If you didn’t insist on paying the Green Bay Packers to sit in Lambeau Field and watch them practice, this never would have happened. Rookie tight end Colt Lyerla suffered what appears to be a serious leg injury during Family Night.
We’re kidding of course — about the paying for practice part, not the injury. Kind of.
The Packers eliminated the intrasquad scrimmage from Family Night altogether this year for this very reason — because they didn’t want to get anyone seriously injured. But, because they’re the Packers, that couldn’t be avoided.
Lyerla suffered the injury after catching a pass and trying to hurdle a defender. He was on crutches after practice and no one was ready to speculate on the seriousness of his injury.
However, no one was quick to say he’d be back this week, so we know it’s likely going to be longer than that.
Lyerla, who’s trying to make the team as an undrafted rookie after leaving his Oregon team last September, hasn’t looked good in camp so far. That’s probably not out of the ordinary for a guy who hasn’t played football in almost a year.
He had been starting to show signs of coming on late in the week, however.
At this point, the best scenario for Lyerla might be if the injury is season ending. That would give him a year to hang around Green Bay, learn the system, work out and so forth, and then try to make the team next season. If he’s out, say, three weeks, then he has virtually no shot of making the roster. He’ll be too far behind the guys who are healthy.
Expect more on Lyerla on Monday.