GREEN BAY, Wis. — After a rather quiet Green Bay Packers offseason, training camp returned on Wednesday with plenty of news and notable takeaways.

Let’s dive right into the most important things we learned, in no particular order.

Parsons’ progress

Green Bay’s best player, edge rusher Micah Parsons, won’t practice for quite some time. The earliest he’ll be on the field is Sept. 30 (the Wednesday before the Packers’ Week 4 visit to Tampa Bay that Sunday) if we’re going by the team’s strict nine-month no-football rule for ACL tears since Parsons underwent surgery on Dec. 29. Parsons experienced his first training camp practice in Green Bay on Wednesday and was mobbed by fans as he walked across the street from Lambeau Field to the practice facility. General manager Brian Gutekunst said Parsons is “a little bit of a genetic freak, so things come pretty easy to him” while adding, “these are major injuries, so as you go through these things and how hard they have to work to get back, there’s always going to be little setbacks here and there. But he’s doing great right now.”

Kraft nearing return

Tight end Tucker Kraft is about eight and a half months post-surgery after tearing his ACL in Week 9 last season. Gutekunst said the 25-year-old will practice “sooner rather than later” and added, “the way he looks, you’d think he’s ready to go … but there’s a lot of science behind the nine-month mark and so we’ll be very cautious.” Kraft, who enters a contract year for the first time, is also awaiting a lucrative extension. Gutekunst said he hopes for and expects that extension to happen before the regular season.

“My biggest thing, and always has been, is trying to be the best teammate I can be, so I first and foremost am focused on my health, ultimately,” Kraft said after practice. “I know that people up there on the second floor, very intelligent people, they’re gonna work their best to get this thing done. My agent, as well … I think it would be best if we got it done as soon as possible.”

Cisse’s early opportunity

No. 1 cornerback Keisean Nixon is nursing a hamstring injury and didn’t practice Wednesday, though he strangely didn’t go on the physically unable to perform or non-football injury lists before camp. That means a starting spot is open, and it went to rookie second-round pick Brandon Cisse for the first practice, during which he impressively blew up a screen pass (veteran free-agent signing Benjamin St-Juste missed the offseason program with an undisclosed injury and worked with the reserves on Wednesday).

“It feels great and there’s just a long ways to go,” Cisse said of running with the starters already. “I’m nowhere near as great of a player as I want to be. I never think I’ll be as great as I want to be.”

Cisse also had this to say about first-year Packers defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon’s role in his development:

“He’s a DB guy, so super smart, instinctive and understands where to put guys. I think he’s going to be really good in my development, becoming a better player. Any time I need to get cussed out or need a chewing, he’s going to be on me. I kind of like that pressure on me. It allows me to grow and it’s all love, so I’m glad that he chose me to come here.”

Patience is key

The Packers have relied heavily on a rookie kicker in two out of the last three seasons: Anders Carlson in 2023 and Brayden Narveson in 2024. Rookie sixth-round pick Trey Smack is next up after a year and a half with veteran Brandon McManus and the team has learned its lesson.

“I think it just kind of tempers your expectation level a little bit,” LaFleur said of what he’s taken away from working with rookie kickers post-Mason Crosby. “Understand that there could be some moments that aren’t favorable, but you just got to live through it and I think the talent, we all see the talent. It’s just, can we harness that?”

Gutekunst said the Packers drafted Smack because they think he can be a championship-level kicker but acknowledged getting there, especially at a position like Smack’s, might take some time. Smack will compete with Germany native Lenny Krieg, a 2025 undrafted free agent who spent last season on the Atlanta Falcons’ practice squad and took Lucas Havrisik’s spot on the team earlier this week. Neither kicker took live reps during open practice on Wednesday.

Injury updates

First, the good.

Defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt, fresh off signing a three-year, $57 million extension, said he “feels great” after his season ended in Week 13 last season when he suffered a broken fibula and torn ankle ligaments in Detroit. Wyatt practiced on Wednesday, but he isn’t doing 11-on-11s yet.

Devonte Wyatt, left, and Warren Brinson run through a drill during the first day of training camp on Wednesday. (Tork Mason / Imagn Images)

Right tackle Zach Tom also isn’t doing team drills yet (Darian Kinnard took first-team reps at right tackle), but he suited up in a limited capacity. Tom partially tore his patellar tendon in Week 15 last season and was asked Wednesday whether playing Week 1 is an option.

“It’s not an option,” Tom said. “I’m playing Week 1.”

