Paul Bretl | 8/10/2025
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Most of the Packers’ starters suited up and played in the team’s preseason opener against the New York Jets on Saturday. However, Jayden Reed was not one of them as he was seen on the sidelines in a walking boot.
After the game, head coach Matt LaFleur said that “hopefully” Reed would be available for the Packers’ Week 1 matchup with Detroit. But that’s not necessarily a given either.
“Potentially,” LaFleur said on the possibility of Reed not being ready. “I think anytime you see a guy in a boot, that’s a concern.”
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Reed was dealing with a toe injury early on in training camp. That injury, however, was on the opposite foot from where his current injury exists. The two are unrelated, with the latest injury occurring during a recent practice.
“I mean, just cut wrong off my foot and just a little sore,” Reed said. “Battling a little something.”
Reed didn’t want to put a timeline on his return and whether or not he’d be ready for Week 1.
“I don’t feel like I really even got started, honestly,” Reed said of his training camp performance. “Yeah, if you ask me, I don’t really even think I got started.”
The injuries at the receiver position are continuing to mount for the Packers. Along with Reed being sidelined, Dontayvion Wicks has missed a number of practices with a calf injury, while Savion Williams has been in and out of practices with injuries of his own.
Overall, Romeo Doubs and Matthew Golden have provided Jordan Love with reliable targets and playmaking potential through the air. But in Saturday’s preseason opener, the play from the wide receiver unit as a whole was wildly inconsistent.
The Packers’ four quarterbacks were a combined 10-for-22 passing for 64 yards on the night. Not helping matters were the dropped passes by the Green Bay pass-catchers, which Pro Football Focus counted three of–and that might be low–while as a collective group, the Packers were just 2-for-7 in contested catch situations.
Individually, Malik Heath caught just one of his four targets, Doubs was 0-for-2, while Mecole Hardman was 0-for-1 when the ball came his way.
“For starters,” said Jordan Love after the game, “it’s never fun losing a game like that. You know? Where it just feels like nothing’s going your way and we’re not making any big-time plays. So that’s the tough part. But it’s preseason.
“Like you said, we’ve got guys banged up left and right. So there’s areas we’re going to look at and definitely clean up going forward. And there’s a lot from just pre-snap penalties, post-snap penalties, and just execution as an offense. So there’s going to be a lot of stuff to clean up. But I’m not going to rush to any judgment on a preseason game. I think that’s what it’s there for.”
Injuries are an unfortunate part of the game, but as Reed said, it’s about how one responds to that adversity.
“You’re going to face adversity,” Reed said. “That just happens, and you’ve got to find out how to respond when things—when you face adversity, you’ve just got to find ways to respond to it.”