Following Saturday night's scrimmage for Family Night, the Packers find themselves hampered by multiple injuries including 10 more players sitting out Monday's practice in addition to the three PUP players who have yet to practice (Bigby, Harris, and Starks). The list of Packers injuries consists of Will Blackmon, Clay Matthews, Nick Barnett, Brady Poppinga, and Donald Driver.
Matthews is out with an injured hamstring and is expected to be out around two weeks. It is the same hamstring Matthews had problems with during last year's training camp. Incumbent starting safety Atari Bigby recently underwent ankle surgery and should be out another four weeks according to McCarthy.
The good news for the Packers is that with some of the key starters out, other players are getting a decent amount of time with the first team defense. With Matthews out, Brandon Chillar and Brad Jones were splitting time at the OLB position with Desmond Bishop holding down Barnett's spot in the middle. Rookie Mike Neal has also been getting a lot of time with the #1 unit in nickel and dime packages.
On the offensive line, rookie first-rounder Bryan Bulaga took some snaps at left guard. Despite only working at left tackle so far in camp, Bulaga rotated plays with Daryn Colledge to get some reps with the first team offense at guard. McCarthy stated that Bulaga had earned the right to compete for the starting spot at left guard.
It will be interesting to watch the training camp battles for the next month or so to see how they shake out before opening kickoff.
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