GREEN BAY — Someday, perhaps, Ben Sirmans will stop holding his breath each time MarShawn Lloyd touches a football.
But for the Green Bay Packers longtime running backs coach, that day has not yet arrived.
Even as Sirmans’ oft-injured but well-liked pupil begins to show why the team believed in his potential enough to stay patient through one injury after another after another, Sirmans still worries that Lloyd’s rotten luck will return.
“Yes, if I’m being honest,” Sirmans confessed Saturday afternoon, one day after Lloyd scored on an 11-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jordan Love during the Packers’ 33-13 preseason win at Denver on Friday night. “I think a lot of us were [thinking that way].
“That’s what’s going through your head, especially in the beginning. I think that’s only natural. But now it’s to the point where I don’t know how many restrictions we’re giving him now.
“We’re starting to feel a lot more confident that he’s going to be fine. But you still have to be cautious. As much as you want to just jump in and just keep feeding him and keep feeding him, I think that part of it is still a work in process.”
That process has led to progress, though, and head coach Matt LaFleur said after Lloyd ran six times for 17 yards in addition to his touchdown in the win over the Broncos that he intends to get Lloyd more work in next Friday’s preseason finale against the Arizona Cardinals at Lambeau Field.
“We’ll play it by ear. It’s always fluid and a lot of it is going to depend upon how we do in practice and how many reps he gets there,” LaFleur said. “But he will get some time next week.”
Lloyd’s touchdown against the Broncos marked his first time reaching the end zone since his senior year at USC, and for as much as it meant to him — “It was special, it was definitely fun,” he said — it meant almost as much to his coaches and teammates
“That was great,” Love said following the game. “MarShawn’s journey, dealing with different injuries throughout preseason games and things like that, for him to be out there is great. I think he’s done a lot of good things all throughout camp and [it’s] good stuff to keep building on.”
Added offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich on Saturday: “That was a really cool moment — like, for all of us that have watched him go through what he went through the last couple years. It’s been tough and just watching him score that touchdown was awesome. That was one thing I’ll never forget about that game. That was great.”
For those unfamiliar with Lloyd’s injury misfortune during his two NFL seasons, it’ll take several paragraphs to summarize — since Lloyd has missed 35 of a possible 36 games (including playoffs) because of a myriad of injuries since the Packers took him in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
Two summers ago, Lloyd started his first NFL training camp on the non-football injury list with an offseason hip injury.
He saw his first game action in the second preseason game at Denver and promptly suffered a hamstring injury in that game. He missed the season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles in Brazil because of it, then made his NFL regular-season debut in Week 2 against the Indianapolis Colts at Lambeau Field — only to play just 10 snaps and carry six times for 15 yards before an ankle injury ended his day.
The Packers put him on injured reserve 48 hours later, and to this day, that remains the only non-preseason game Lloyd has played.
On the verge of being activated from IR late in his rookie year, Lloyd suffered appendicitis, leading to an emergency surgery. The Packers subsequently put him on the non-football injury list again, and his season was over.
Last year, Lloyd suffered a calf injury in preseason — after showing a glimpse of his ability on a 33-yard catch against the Colts — and began the season on injured reserve.
And once again, just as he started practicing in December to come off IR, he sustained a hamstring injury, ending his season — again.
No wonder Sirmans worries.
“It’s only natural over the course of the last few years. It’s always like, ‘He’s finally gotten over that hump,’ and then, Bam! Another setback,” Sirmans said. “This is as much and as many reps as he’s practiced and played, so all those things make you feel like, maybe this guy has passed that point where we don’t have to worry about it anymore.”
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