Green Bay Packers: Darnell Savage updates status of hamstring injury

Friday, during the Green Bay Packers’ “Family Night” practice, Darnell Savage left with a hamstring injury. Afterward, he provided an update — one Packers fans will like to hear.

Savage said his injury isn’t serious and he doesn’t think it’ll be a long-term issue. That’s good news considering Savage is coming off a good year in 2021, totaling 63 tackles and two interceptions.

“I don’t think it’s a concern,” Savage said, via the Associated Press. “It’s a fast-people injury. Some of those things you can’t avoid. I’ll just handle it the right way and listen to those guys back there and I’ll be all right.”

After the injury, Savage spent the rest of the practice with ice around his leg. But still, the former first-round pick should be good to go once Week 1 comes around next month.

Green Bay selected Savage as the No. 21 overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft after a four-year career at Maryland, which ended with second team All-Big Ten honors in 2018. He helped the Packers to a 13-4 overall record and another NFC North title in 2021.

NFL analyst tabs Eric Stokes as 2022 breakout candidate for Packers

The Green Bay Packers had to throw Eric Stokes into the fire last season. An injury to Jaire Alexander pushed Stokes into a position where he became a lead of their secondary.

By season’s end, though, he passed with flying colors.

When naming his top second season corners in the NFL, DeAngelo Hall included Stokes to his list. He highlighted Alexander’s injury as giving Stokes an extra opportunity. In turn, it helped get him the stats to justify his place on the list.

“With premier cover corner Jaire Alexander missing 13 games last season, Stokes was forced to step up and cover WR1s for the Packers’ D,” Hall said. “The first-round pick rose to the occasion and played well in Joe Barry’s scheme, allowing the second-lowest rate of open targets among all cornerbacks with 25-plus targets (24%) and a passer rating of 78.8 in coverage (second-lowest among rookie CBs in that group), per PFF. He also was one of the 15 highest-graded cornerbacks by PFF in the NFL from Week 12 on (among those with a minimum of 100 snaps).”