Whatever the Green Bay Packers hoped to see from running back MarShawn Lloyd, he hasn't shown it. Week 6 against the Dallas Cowboys was another clunker: eight carries for 10 yards and no spark to speak of.
With Josh Jacobs officially off the Commissioner's Exempt List and eligible to return this week, Lloyd's role in the running back rotation is in precarious shape.
Lloyd began the year as Green Bay's RB1. Against Dallas, recent practice-squad promotion Pierre Strong Jr. got most of the work. Lloyd got some extra garbage-time carries in to close the gap in the box score.
If Jacobs indeed suits up against the Detroit Lions, it's hard to imagine any running back getting much work behind him. As for Lloyd, he has to wonder whether he's even the next man up.
Packers may not give MarShawn Lloyd much action moving forward
On the season, Lloyd has 48 carries for 122 yards and two touchdowns, both in Week 5 against the Bears. He's arguably been more useful as a pass-catcher. In either capacity, Lloyd has lacked the explosiveness Packers fans anticipated so eagerly with the former third-round pick finally back healthy.
His longest run is 12 yards. Lloyd's biggest gain came on a 16-yard reception, but he's only averaging 5.5 yards per catch. While some of his former burst showed up versus Chicago, for the most part, Lloyd has had his wheels stuck in the mud. What happened?
The Packers' offensive line happened, for one thing, although the group is improving. Perhaps Lloyd's lower-body injuries, which cost him most of his rookie year and all of last season, have taken their toll. Whatever the case, he hasn't even been the most explosive running back in Green Bay's league-worst room.
That would be trade pickup Kaleb Johnson, who sat out the first half in Week 5 and saw only four snaps on Sunday. He carried the ball for minus-two yards. The Packers have seemingly been out on Johnson since his goal-line fumble in Tampa Bay.
Lloyd probably doesn't have much to worry about there, despite matching Johnson with two of his own fumbles this season. Chris Brooks is on injured reserve with an ankle injury. By rule, he'll have to miss at least two more games.
What the Packers seemingly made clear is that Strong has already leapfrogged Lloyd in the pecking order. In addition to 11 carries (for a measly 28 yards), Strong also caught five passes for 39. He outsnapped Lloyd on offense 41 to 30. Strong's physicality helps in blocking, where Lloyd has struggled.
That might just be a one-game experiment, but if Lloyd wanted to make his case, he sure didn't help himself against the Cowboys. What happens to his roster spot once Brooks returns and Jacobs does not face a suspension later in the year?
Week 6 may have been Lloyd's last chance to make a positive impression.
Add us as a preferred source on Google