Is Aaron Rodgers really going to play in the preseason this month?
A report from Mike Silver of TheAthletic.com noted that Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy has asked Rodgers to play in the club’s first two preseason matchups. Rodgers told Silver that he didn’t necessarily want to play in the preseason, but if McCarthy wants it, the QB will suit up.
McCarthy was asked about Rodgers playing in the preseason during his Monday press conference and said it’s still to be determined.
“Those decisions, really, will be made once we get up to it,” McCarthy said, via Mark Kaboly of The Pat McAfee Show. “Trust me, I have a lot of ideas. … We have plans. But being in a healthy system, let’s see what happens — a lot can happen between now and then, too.
“But he’d like to play. I would like to see him play. But we won’t make a decision until we get all the way up to it because there’s more that goes into that than just having one player play. It’s the combination of the players.”
McCarthy and Rodgers’ separate comments do not necessarily match, as Rodgers explicitly told Silver, “I’m not saying I want to do it.” But with McCarthy as head coach, he’s the one who should have ultimate authority on the decision.
The Steelers will be facing Rogers’ two former teams to start the exhibition slate, hosting the Packers on Thursday, Aug. 13, and the Jets on Friday, Aug. 21. The Steelers will finish the preseason on Thursday, Aug. 27, on the road against the Bills.
Packers Clips
The Packers are expected to have the same starting right tackle as last season when they take the field in September, but there will be a different name on the back of his jersey.
Zach Tom told reporters on Sunday that he has changed his last name to Bako-Bewele. The name is a combination of names from his grandparents and the tackle explained that he wanted to honor his family’s Nigerian heritage.
“That’s really the main reason why I did it,” Bako-Bewele said, via Matt Schneidman of TheAthletic.com. “I want to have a name, especially when I start having kids, I want to have a name that I can pass down where it represents where they came from, where I came from. I just feel like that name — people will see that name and have a good understanding of who I am, where I come from.”
Bako-Bewele is going into his fifth season with the Packers and he signed a four-year extension before the 2025 campaign.
Packers tight end Tucker Kraft was able to ride a bike to the practice field — and to practice on it — on Friday, his first work since suffering a torn ACL on November 2.
With the primary goal having him ready to go for Week 1, Kraft could be back in the mix when the Packers engage in a joint practice with the Cardinals on August 26.
Coach Matt LaFleur said it’s a realistic target.
“I mean, he’s got to hit all the benchmarks along the way, and if that’s the case, then absolutely,” LaFleur told reporters on Sunday.
So far, LaFleur is happy with what he has seen from the third-round pick in the 2023 draft.
“I think we’re obviously taking it slow with him because he’s such an important player to us,” LaFleur said. “But, yeah, I think he handled everything great.”
Kraft is in the last year of a rookie deal that pays him $3.6 million in 2026. He has said he has no qualms about practicing without the long-term security he has earned.
And while LaFleur praised Kraft for doing so, here’s the inescapable reality — if Kraft gets injured again, he won’t get the kind of multi-year deal he’d prefer to receive. At that point, the Packers would press the brakes, possibly with a one-year deal for 2027, until Kraft would be able to demonstrate that he’s back to form.
Of course, Kraft may feel compelled to do that now, given his 2025 knee injury. Which requires Kraft to take a calculated risk aimed at securing his reward. Ideally for Kraft, he’ll get it before Week 1.
The Packers signed long snapper Cal Adomitis and wide receiver Kaden Prather on Friday, the team announced. Prather’s agreement was previously reported.
In corresponding moves, the Packers released kicker Lenny Krieg and waived/injured wide receiver Brenden Rice.
Adomitis is a fifth-year player from the University of Pittsburgh who originally signed as an undrafted free agent with the Bengals in 2022. He played 49 regular-season games and three postseason contests in three seasons in Cincinnati.
He was released toward the end of training camp last season.
Adomitis ended up playing nine games for the Eagles last season before finishing the season on the Steelers’ practice squad.
Prather entered the NFL as a seventh-round pick of the Bills in 2025 but was waived/injured at the end of training camp. He helped the Louisville Kings win the UFL championship this spring.
Krieg was signed earlier this week to compete with sixth-round pick Trey Smack for the kicking job.
Rice, who was claimed off waivers from the Raiders in May, was on the non-football injury list. The son of Hall of Famer Jerry Rice joined Las Vegas’ practice squad late last season after also spending time on the practice squads of the Seahawks and Patriots.
He was with the Chargers in training camp last summer.
The Packers took tight end Tucker Kraft off the PUP list on Friday and he will start being phased into the team’s practices over the near future.
