The Packers announced this offseason that they will be wearing 1923-inspired throwback uniforms for a game during the 2025 season and they revealed what game that will be on Friday.
They will don the blue jerseys and helmets painted to look like they’re made of leather for their Week 9 home game against the Panthers. It will be the first time that an NFL team wears modern helmets made to look like their leather ancestors. The University of Illinois wore them for a game against Michigan to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Memorial Stadium last year.
Previous Packers throwbacks have paid homage to uniforms from the 1940s and 1950s.
The Packers also announced that they will honor newly inducted Pro Football Hall of Famer Sterling Sharpe in Week 2.
Jordan Love said initially he didn’t think his left thumb injury was serious.
Love actually tore his ulnar collateral ligament, which sometimes is called “skier’s thumb,” on the final play of the first preseason game Saturday. Dr. Steven Shin, a hand specialist in Los Angeles, operated on Love on Tuesday.
With the regular season still almost a month away, and thus plenty of time to heal, Love said the decision to undergo surgery was not really a decision at all. He saw no reason to play through it.
“That was part of the debate, whether to get surgery or whether you don’t get surgery,” Love said Thursday, via Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “If this were in the middle of the season, it would probably be something we wouldn’t get the surgery on.
“But with it still being early, I’m having time to recover, be fully ready for Week 1, the recommendation was to get the surgery.”
Love will begin easing back into practice next week. He will be able to throw, but taking a snap or handing off will take some time.
“Once I get throwing and moving around and things like that, we’ll just play it by ear,” Love said. “But next week we should be starting.”
There’s some positive news on the injury front for the Packers.
Head coach Matt LaFleur told reporters on Thursday that quarterback Jordan Love’s procedure to repair a ligament in his left thumb was successful.
“Surgery went well,” LaFleur said, via Ashley Washburn of TMJ4 Milwaukee. “He’s in great spirits and he’s here with us. So, now it’s just about putting in the work to get the thumb rehabbed.”
LaFleur added that Love will be able to get back on the field and throw soon.
“I wouldn’t say right away, but we anticipate there will be some sort of participation next week,” LaFleur said.
That’s good news for the Packers, who will begin the regular season at home against the Lions on Sept. 7.
Until Love returns, Malik Willis is set to handle quarterback duties for Green Bay.
The club is in Indiana for a joint Thursday practice with the Colts. The two teams will then play an exhibition contest on Saturday afternoon.
The Packers claimed wide receiver Kawaan Baker off waivers, the team announced Wednesday.
The Raiders cut him earlier this week, only a week after signing him.
Baker a first-year player, entered the NFL as a seventh-round pick of the Saints in 2021out of the University of South Alabama. He spent most of his rookie season on the Saints’ practice squad but appeared in two games and recorded a tackle on special teams.
In 2022, the Saints cut Baker, who spent time on the practice squads of the Packers and Eagles before finishing the season on the Saints’ practice squad.
In 2023, he spent the offseason with New Orleans but was cut following training camp.
Baker was with the Patriots for the 2024 offseason and training camp.
Baker is a UFL product, playing for the San Antonio Brahmas in the spring.
The Packers are banged up at the position and needed depth to get through training camp.
Packers quarterback Jordan Love is out for about a week after undergoing surgery to repair a ligament in his left thumb on Tuesday.
That means backup Malik Willis will be leading the team’s offense for the time being.
Willis, a Titans third-round pick in the 2022 draft, was traded to the Packers late last August and had to start two games almost right away after Love suffered a knee injury in the season opener. He acquitted himself well, as Green Bay won both games.
That and the rest of Willis’ work over the last year has left a strong impression on starting running back Josh Jacobs.
“I mean, if you ask me, it’s no way this guy shouldn’t be [of the] 32 teams starting somewhere,” Jacobs said, via Dominique Yates of the Journal Sentinel. “That’s just my opinion, the way that I see him on a day-to-day basis, his attributes, the way he uses his mind and things like that — he’s a really good football player.
“We have the ultimate confidence in him. I think he’s going to do good. I’m not really too worried about it.”
Last season, Willis completed 40-of-54 passes for 550 yards with three touchdowns. He also rushed for 138 yards with a TD in his seven appearances with two starts.