Left guard Aaron Banks (undisclosed) went on the PUP list Monday but is off it already and practiced in a limited capacity on Wednesday. In Banks’ place, Jacob Monk, who tore his left bicep in the playoffs last season, took first-team reps at left guard. Defensive tackle Nazir Stackhouse (undisclosed) also came off the PUP list already and participated in team drills.

Cornerback Kamal Hadden, who broke his fibula and tibia and dislocated his ankle in Week 17 while on defense against the Baltimore Ravens, isn’t practicing yet. However, watching him sprint down the sideline alongside cornerback Marlon Jones after the latter’s 99-yard pick-six on Wednesday would indicate he’s not far off.

“Today was kind of a shocker for me because we’ve been having ups and downs,” Hadden said, adding that he expects to practice in training camp. “Everybody came up to me like, ‘Mal, what’s up? You good?’ and I’m just like, ‘Oh, I didn’t know I was running that fast.’”

Veteran Skyy Moore, who could very well be the Packers’ kick and punt returner, also practiced after missing the offseason program with an undisclosed injury.

Now, the not-so-good injury updates.

Ten players didn’t practice entirely.

Six suffered injuries after last season ended: Nixon (hamstring), tight end Luke Musgrave (neck; team is still determining whether it’s a long-term injury), defensive tackle Javon Hargrave (knee; not a long-term concern), running back Chris Brooks (hamstring), long snapper Matt Orzech (calf) and offensive lineman Brant Banks (hamstring).

Four players who didn’t practice are still rehabbing injuries suffered last season: Parsons, Kraft, Hadden and defensive tackle Jordon Riley (Achilles).

Rookie fifth-round offensive lineman Jager Burton left practice early while saying an expletive to himself — we’re not allowed to directly quote players — and returned to the field without a helmet and only a playcall sheet. Burton told The Athletic after practice that he felt something in his hamstring, but his absence was precautionary.

Practice observations

1. There was a lot of rotating on the defensive line. Barryn Sorrell was first up at edge across from Lukas Van Ness, but Brenton Cox Jr. also saw time with the ones. Rookie fourth-round edge Dani Dennis-Sutton and rookie third-round defensive tackle Chris McClellan both repped with the starters on the interior in a heavy formation. Karl Brooks, a returning starter, also ran with the ones.

“You see we’re always rotating,” McClellan said. “Somebody’s always coming in and out and we’re always moving spots on the line … when you’re not predictable as a defense, and you have good players like we do, it kind of makes you dangerous.”

2. The flashes from running back MarShawn Lloyd continue. On one play Wednesday, he bounced a middle run outside like he was shot out of a cannon and darted around St-Juste to the edge for a touchdown. His unique speed and explosiveness were evident once again. There’s nothing like it in the Packers’ running back room. He just has to stay healthy.

MarShawn Lloyd runs a drill at Wednesday’s practice. (Mark Hoffman / Imagn Images)

3. Gannon, wearing a bucket hat in his first camp practice in Green Bay, already had a voice crack while yelling about maintaining proper leverage. That’s not the first time his voice will give out.

“He may just walk around with his clipboard, but when he gets fired up, he is fired up,” McClellan said.

4. New special teams coordinator Cam Achord has punt returners toss a tennis ball in the air immediately before they field a punt and then catch both balls in quick succession.

“Coach Cam, he got a lot of great drills,” Moore said. “It’s all about beating the ball to the spot. It’s about your knowledge of the football in the air … if you can read the ball and get to the spot, throwing the tennis ball is easy.”

5. Standout plays Wednesday included linebacker Zaire Franklin’s forced fumble (he said it was one and not an incomplete pass) after blowing through a block on a screen pass to Lloyd, wide receiver Isaiah Neyor’s acrobatic sideline grab in double coverage after a slick rollout to the right and dart from undrafted rookie quarterback Kyron Drones and the undrafted rookie cornerback Jones, who beat cancer in college, jumping Kyle McCord’s pass in the flat for a long pick-six at the end of practice. Linebacker Isaiah McDuffie also had a stout run stuff of Pierre Strong Jr. after shooting through a gap and quarterback Jordan Love hit wide receiver Christian Watson for a nice 17-yard touchdown on a crossing route past cornerback Carrington Valentine.

CHICAGO — Everybody around the Ohio State football program has seen a different look from quarterback Julian Sayin this year.

It’s not just about the extra muscle he’s put on, but the intensity and toughness he has shown during offseason weight workouts and in spring practice.