Kraft has been rehabbing a torn ACL and said on Friday that doctors told him his knee looks “spectacular,” which leaves him feeling like there’s no reason not to dive into the practice work needed to get him ready for Week 1. Kraft’s plans for ramping up his work do not include holding anything back while waiting for a contract extension to get hammered out with the team.
“Absolutely. I understand other peoples’ worries in that facet,” Kraft said, via Ryan Wood of PackersNews.com. “However, I myself, I’m just worried about getting back to who I was pre-injury.”
If Kraft weren’t coming off an injury, he might opt for a different approach to this summer’s practices but getting back from an ACL requires him to go full speed ahead right out of the gate.
Earlier this week, Packers tight end Tucker Kraft said he was expecting to begin practicing “very soon.”
That day has come.
Head coach Matt LaFleur said in his press conference that Kraft has been activated off the physically unable to perform list and is set to practice on Friday.
Kraft tore the ACL in his right knee in early November.
The tight end will begin practicing on a limited basis, as LaFleur said Kraft won’t participate in team drills on Friday.
“[W]e’re just going to kind of get him back ingrained into the process, into individual,” LaFleur said. “What’s great is when they do come off PUP, now he can partake in some of the walk-through periods, especially that we do in the evenings. So, just to get him back hearing the call, lining up, and then just going through that.”
With Kraft coming off of the PUP list before the end of July, his chances of playing Week 1 are rising.
Kraft caught 32 passes for 489 yards and six touchdowns in the eight games last season before his injury.
Wide receiver Kaden Prather is going from the UFL to the NFL.
Prather’s agent told NFL Media that his client is signing with the Packers. The NFL’s daily transaction report shows that Prather tried out for the team on Thursday.
Prather was a Bills seventh-round pick out of Maryland in 2025, but he was waived off of injured reserve ahead of the start of the regular season. He moved on to Louisville in the UFL and contributed nine catches for 148 yards to the league champions.
The Packers also worked out long snapper Cal Adomitis, wide receiver Elijhah Badger, tight end McCallan Castles, wide receiver Elijah Cooks, long snapper John Ferlmann, tight end Brandon Frazier, long snapper Brent Matiscik, wide receiver Titus Mokiao-Atimalala, and tight end Briley Moore.
Running back Ahman Green, a four-time Pro Bowler who played 12 years in the NFL, has disclosed that he has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
Green revealed the situation during a podcast appearance with Tyler Dunne of GoLongTD.com.
“Last year, I got diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson’s,” Green told Dunne, via Jason Owens of Yahoo Sports. “I had a little bit of the feet twitching when I’m in my sleep and stuff like that. . . . I knew something was going on long before that. I just got a hold of some doctors that I was able to get in contact with. Get the diagnostics, get the testing. And finally got it tested last — it was January of 2025.”
He waited to go public until he informed his family of the situation.
A third-round pick of the Seahawks in 1998, Green spent two years in Seattle, seven in Green Bay, and two in Houston before capping his career with a return to Green Bay.
He made it to the Pro Bowl from 2001 through 2004 as a Packer, with a career-high 1,883 rushing yards in 2003. He finished with 9,205 rushing yards.
Because he retired before 2014, Green’s diagnosis makes him eligible for compensation under the concussion settlement fund.
The Packers made three moves on Wednesday.
They activated left guard Aaron Banks and defensive tackle Nazir Stackhouse from the active/physically unable to perform list. The team also placed wide receiver Brenden Rice on the non-football injury list.
Banks’ stay on PUP did not last long as he passed his physical.
He appeared in 15 games last season, starting 14, despite dealing with a back injury in training camp and ankle problems and a stinger last season.
The Packers claimed Rice off waivers from the Raiders in May. The son of Hall of Famer Jerry Rice joined Las Vegas’ practice squad late last season after also spending time on the practice squads of the Seahawks and Patriots.
He was with the Chargers in training camp last summer.
Packers General Manager Brian Gutekunst said earlier Wednesday that tight end Tucker Kraft will return “sooner rather than later.” Kraft, who is on the active/physically unable to perform list, echoed that later Wednesday.
Kraft said he expects to begin practicing “very soon,” Ryan Wood of PackersNews.com reports.
Kraft tore the ACL in his right knee in a Nov. 2 game against the Panthers. He underwent surgery later that month.
The season opener on Sept. 13 is still 46 days away, which is why Gutekunst says Kraft’s participation in Week 1 is “very much a possibility.”
Kraft caught 32 passes for 489 yards and six touchdowns in the eight games last season before his injury.
