GREEN BAY, Wis. — When the Green Bay Packers begin their regular season against the Minnesota Vikings two weeks from Sunday, the Packers’ starting running back will likely be a guy who has played in one game over two seasons in the NFL.MarShawn Lloyd is fast. He’s explosive. He’s shifty. More so in all three areas than any other running back on the team. But he has also struggled to stay healthy since entering the league as a 2024 third-round pick out of USC. A litany of injuries has limited him to just seven career touches.The Packers have been able to compensate for Lloyd’s absences because they’ve had Josh Jacobs as their feature back and Emanuel Wilson as a reliable No. 2. Now, however, the Packers can’t afford for Lloyd to miss any more time after the NFL placed Jacobs on the commissioner exempt list on Sunday (and Wilson signed with the Seattle Seahawks in free agency).Top Plays from Cardinals @ PackersJacobs, who was formally charged with misdemeanor battery and criminal damage to property on Thursday, can’t practice or play while on the list and only Commissioner Roger Goodell can remove him from it. We don’t know when Goodell will remove him from the list or how long, if at all, Jacobs will be suspended. All we know for certain is that right now, Lloyd is the No. 1 running back in Green Bay, which is equal parts enticing and worrisome.“I’m a baller,” Lloyd said on Wednesday. “You just gotta be ready whenever your number’s called.”Nobody would blame Packers fans if they’re skeptical about Lloyd’s availability, even if he hasn’t missed a practice this summer and has devoted extensive time this offseason to solving his body’s problems. Even longtime Packers running backs coach Ben Sirmans admitted that he’s held his breath at times this summer watching Lloyd practice.“He’s proven that he’s done some different things with his body this summer and over OTAs. Prepares himself the right way,” Sirmans said. “We’re starting to feel a lot more confident that he’s going to be fine, but you still have to be cautious.”Lloyd has battled hamstring, hip, ankle, groin and calf injuries with the Packers — even appendicitis — and been the living, breathing embodiment of a tease. When Lloyd has been on the field, it’s clear why the Packers have stuck by him, something he’s said he doesn’t take for granted while barely playing in two years. In just a small sample size against the Denver Broncos last week, Lloyd shook an outside linebacker for a touchdown catch, muscled through multiple defenders for a first-down run and showed his burst getting to the edge. The talent is tantalizing. Now, if he remains healthy, the question becomes whether Lloyd can handle a feature back’s workload.Lloyd averaged just 10.5 carries per game his final year at USC, where Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams handed him the ball. He averaged just 9.1 carries per game in his three-year college career.“I haven’t really had a high workload since high school,” Lloyd said.Without Jacobs, the Packers don’t exactly have mouth-watering options to relieve Lloyd when he needs a break. Chris Brooks is an efficient runner and phenomenal pass protector, but he’s better suited as a No. 3 back with special teams ability. The Packers acquired 2025 third-round pick Kaleb Johnson from the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, but there’s a reason the Steelers gave up on him after just one season.Here’s what The Athletic’s Steelers writer Mike DeFabo says about Johnson:“He carried the ball 28 times for 69 yards with zero touchdowns last year. Johnson’s stock continued to fall this preseason. While he has a 6-foot-1, 224-pound frame, his limited play speed (4.57 40-yard dash) was evident. He lacked explosiveness and rarely created more than what was blocked.”It might be time to truly let Jordan Love cook.Here are four other takeaways from the Packers’ cutdown day activity.Streak (probably) continuesIt’s called the initial 53-man roster for a reason, not the Week 1 53-man roster. The Packers’ active squad will even be different come Monday if they claim anyone released on waivers Sunday. But if wide receiver J. Michael Sturdivant sticks until Sept. 13, that’ll be 22 consecutive years that an undrafted rookie makes the Packers’ Week 1 active roster.Sturdivant earned his spot with a summer full of impressive catches — he caught six passes for 112 yards and a touchdown in the preseason finale — but Packers head coach Matt LaFleur also recently praised Sturdivant’s willingness to block on offense and his ability on special teams. Those are requirements to make the team as a wide receiver unlikely to catch many passes this season.“One thing that I really like about J-Mike is he is a really intelligent player,” LaFleur said. “I think he learns and grows every day. He learns sometimes there’s some failure in there, and he learns from it, and then he doesn’t make the same mistakes. So I thought he had a pretty strong camp.”J. Michael Sturdivant scores a touchdown against the Cardinals in the Packers’ preseason finale. (Tork Mason / Imagn Images)Thin on the edgeThe Packers kept only four edge rushers on their initial squad — Lukas Van Ness, Barryn Sorrell, Brenton Cox Jr. and rookie fourth-round pick Dani Dennis-Sutton. All four might get significant playing time, with defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon likely to rotate at that position to keep guys fresh.Micah Parsons will start the season on the physically unable to perform list, as expected, and will miss at least the first four games while finishing ACL recovery. Second-year edge Collin Oliver remains bitten by the injury bug, and the 2025 fifth-round pick will miss at least the first four games on IR with a calf injury after missing all but one game last regular season with a hamstring issue.The Packers also released edge Arron Mosby, who played the fourth-highest percentage of special teams snaps on the team last season (52.74). If he’s back on the practice squad, he could be a candidate for one of the gameday elevation spots to start the season.Tight end shakeupWith Luke Musgrave still sidelined by an offseason neck injury and set to miss at least the first four games while on the PUP list, the Packers made two additions to their tight end room.They signed free agent Jonnu Smith, a 31-year-old who caught 38 passes for 222 yards and two touchdowns last season for the Steelers. He also played for LaFleur in 2018 when LaFleur called offensive plays for the Tennessee Titans.The Packers also traded a 2028 seventh-round pick to the Los Angeles Rams for tight end Mark Redman, a 2025 undrafted free agent who stands 6 feet, 5 inches and 258 pounds. Redman spent all of last season on the Rams’ practice squad and caught six passes for 63 yards this preseason.Drake Dabney ran with the starters at times this preseason in Green Bay, but he was released to make room while Josh Whyle stuck on the initial roster.More to comeThe Packers’ likely practice squad quarterback will come from outside the building (Will Levis, anyone?) after they traded Kyle McCord to the Miami Dolphins for a 2027 sixth-round pick.McCord had an efficient and impressive preseason after joining the Packers as a reserve/future signing in January and now becomes Malik Willis’ backup for general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan, head coach Jeff Hafley and the Miami Packers.Despite his four-touchdown game to close the preseason, McCord seemed unlikely to make the initial roster as a third quarterback since the Packers haven’t kept three at the position since 2020. They had to that year because Love wasn’t ready as a rookie to back up Aaron Rodgers and they couldn’t subject him to waivers, hence the Tim Boyle presence. If the Packers cut McCord, it’s now evident that at least the Dolphins would’ve claimed him on waivers.“He did a heck of a job, man,” LaFleur said of McCord on Friday night. “He was so just poised in his ability to operate and function. He definitely has the demeanor, no doubt about it. He’s in total control out there and he’s willing to stand in the pocket, deliver in the face of pressure.”Could the Packers have kept McCord on the 53 and developed him into next year’s backup, assuming Tyrod Taylor leaves or retires? Sure, but that takes away a roster spot from an immediate special teams contributor on a win-now team.