Green Bay Packers safeties Savage and Leavitt have returned to practice after a multi-week absence.
Savage was back at practice Sunday. He is expected to return to the starting lineup for the team on September 11 season opener.
The Green Bay Packers’ fourth-year safety had not practiced since suffering a mild hamstring strain during Family Night practice on August 5. He returned to the Don Hutson Center to join Sunday’s session. He said he was not worried about facing the Minnesota Vikings in two weeks at the U.S. Bank Stadium.
“I’m not trying to rush anything,” Savage said. “These things can be really tricky, so you just really have to play it smart, to your body, and more importantly listen to those guys back there (in the training room) because they have more answers than I do.”
If Savage joins the opener, the Packers would have all their preferred starters for the upcoming game. Savage started all 17 games last season and has missed only three games in his career.
“I love the pace we’re at right now,” Savage said. “(We need to) just keep communicating, being on the same page and just growing closer and closer.”
Meanwhile, Leavitt returned to Sunday’s session wearing a protective shoulder harness to restrict his movement. Leavitt has been sidelined since suffering a shoulder injury on August 12 at San Francisco.
“I’m still a ways off from where I want to be,” Leavitt said. “I’m trying to get healthy and get strong so I can go out there and play. (But today was) big progress. For sure. Being able to put the pads on, it was good to be out there and be around my teammates again.”
Leavitt was careful not to declare that he was ready to play in Week 1. He said he felt like he was running on baby deer legs after a long rest. The ace had been in rehabilitation for a couple of weeks. His next appearance will be a warm-up for the upcoming matchups.
“I just can’t live like that, you know what I mean? I’m not OK with being out, so I’m going to do everything I can to get back,” Leavitt said.
“Yeah, it was painful. It’s on tape. You can see how much pain I was in. It was extremely painful, I’ll just put it like that. Definitely the most painful – pure pain – injury I’ve ever had on.”
Leavitt led the Raiders in special teams tackles. He quickly rose to the top of all four phases of special teams.
Coach LaFleur refuses to announce starting lineup before deadline
With the return of Savage and Leavitt, the team now appears to be in good shape. However, Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur refused to announce his starting lineup before Tuesday’s final cutdown deadline.
“Certainly there’s a lot of tough decisions that are going to be made over the next couple of days,” LaFleur said. “Anytime you invest a first-round pick in that room, you upgrade that room quite a bit. And the other guys are doing a good job.”