He’s impressed so many people that strength and conditioning coach Mickey Marotti told superstar wide receiver Jeremiah Smith he thought Sayin was the toughest player in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.

“I said, really? Makes sense,” Smith said. “He was dealing with an ankle thing and still going out there. Julian is very tough.”

While he may be one of the most divisive quarterbacks in the country in the eyes of scouts and opposing coaches (at least among QBs in our top tiers), inside the football facility he’s been praised by his teammates and coaches.

“When you look at his eyes now, you see a different person,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said. “He’s found his voice even more. … He’s poised for a big season.”

That’s the trajectory Day would hope for his second-year starting quarterback. Sayin, who transferred from Alabama in the winter of 2024 after Nick Saban retired, is just the third second-year starting quarterback since Day took over.

The eighth-year head coach said the biggest difference between Justin Fields and C.J. Stroud from year one to year two was the heightened sense of urgency to win games.

“You can quickly get distracted from what really matters,” Day said, “but I think when you come back for that second year, all you want to do is win.”

He sees that in Sayin, who was a Heisman Trophy finalist and led the FBS in completion percentage in his first season as a starter.

“I see that same look in Julian,” Day said. “When you’re into that year and experienced more, all you’re about is winning and that’s what he’s got to be focused on. The other thing is you’ve experienced the ups and downs, so you won’t ride the emotional roller coaster you might have as a young player.”

What makes this loaded WR corps different

The two-time All-American Smith stole the spotlight at Big Ten media days, but he took every chance he could to brag about Ohio State’s other receivers, saying it’s the deepest unit he’s been part of at Ohio State.

Smith will be the obvious leader, but returning starter Brandon Inniss, five-star freshman Chris Henry and transfers Devin McCuin (UTSA) and Kyle Parker (LSU) will fill important roles. So who will play, and in what situations?

There’s a feeling among the Ohio State staff that it has a wide receiver group that can not only catch the ball consistently, but also play multiple positions. That’s important for an offense that lacked creativity last season, especially in the red zone.

Sayin said he loves having a variety of options at receiver because of the impact it can have on defenses.

“I think it’s helpful when you are able to sub receivers in and out and keep guys fresh. It’s hard on a defense because they are rarely subbing corners a bunch,” Sayin said. “To be able to have guys who are really talented out there — and we have a bunch of them — it’s what you want as a quarterback.”

The key for that group won’t just be catching the ball or scoring touchdowns. One of the major focuses for new receivers coach Cortez Hankton has been on yards after the catch. It’s been a point of emphasis for Smith, who was ranked 249th out of 359 receivers (min. 25 catches) with an average of 4.3 yards per reception after the catch, according to TruMedia.

“That’s something (Hankton) did a lot at LSU, making guys miss a lot, so that’s something we have to add to our plate,” Smith said.

Last season, 37.9 percent of Ohio State’s yards among wide receivers came after the catch, the 75th highest rate.

Regardless, Ohio State is yet again extremely high on its receiving corps despite the departure of position coach Brian Hartline. The Buckeyes aren’t new to elite talent — they’ve produced six first-round picks in the past five years, after all — but the versatility and depth of game-ready talent still stands out.

“We have a lot of guys who can play many positions and do many different things,” Smith said. “So it’s going to be special to see.”

Will Ohio State push the tempo more?

Ohio State had one of the slowest offensive paces in the country last season, averaging just 31.6 seconds per play — the 133rd fastest rate in college football, per TruMedia.

The Buckeyes aren’t going to suddenly become a high-tempo team, especially with new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith bringing in some under-center formations. But could Ohio State move faster? There’s a chance.

Sayin looked comfortable, in spurts, when the offense did move with tempo, most notably against Miami when he completed 7-of-10 passes for 57 yards in one drive before Ohio State missed a field goal before halftime.

Day said if Ohio State does choose to increase the tempo, he’s confident Sayin and the offense can handle it, but the Buckeyes won’t go up-tempo just to do it.

“We have to find the right balance,” Day said. “Some teams, they live in tempo and all the different things that come with that. For us, we want to have the ability to do both, so we have to figure out what’s right in the moment and utilize it when appropriate.”

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart said it best when talking about teammate Malik Nabers: “It’s Leek. Every time he’s on the field, everybody knows where he’s at.”

For the first time since the wide receiver tore his ACL and meniscus in Week 4 last season, Nabers played football in front of fans and media members, who, as Dart said, were watching the receiver’s every move. Though his ability to do so was in question for much of the offseason, Nabers participated in practice on Wednesday, the Giants’ first day of training camp.

