Sports

Six Packers to watch during Friday’s Family Night practice at Lambeau Field

Published

6 hours ago

August 6, 2026

GREEN BAY, Wis. — There are plenty of special things about football season in this city, but one of the coolest is the Green Bay Packers’ annual Family Night at Lambeau Field.

Nowhere else in the NFL can you find an early-August practice that draws more than 60,000 fans. Maybe Chicago Bears fans are right that there isn’t as much to do on a Friday night in Green Bay as there is in Chicago or, say, New York or Los Angeles, but Family Night is a neat tradition here in football heaven, nonetheless.

“I think there’s a couple teams out there that have opportunities in their stadiums where a lot of people come to watch, but I’ve never experienced anything like this,” eighth-year head coach Matt LaFleur said. “It’s so good for our young players. It’s really the first time you’re in our stadium. … Hopefully we get 60,000 or whatever we’re going to get, but it feels more like a preseason game than a practice.”

Tucker Kraft back in action at Packers training camp

Jourdan Rodrigue and Rachael Tinde

Speaking of those young players, here are six who have been turning heads through seven training camp practices. They’re worth keeping an eye on if you’ll be in the building Friday night or watching the livestream.

Brandon Cisse, CB

The rookie second-round pick has lived up to his NFL Draft slot so far. His current place in the starting lineup came because Carrington Valentine injured his hamstring. Still, Cisse is getting a prime opportunity to perhaps Wally Pipp an incumbent starter on the outside. If anything, he’s already above veteran free-agent signing Benjamin St-Juste on the depth chart, and St-Juste hasn’t exactly been a slouch through seven practices.

“I’m just really impressed with his confidence,” wide receiver Christian Watson said of Cisse. “He doesn’t look like he’s panicking when he’s going up against the first group.”

“Really good player,” fellow South Carolina product Keisean Nixon said.

“I think every time we have an install or anything, he’s taking notes, he’s learning fast, and he’s technically sound,” St-Juste said. “His technique is nice. He’s not all over the place. He has great feet, so that’s very impressive for a rookie, honestly.”

“I think he’s a really talented guy,” LaFleur said. “I just love what he’s all about. I don’t know how well you guys know him from the locker room, but I mean, he is an A-plus human, and he loves football. I think every time he goes out there, there’s a lot of good things, and then there’s a lot of teachable moments. But I think … the sky’s the limit for him.”

Isaiah Neyor, WR

LaFleur’s stock compliment for players is saying they’re “outstanding.” Hearing him describe Neyor’s transformation earlier this offseason was different.

“I’d say it’s night and day for him,” the head coach said. “He’s really shown a lot, a lot of flashes of excellence. He’s another big, long guy that can run. You can never have enough of those guys, especially at that position.”

Neyor went undrafted last year and signed with the Packers on Aug. 6, 2025, before spending the regular season on the practice squad and the playoff game on the active roster. LaFleur’s comment came on June 11. Neyor has continued making plays in training camp, and he did so again during Thursday’s closed practice with a slick sideline grab from quarterback Kyle McCord that safety Kitan Oladapo nearly broke up. Neyor also had an acrobatic touchdown catch from McCord (who floated one up against a zero blitz) while deftly pushing off Oladapo.

Neyor might be fighting for one or two roster spots at the bottom of the wideout depth chart, and it’ll be hard to turn away someone whose physical traits have matched his practice production.

“I feel like I have an advantage over a lot of DBs with height, weight, speed, size, length, all of those combined,” said Neyor, who’s listed at 6 feet 4 and 218 pounds. “So I feel like it just comes down to me just using those to the best of my ability each and every time.”

MarShawn Lloyd, RB

Any time you get to see Lloyd on the practice field is time you shouldn’t take for granted. That’s simply how unfortunate his injury luck has been through the first two years of his career, during which he has played only one game. Knock on wood — that’s exactly what general manager Brian Gutekunst did Thursday morning at the podium — but Lloyd has looked spry and healthy through a week of practice while LaFleur and the team have been “pretty cautious” with his workload.

Lloyd’s speed and explosiveness are evident and often have been when he’s healthy. He ran a seam route 25 yards downfield earlier this week, and heck, he did a backflip Thursday after waltzing into the end zone untouched in the flat. Lloyd said after practice that LaFleur told him the backflip was cool but not to do any more.

“The running backs weren’t doing any celebrations when we were scoring, and the whole offense wasn’t liking that, especially the receivers,” Lloyd said. “Came into the running back room and said, ‘You guys need to start celebrating more.’ That’s the first thing that came to mind. I can’t dance, so I don’t know how to do all the dances they were doing, but I know how to do a backflip.”

If anything, Lloyd said the backflip was a “great sign” for his health ahead of his first Family Night actually participating in three years.

