With a clean bill of health and Josh Jacobs one of the team’s 29 players who didn’t dress for the exhibition contest, the Green Bay Packers intended to finally showcase Lloyd and see what they could have in the product from USC. He carried the ball six times for 15 yards in the first quarter alone, as well as drew four targets from Malik Willis in the passing game. However, that audition was short-lived.

In his third offensive series as the starting running back, Willis found Lloyd on a wheel route along the right sideline for what went down as a 33-yard completion. It exemplified just how dynamic Lloyd could be for head coach Matt LaFleur and was the biggest play of his career to date. Stumbling after the catch, Lloyd exploited his one-on-one matchup with linebacker Austin Ajake, but as Ajake made up ground to tackle Lloyd, safety Rodney Thomas also came flying in to deliver a hard hit to the tailback.

Lloyd absorbed the hit, got up slowly and composed himself on the Packers’ sideline. He’d ultimately report hamstring tightness to the team’s medical staff and withdrew himself from the game, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Tom Silverstein.

When LaFleur was asked whether or not Lloyd was going to be okay after the game, he said, “We’ll see.”

Of course, hamstring tightness isn’t as severe as a hamstring strain. Lloyd shouldn’t miss extensive time unless further tests confirm something much worse once the team returns to Green Bay.

It also isn’t encouraging considering the fact that, aside from an ankle injury that sent him to injured reserve as a rookie, all Lloyd has dealt with are soft-tissue dilemmas.

He dropped out of the first padded practice of the summer on July 28 with a groin injury, forcing him to miss seven practice sessions before returning on Aug. 11. He didn’t play in the Packers’ exhibition opener against the New York Jets.

For all but 10 snaps, Lloyd essentially redshirted his rookie season. He missed the majority of the summer with a hamstring injury that occurred in the Packers’ Aug. 10 preseason opener. Once he made his debut on Sept. 15 against the Colts, he carried the ball six times for 15 yards—an eerie coincidence—and caught one pass for three yards before leaving with the aforementioned ankle ailment.

The Packers placed Lloyd on season-ending injured reserve, allowing him to rehabilitate and fixate on returning for his sophomore campaign at full strength. They were ramping him up for an in-season return in November, however, Lloyd had appendicitis and had to undergo an emergency appendectomy.

This is just the latest setback for the former third-round pick, who possesses all of the skill in the world and certainly has the burst that the Packers would covet in their running game. It’s just a matter of staying available, which Lloyd has not.

It’s unlikely that he’ll fall out of favor in a crowded room of running backs—as a former draft pick who the front office is high on, he’ll have priority to secure a spot on the 53-man roster. But it’s going to be a tall task trimming down that position group when just about everyone has shown that they belong this summer.

Amar Johnson ripped off a 39-yard touchdown run against the Jets last week and found the end zone for a second time against the Colts.

Israel Abanikanda, who was claimed off of waivers from the San Francisco 49ers earlier this month, ran 12 times for 43 yards and a touchdown of his own against the Colts, including rushing 11 times on a 14-play, 80-yard scoring drive in the second half.

The Packers also sport the familiar tandem of Emanuel Wilson and Chris Brooks, who rounded out the depth chart behind Jacobs a season ago.

Wilson has either led or finished second in the league in rushing yards in each of the last two preseasons while Brooks is arguably the best pass-protecting running back on the roster—that alone may be enough to solidify his spot on the team.