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Rashan Gary has been cleared to return to practice for the Green Bay Packers after spending roughly the past nine months recovering from a torn ACL.
According to Packers head coach Matt LaFleur, Gary was activated off the physically unable to perform (PUP) list on August 7 and will participate in Monday’s practice. It will be the first time the 25-year-old outside linebacker has practiced since tearing his ACL in Week 9’s game against the Detroit Lions last season on November 6.
“He’ll be off the PUP list and he’ll be out there,” LaFleur said before practice. “It’s going to be more or less, mostly individual (drills). Maybe some of the walkthrough/jog-through, but he’s not going to be any team (drills).”
Gary, a 2019 first-round pick, got off to a roaring start in 2022 that saw him rack up 32 tackles, six sacks, seven tackles for loss and 38 pressures over the first nine games of the season. If he can pick up where he left off once he is fully healed, he could end up being the Packers’ most dangerous weapon on the defensive side of the ball in 2023.
The Packers’ practice on Monday will be their last one before they travel to Cincinnati for a joint workout with the Bengals on Wednesday. They will stay in Ohio for their preseason-opening matchup with the Bengals at 7 p.m. ET on Friday, August 11.
Will Packers Sign Rashan Gary to an Extension Soon?
The Packers would be smart not to rush Gary back into full team activities at practice. After all, they learned with All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari’s own ACL recovery that it is rarely as simple as letting a player recover and then throwing him back into the fire. Once they do start feeling confident that Gary is back to 100%, though, the Packers should want to shift their priorities to locking him down for the long-term future.
Gary is preparing to play the upcoming 2023 season on a $10.982 million fifth-year option, but he is due for a much more lucrative extension from the Packers that will only see its price tag inflate if he returns to his previous levels of play as a pass rusher. Don’t forget, Gary was looking like a potential Defensive Player of the Year candidate when the Packers were winning early in the 2022 season, logging five sacks and 16 pressures in the first four games of the season.
The Packers might even feel a sense of urgency to get him locked up before their season opener in Chicago on September 10. Not only would it offer a nice morale boost for the locker room heading into the first week, but it could also free up more cap space for the Packers to potentially make a necessary addition in the aftermath of training camp.
That said, the Packers might be better served in the long run waiting until they are sure that Gary’s knee will hold up in regular-season competition. Sure, he could come back and thrive off the edge, driving up the price of his eventual extension, but the Packers might feel it is wiser to spend more later for a talent they are sure has recovered instead of throwing less money at him now with more uncertainty about his health.
Eric Stokes Remains on PUP, Return Timeline Unclear
According to ESPN’s Rob Demovsky, the Packers also activated seventh-round rookie wide receiver Grant DuBose (back) from the non-football injury list on Monday, paving the way for the young pass-catcher to make his training-camp debut with the team. He will expectedly have a tough few weeks ahead trying to make the initial 53-man roster, but getting healthy is the first step and offers him a real chance to compete for his job.
The Packers, however, are still waiting for one more key player to make his return from the injury list: cornerback and 2021 first-round pick Eric Stokes.
LaFleur confirmed Monday that Stokes “is not there yet” in terms of being ready for activation off the PUP list. Like Gary, he is recovering from a season-ending injury — two actually — that he sustained in Week 9’s loss to the Lions and missed the entire slate of offseason workouts with the team in the spring while going through rehab.
Stokes has a little bit more to prove upon his return than Gary, though. After an impressive rookie campaign in which he logged nine pass breakups and one pick, Stokes struggled considerably more in coverage in the first half of his second season and was robbed of the opportunity to course-correct when he tore his meniscus and suffered a Lisfranc injury midway through his ninth performance of the year.
Given his inconsistent two seasons, Stokes will likely need to have a strong third year with the Packers in 2023 to persuade the team that he is worth keeping for the long-term future. While he still has two more years left on his rookie contract, the Packers will need to make a decision next May about whether to pick up his 2025 option — and that decision could be an easy one if he struggles upon his return later this year.
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