Come Saturday night, the boys will certainly be used to the cold. The Packers worked outside for a second straight day Wednesday and even though the temperature flirted with 20 degrees, a stiff breeze dropped the wind chill effect to near zero. The forecast for Saturday night’s NFC Divisional Playoff showdown with the San Francisco 49ers is calling for single digits and sub-zero wind chills.
The padded workout saw David Bakhtiari return after his “load management” day off to begin the week of preparation. The only two players who did not participate for tight end Marcedes Lewis, given his weekly day of rest and wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling. That was a bit more concerning after MVS did practice Tuesday coming off a back injury from the Lions game. Whether it tightened up again remains to be seen but if he doesn’t finish the practice week on Thursday, his status for the game will be in doubt.
Head Coach Matt LaFleur said another receiver will be back. Randall Cobb should make his return after undergoing core muscle surgery following the victory over the Los Angeles Rams. He got hurt on his touchdown catch which capped a 5 catch, 95 yard first half in that game. LaFleur said Cobb’s looked good at practice the past couple of weeks.
The biggest surprise of the day came well after practice when General Manager Brian Gutekunst issued press release saying the team has waived defensive tackle Kingsley Keke. The 5th round pick of Gutekunst out of Texas A&M in 2019 last played against the Baltimore Ravens. He was placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list in December, came out of the protocol, dealt with a concussion and was then a healthy scratch for the last couple of games. When asked why he didn’t play down the stretch and was eventually waived, Defensive Coordinator Joe Barry took a pass. He said he didn’t want to get into personnel decisions made by Gutekunst in concert with LaFleur, his job was to coach players that are here. Keke was expected to be a key player in the defensive line rotation after showing promise last year with a pair of two-sack games. This year he produced 2 and a half sacks with 4 pressures and three passes knocked down. But something went awry in the second half of the season. Keke finished his Packer career with 41 games played and 17 starts.
