement in all extremities and would remain in a New Jersey hospital overnight. Reed later posted that he was “Doing much better” and appreciated the prayers and support.
On Tuesday, LaFleur confirmed the injury was to Reed’s neck after some reports had described it as a back injury. He said Reed was in good spirits, back in Green Bay and consulting with doctors while undergoing more tests.
“It’s way too early for that right now,” LaFleur said of a possible return this season. “He’s just got a lot. There’s a lot going on.” He also said Reed was “doing OK.”
Reed, 26, is a 2023 second-round pick from Michigan State and entered the year as Green Bay’s starting slot receiver. He signed a three-year extension worth about $50.25 million in April. In 42 career games he has 142 receptions for 1,881 yards and 15 touchdowns, plus 34 rushes for 310 yards and three scores.
Injuries have already interrupted that production. Reed missed 10 games in 2025 after breaking his collarbone in Week 2 and having surgery for a Jones fracture in his foot. Through two games this season he had four catches for 24 yards on eight targets.
Morse said the Packers’ offense will feel the loss in the slot.
“This is going to significantly impact the Packers, as Reed was likely going to man the slot,” he wrote. “This should help Tucker Kraft, Matthew Golden and Christian Watson.”
Skyy Moore and Bo Melton are candidates for more snaps. Kraft, a tight end coming off a 2025 ACL tear, can work from the slot in two-tight-end looks, while Watson and Golden have been Green Bay’s most productive outside receivers early this season.
The Packers are already thin elsewhere on offense. Right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele was carted off on the play after Reed’s injury and is out for the season with a torn patellar tendon. Running back Josh Jacobs has not played in 2026 while on the commissioner’s exempt list.
Green Bay (1-1) hosts the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday night at Lambeau Field. Reed is expected to be ruled out for that game while evaluations continue. The team has not released a specific diagnosis beyond a neck injury and has not placed him on injured reserve.
Be the first to comment