Anthony Campbell, DT

Two years after having no solo tackles and one pass breakup in eight games at Miami, Campbell is running with the Packers’ starting defensive line at times and batting down passes at the line of scrimmage like nobody’s business.

The 2025 undrafted free agent who spent part of last season on the Seattle Seahawks’ practice squad before signing a reserve/future deal with the Packers in January is making a convincing case for roster inclusion, and not just because of his pass breakups.

“I do think he’s getting better, and he’s certainly been impactful in this first week,” Gutekunst said. “But he has great length, and he’s really using it well. Not only just batting passes down, but you guys have seen him when he strikes, and he locks those guys out. That’s a rare trait, and he’s done a really nice job of that, so yeah, excited to see him getting some of these preseason games, as well.”

John Williams, OL

The 2025 seventh-round pick was an afterthought as a rookie, sidelined the entire season by a back injury. The most interesting thing about him was — and quite frankly might still be — his aerospace engineering major at Cincinnati.

He’s playing all over the offensive line early in camp, primarily at center, and could be an intriguing depth piece whom people perhaps weren’t considering entering this offseason. The Packers prefer their reserve offensive linemen play at least three spots, and Williams, a college left tackle who has also worked at guard in camp, checks that box.

“What he’s done so far in a week has been pretty impressive with the fact he hasn’t played football in a year,” Gutekunst said. “I think he’s played almost all five spots, which you know is music to my ears. But at some point, I think he’ll start to settle in somewhere so we can get a really good look at him. I’m excited to see the preseason games and see what he can do there.”

Brenton Cox Jr., edge

Cox has flown under the radar during camp, but he has made a handful of splash plays and did so again Thursday when batting down a Tyrod Taylor horizontal pass attempt. Cox might not be the flashiest prospect among the edge rushers behind Lukas Van Ness — that group also includes Barryn Sorrell, Collin Oliver and Dani Dennis-Sutton — but he’s been here the longest. And don’t forget the 2023 undrafted free agent had four sacks in just seven games two years ago before dealing with a groin injury that limited him to four games in 2025.

Sports

Joseph Parker: Former heavyweight champion claimed failed drug test was caused by cocaine use of nutritionist ahead of Fabio Wardley fight | Boxing News

Published

2 minutes ago

August 7, 2026

qasimgillani

Former heavyweight world champion Joseph Parker claimed a failed drugs test that resulted in him being suspended from boxing was caused by exposure to cocaine being used by his nutritionist, according to UK Anti-Doping (UKAD).

Parker returned an adverse analytical finding (AAF) for benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine, during a routine UKAD test shortly after his surprise defeat to Fabio Wardley in London on October 25 last year.

The New Zealander, who has throughout the saga denied taking any prohibited substance, announced on Wednesday that his suspension, which could have lasted as long as two years, had been lifted and that he would be “back in the ring soon”.

On Thursday, UKAD officially confirmed Parker was free to resume his career as details of the case were shared, which included the 34-year-old’s explanation for the adverse finding.

A UKAD statement said: “On 6 March 2026, Mr Parker provided UKAD with evidence claiming that the AAF was the result of his exposure to cocaine used by the nutritionist he had employed in preparation for the bout on 25 October 2025.

“The nutritionist stated that he was a regular user of cocaine and had used cocaine daily in the week leading up to the bout.

“Between 14 April 2026 and 3 June 2026, UKAD requested further information from Mr Parker in relation to his explanation for the AAF. Amongst other matters, Mr Parker stated that he had first worked with the same nutritionist in April 2023.”

UKAD explained that a decision had been made to impose a three-month period of ineligibility, which it already considers served, because an independent scientific expert was satisfied that any ingestion of cocaine had occurred out of competition, and therefore in a context unrelated to sporting performance.

The statement said: “On 15 June 2026, UKAD received an independent scientific expert opinion from its instructed expert, which concluded that Mr Parker’s ingestion of cocaine most likely took place out of competition (i.e. before 11:59pm on 24 October 2025).

“On 22 June 2026, UKAD confirmed to Mr Parker that in light of the opinion from its expert, it was satisfied that any ingestion of cocaine occurred out of competition and for that reason would have been in a context unrelated to sport performance.

“Consequently, UKAD lifted Mr Parker’s Provisional Suspension on that date (allowing him to resume his participation in sport with immediate effect) and proposed a three-month period of Ineligibility (deemed served) by way of sanction for his Anti-Doping Rule Violation.”

The scientific expert believed it possible that Parker’s administration of cocaine “may have occurred” from contamination, but also said they could not exclude the possibility the finding had arisen “as the tail end of the administration of a larger pharmacologically active dose of cocaine.”

