When the outside linebacker group for the Green Bay Packers took to the field for practice on Saturday only 4 of the 9 players were healthy enough to participate.  It is becoming a moderate concern for the team as they prepare to meet the New England Patriots on Thursday night in the first of their four pre-season games.

In what was the final install of schemes for the upcoming season, fan favorite ‘Family Night’ was held at Lambeau Field this past Saturday night.  A paid crowd of more than 67,000, many of whom were children who might otherwise not have the opportunity to attend a Packers game, witnessed the practice which also featured player jersey giveaways and fireworks to cap off the event.

The Packers are very cautious with even the most minor of injuries at this time of year but to have so many players sitting out at one position is worrisome.  Of particular concern is that the five who sat out, along with Julius Peppers, are the heart of the OLB group.  For a defense that the coaching staff has pledged will have a faster start to the 2015 season than in previous years, the concern at 1265 Lombardi Avenue has to be growing.

Clay Matthews (knee), Nick Perry (groin), Adrian Hubbard (groin) Mike Neal (abdomen) and Jayrone Elliott (shoulder) all sat out of the Family Night practice. There is hope that Matthews will return for the preseason opener against the Pats but given the time he has already missed, it would not be surprising if he waited until after the contest to return. Mike Neal has yet to suit up at all during training camp while Perry is a relatively new injury.   

Undrafted rookies James Vaughters and Jermauria Rasco logged considerable playing time.  Veteran Julius Peppers is on a training camp ‘pitch count’ as is Andy Mulumba who is working his way back from a torn ACL.

Rasco is a converted 4-3 DE from LSU and certainly can use the work in his switch to OLB.  

When asked of the difficulty of the switch Rasco replied, "If you asked me this when we first started, I wasn't comfortable at all. I'm still learning a lot of things and slowly getting comfortable and getting in a groove. It's slowing down, especially with the dropping and stuff. You just line up and play football after that."

James Vaughters is a 6’ 2”, 258 lb. linebacker from Stanford who can also use the work.  Raw in many aspects of his game, the extra reps were welcome by the physical Vaughters who is facing an uphill battle to make the team.  Actually he showed pretty good quickness on Saturday night and would have recorded a sack on QB Aaron Rodgers had this been a real game when he got by right tack Bryan Bulaga on a slick inside move.    

Andy Mulumba who missed virtually all of last season has had a strong camp and looks to be nearly fully recovered from his torn ACL.   The work was good for Mulumba as well and he made the most of his opportunity on Saturday night.

Malumba was very upbeat after the practice when he said, "It feels good. We got so many injuries. Even me, I'm not 100 percent, but for me it's a question of getting my knee to be used to that amount of reps. Those guys will be fine. It's just a little bit of soreness here and there. They'll come back next week and I think we'll get to compete again. For me, I just take advantage of this opportunity to get to rush with Julius on the other side."

If Malumba is right, Packers fans can rest peacefully at night.  But lingering injuries to key players like Matthews and Neal are always a concern given their injury history.

The Packers don’t have a corner on the market when it comes to injuries however.  The Packers opponent on Thursday night, the New England Patriots, reportedly had 23 players miss practice on Saturday due to some sort of injury. 

It is that time of year after all.  The time for coaches and trainers to be conservative when it comes to injured players. 

It is nowhere near time for major alarm but that could change if the OLB group loses much more time due to the injury bug.