And he was doing far more than just standing on the sidelines.

Nabers entered practice with his teammates and participated in individual drills with the Giants’ wide receiver group, showing some encouraging movement skills. He also caught passes while running routes against no defenders and worked a bit during an install period.

“He definitely has a presence about him,” said Dart, who has only played one game with Nabers (Week 4). “There’s an aura that he has on the field that is exhilarating. It makes me happy. It makes everybody happy just to see him out there.”

Nabers’ day on the field wrapped up after the install period; he then stood and watched practice a bit before heading inside The Greenbrier Sports Performance Center as part of his rehabilitation plan. While it’s been a pleasant development for the Giants that Nabers didn’t start camp on the physically unable to perform list, the team isn’t rushing Nabers back. Both head coach John Harbaugh and general manager Joe Schoen declined Wednesday to put any specific timeline on his return.

“I think you take it one day at a time,” Harbaugh said. “I mean, maybe he’ll get way ahead, maybe he won’t, whatever. You can’t really put a timetable on it. I think you just see where it goes because we want him to be at his best. When he’s ready to be at his best, he’ll be at his best. If you work hard every day, the body’s amazing. He’s been doing that. That’s really what matters, and that’s all we try to really measure.”

Even teammate Brian Burns said he didn’t want to see Nabers rush his return.

“He’s feening to get back out there and make plays, but I just don’t want him to rush it, so I’ll be on him about taking his time,” the pass rusher said. “But it feels good to see him back out there.”

Malik Nabers is back running routes at training camp 👀

The Giants WR suffered a torn ACL and torn meniscus in his right knee in Week 4 last season.

🎥 @charlottecrrll pic.twitter.com/VFMBDZK0J6

— The Athletic NFL (@TheAthleticNFL) July 29, 2026

Watching the receiver run even just a few routes on Wednesday, you could see why it was hard for his teammates (and fans) not to be optimistic about his eventual return. They know what he’s capable of when he’s at his best, and they know how much the Giants offense misses him when he’s sidelined.

Nabers delivered an historic rookie campaign in 2025, tallying 109 receptions, 1,204 yards and seven touchdowns in just 15 games. He only appeared in four games last season, however, and his absence severely altered the Giants offense’s ability to put up points, as it struggled to adapt to life without its No. 1 receiver. Not only was Nabers the offense’s top target, but he added an “aura” and a gravity that opposing defenses had to respect.

And as previously mentioned, Nabers’ injury derailed his ability to develop a rapport with Dart, who got his first start in the same game Nabers left with his injury. Nabers played just 32 percent of the snaps in the win over the Chargers before going down. Losing Nabers meant not only the loss of a serious offensive threat but also the loss of a talent who could help elevate a rookie quarterback adapting to the NFL.

With Nabers avoiding the PUP list to start camp, he’ll finally be able to work on developing that connection with Dart — on the field. According to Dart, they’ve already been working hard on developing that connection off the field.

“We’re able to just have communication … watch tape, which we’ve done a lot, just communication throughout this offseason, which I think has been really good for us, and trying to get those reps before he’s 100 percent,” Dart said. “I think that will help mold our relationship into what we want it to be. He’s obsessed with this game, and he’s attacking it the right way.”

The wide receiver room and the offense as a whole has changed a lot since last season. But Nabers remains its one true dynamic playmaker should he rediscover his old form.

The Giants brought in veterans Darnell Mooney and Calvin Austin III in free agency before spending a third-round pick on Malachi Fields. Then, due to injuries this offseason, the team brought in the veteran trio of Odell Beckham Jr., JuJu Smith-Schuster and Braxton Berrios.

Giants fans, of course, are most excited about the team’s reunion Beckham, who last played in New York in 2018. Though Beckham isn’t the same caliber of player he used to be, that fact didn’t stop fans in attendance from getting excited about seeing the LSU products on the field together, which they were for an individual drill Wednesday.

.@whyguard13 and @obj running routes in sync 🔥 (via @charlottecrrll) pic.twitter.com/KeMEHORtRB

— NFL (@NFL) July 29, 2026

But before fans can really start dreaming on what that undeniably fun pairing can do together, Nabers has to continue working his way back. That starts with seeing how his knee responds the day after practice and progressing from there.

“It was encouraging (Wednesday),” Harbaugh said. “I just think he’s worked really hard. He deserves to be out there doing what he did. It’s really cool to see.”