With the UKAD report, the scientific expert said: “It is also my opinion that Mr Parker’s administration of cocaine may have occurred orally from food contaminated with cocaine by his sports nutritionist who has admitted being a user of cocaine giving rise to the finding of benzoylecgonine in Mr Parker’s urine Samples.

“I cannot exclude the possibility that the finding of benzoylecgonine has arisen as the tail end of the administration of a larger pharmacologically active dose of cocaine.”

The result of Parker’s bout against Wardley, which was an 11th-round stoppage victory for the Brit, becomes a defeat by disqualification, rather than knockout.

Parker lost his world title to Anthony Joshua in 2018, but went into his fight against Wardley in arguably the best form of his career.

After a punishing loss to Joe Joyce in 2022, Parker won his next six contests prior, picking up statement wins over Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang, as well as winning the WBO Interim strap.

He was due to challenge then-IBF belt-holder Daniel Dubois in February, only for Dubois to fall ill just days before the fight was meant to take place.

Parker put his position as the WBO mandatory challenger to undisputed champion Oleksandr Usyk on the line by taking the fight against Wardley, but it was a gamble that backfired.

Sports

Walsall shock Bristol City in Carabao Cup curtain raiser

Published

9 minutes ago

August 7, 2026

qasimgillani

Walsall shock Bristol City in Carabao Cup curtain raiser

Sports

Rodri transfer news: Barcelona target Man City and Spain star wanted by Real Madrid | Football News

Published

16 minutes ago

August 7, 2026

qasimgillani

Barcelona are set to approach Man City for midfielder Rodri and are hopeful they can beat their LaLiga rivals to the signing of the Spain captain, Sky Sports News understands.

The Spain World Cup winner is wanted by both Spanish giants and has entered the final year of his contract at City.

As reported by Sky Sports News, Real have been in talks with City since last week and indicated they would be prepared to pay £50m.

Barcelona are believed to have received encouragement they stand a good chance of signing the midfielder should Rodri move in this window. Their interest has stepped up in the past 24 hours.

However, City do not want to sell their key player. They are hoping he will agree to a new long-term contract at the Etihad and lead the team into a new era under Enzo Maresca.

Rodri had successful back surgery after the World Cup and is currently recovering. He is expected to miss the Community Shield game against Arsenal and the opening Premier League fixture of the season as a result.

Upon his re-election as Real Madrid president, Florentino Perez was criticised because the club had too few players representing Spain at this summer’s World Cup.

They signed Marc Cucurella from Chelsea as the tournament got under way, and everyone at the club are believed to be on board with a move for Rodri next. Madrid are considering their next move which includes whether or not to raise the amount they are willing to pay.

Carra: Don’t sell Rodri for £40-50m!

Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher:

“£40-50m? If you’re Manchester City, what’s the point in selling them? You might as well just keep them for the extra year.

“He’s as good as anybody in that position in the Premier League, probably the best. Seeing what he was like in the World Cup, it was like he was back to his best.

“I thought the second half of the season him and Bernardo Silva were fantastic and almost took Manchester City to the title.

“So, if I was the manager of Manchester City, I’d be keeping Rodri at that price. It’d have to be something really special to want me to lose arguably the best midfield player in world football.

“I think it’d be really tough for them to win the Premier League without Rodri, even though they’ve got a lot of midfielders. He’s the best, even though they’ve brought Elliot Anderson, who is one who I’m sure will learn off Rodri.

“And for me, I’d see those two as a pair. I see Elliot Anderson as almost the replacement for Bernardo Silva, who’s gone to Real Madrid. So, I think that’d be a big hole. It’d be really difficult to fill.

“When Liverpool won the title under Arne Slot, Rodri got an injury in that season very early on, which helped Liverpool and was to the detriment of Manchester City. So if I was Manchester City, I’d be keeping him and letting him go on a free.

“City paid £60m for him. If they’re getting £40m back now, what can they do with that type of money? Not a lot, really. So, I’d rather keep him.”

How much of a loss would Rodri be to Man City?

Sky Sports’ Laura Hunter:

Massive. Despite his age, and recent injury record, Rodri remains the most complete central midfielder to have operated in the Premier League over the past five years. “The best midfielder in the world by far,” maintains Pep Guardiola.

Under Guardiola, City’s in-play strategy revolved entirely around him, always impressing with his use of the ball and ability to receive in tight situations. He set the tempo for his team and controlled games as a result, doing the same for triumphant Spain this summer.

There is no current player who can condition a game like Rodri, and it is no coincidence City failed to retain their Premier League crown in the two seasons he was injury-plagued.

So, how is he replaced?

In short, he isn’t.

But in Anderson City have got a surrogate of sorts. The England international might not yet be the dictator Rodri is but he can evolve to become something close. As a box-to-box midfielder, the 23-year-old is putting up numbers that at least mean he is comparable.