Lukas

Van Ness

Hobbs has not played since Week 9’s loss to the Panthers, where he initially suffered the knee injury. Perhaps this will be his first game back. Quay Walker (neck) was cleared off the injury report, while Lukas Van Ness (foot) was ruled out after not practicing all week.

No surprise as he was not listed on the injury report through the pectoral listing in Week 11 as well. Green Bay is likely simply managing his reps. Lukas Van Ness (foot) is questionable to return after a full week of limited sessions. Van Ness hasn’t played since suffering the injury in Week 6. Meanwhile Quay Walker (neck) is doubtful with a stinger.

Parsons popped up on the injury report with a pectoral issue and was listed as limited on Wednesday. Given he still practiced in some capacity, it is possible the Packers are carefully managing Parsons’ pectoral soreness with a lighter practice workload. He is not yet in danger of missing Week 12 against the Vikings, but his practice status later in the week and potential new information about the severity of the injury will shed light on his game status. Fellow EDGE Lukas Van Ness (foot) was also limited in practice as he works his way back to playing for the first time since Week 6. The Packers will hope to have both edge rushers healthy against the Vikings’ stumbling passing offense.

This was the first week that Van Ness made significant progress in attempting to come back from his Week 6 foot injury, garnering limited sessions on both Thursday and Friday. It remains to be seen if Van Ness can come back this week, but he at least looks close to returning in Week 12 if not.

Also inactive for the Packers are RB Pierre Strong Jr., G Donovan Jennings, T Anthony Belton, TE Ben Sims, DL Lukas Van Ness, and DL Devonte Wyatt. McManus will miss another game due to his quad issue, meaning Lucas Havrisik will kick for Green Bay against the Cardinals. Strong was elevated from the practice squad, but with Josh Jacobs (calf/illness) active, he is inactive this week. Meanwhile, Van Ness will miss this game due to a foot issue that kept him out of practice all week.

So in other words, more of a short-term loss than a long-term loss and we can probably expect Van Ness to miss Week 7. LaFleur would only say how much time Van Ness misses “remains to be seen.”

Also questionable for Week 3 are EDGE Lukas Van Ness and LT David Bakhtiari. Alexander did not appear on the injury report until Friday, indicating he suffered the injury during Green Bay’s final practice of the week. Should he be forced to sit versus the Saints, Chris Olave’s path to another 100-yard game would become even more clear.

Van Ness left in the second half of Green Bay’s Week 2 matchup against Atlanta with an elbow injury. The team announced him as questionable to return. The rookie is a key linebacker for the Packers’ defense and will try to return Week 3 against the Saints if he does not return against the Falcons.

The Packers still have work to do at the desk with both wide receiver Jayden Reed and tight end Luke Musgrave yet to sign their rookie contracts, but they finally have their first round selection under contract. The selection of the Iowa product in the middle of the first round turned heads, particularly considering he appears to be mostly blocked for snaps early in the season with the team returning Preston Smith, De’Vondre Campbell, Quay Walker, and Rashan Gary.

The Packers had the No. 13 pick following their No. 15 swap with the Jets as part of the Aaron Rodgers trade. Van Ness (6’5/272) is a chiseled war horse who attacks blockers with destructive force and has the size to kick inside or stay on the edge. He played almost exclusively three-tech in 2021 but moved along the formation this season (172 snaps Inside/59 OVT/227 OUT). This allowed Van Ness to be isolated against tackles as opposed to navigating the interior. He looked much more comfortable in that setting, unleashing a ferocious bull rush that is one of the best in this class but lacking nuance in his pass rush toolkit due to being a relatively raw third-year player who played limited snaps due to the hierarchical Iowa depth chart that can over-emphasize seniority. Against Ohio State’s two standout 2023 first-round caliber tackles, he bear-pawed the gargantuan 6’82/374-pound RT Dawand Jones and demonstrably got the best of Paris Johnson. On the other side, he could finish plays more efficiently, as is evidenced by his 16.7% missed tackle rate, and his 74.3 PFF pass rush grade was merely average. A Second Team All-Big Ten selection, Van Ness should be a plus edge-setter right out of the gate, but if he can fine-tune his hand-fighting and harness his physical gifts he can be a 10-year defensive anchor in a 4-3 alignment.