NFL: Packers to keep resting starters
Notice: Undefined variable: article_ad_placement3 in /usr/web/cs-washington.ogdennews.com/wp-content/themes/News_Core_2023_WashCluster/single.php on line 128
MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers and most of Green Bay’s other starters will open the season without having played in any of the Packers’ three exhibition games.
Packers coach Matt LaFleur said Tuesday that Rodgers and the other Packers who hadn’t played in the first two exhibition games also will be held out of Green Bay’s preseason finale Thursday at Kansas City.
The Packers want to make sure they kept their key players healthy for the Sept. 11 regular-season opener at Minnesota. Most of the regulars got plenty of reps last week when the Packers held two days of joint practices with the New Orleans Saints.
“Just the risk vs. reward, knowing it’s a long season, having 17 games,” LaFleur said. “I think early in we get stressed with travel in the season, as well. … You factor in everything.”
The Packers are away from Lambeau Field for six of their first nine games, including an Oct. 9 date with the New York Giants in London that technically counts as a home game.
Zuerlein wins Jets job: Greg Zuerlein booted his way to a win in the New York Jets’ kicking competition, beating out incumbent Eddy Pineiro.
Zuerlein, nicknamed “Greg the Leg,” was released by Dallas in March and signed by New York to a one-year, $2 million contract.
Young on PUP list: Chase Young will miss the Washington Commanders’ first four games of the season after landing on the reserve/physically unable to perform list.
Young, the 2020 Defensive Rookie of the Year, is working back from surgery to repair a torn ACL in his right knee. That surgery involved grafting part of his left patellar tendon to fix the tear.
Chiefs’ Bell has surgery: Chiefs tight end Blake Bell had surgery to repair what coach Andy Reid has termed an “unusual” hip flexor injury, leaving them without their primary backup to Travis Kelce for at least the start of the regular season.
Bell hurt the hip on a touchdown catch during the Chiefs’ preseason opener Aug. 13 in Chicago. He tried to play through it but ultimately left the game, and the veteran tight end has not played or practiced since.
Asked when Bell might return to the field, Reid said Tuesday: “I don’t think it’s going to be real quick.”
Reid didn’t say whether Bell would be placed on injured reserve next week, when teams are required to reduce their roster to the regular-season limit of 53 players. But he did acknowledge that “we’re kind of throwing some things around.”