GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Green Bay Packers cornerback Nate Hobbs won't be practicing for a while after undergoing surgery for a torn meniscus on his right knee over the weekend.
How much time he will miss remains uncertain.
“I’m not going to put a timetable on it, but unfortunately he had to have something cleaned up,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said Tuesday. “We’re hoping to get him back here sooner than later.”
While talking to reporters after Tuesday's practice, Hobbs was asked about his confidence level about being ready for the start of the season. Hobbs expressed his optimism by referring to his faith.
“I’ve been hurt before,” Hobbs said. “I came back before. I played in big games. I’ve been asked to do things that I didn’t know I could do till I did them. So, I have full confidence in God, first and foremost.”
Hobbs said the injury arose from a collision during Thursday's practice. Hobbs hasn't been practicing since. Hobbs said he initially didn't consider it anything more than a minor bump but added that “it turned out to be something deeper than that.”
The Packers signed Hobbs to a four-year, $48 million contract in March after he spent his first four seasons with the Las Vegas Raiders. The 26-year-old Hobbs started 38 games, forced three fumbles and intercepted three passes during his time in Las Vegas.
He made his presence felt early in training camp by displaying such a physical style that LaFleur had to offer a warning about not getting overly aggressive as the Packers try to remain as healthy as possible.
Now Hobbs is the one dealing with an injury.
“I was having a good camp and I was proving to my teammates and gaining their trust," Hobbs said. “That’s something I take real serious. Just trying to be the best version of myself out there. And so, whenever you truly try to do that and something like that happens, it hurts. But you either take that and use it or take that as something that’s going to hold you back or look at it like a lesson. I’m a big spiritual guy, so I felt like God’s trying to talk to me, tell me something and send me down, honestly.”
Hobbs is expected to help the Packers absorb the loss of two-time Pro Bowl cornerback Jaire Alexander, who got released in June and has since signed with the Baltimore Ravens. The Packers entered training camp with Keisean Nixon, Hobbs and Carrington Valentine as their top three cornerbacks.
The Packers have attempted to increase their cornerback depth by having wide receiver Bo Melton work primarily on defense in training camp. They also added a familiar face Monday by signing Corey Ballentine, three days after the Indianapolis Colts released him.
Ballentine, 29, made seven starts and appeared in 37 regular-season games and three playoff games with the Packers from 2022-24. He contributed primarily on special teams last season.
“I’m looking forward to the opportunity,” Ballentine said. “I had fun when I was here and I know the guys already. I know the defense, I’m familiar with it. I was looking forward to the opportunity.”
Ballentine said he didn't have any hard feelings after the Packers had allowed him to leave for Indianapolis via free agency five months ago.
“I think traditionally the team has been a younger team in the league and I’m going on Year 7, so I wasn’t really surprised that that happened,” Ballentine said. “There wasn’t any type of bad blood, I feel like. I wasn’t upset about it. So things happen. It’s business. It’s the league. So, yeah, I wasn’t to stressed about it, but I’m happy to be back.”
Linebacker Quay Walker participated in 11-on-11 drills Tuesday for the first time in this training camp after undergoing ankle surgery. The 2022 first-round pick discussed the surgery while speaking to reporters.
“I came back for OTAs (organized team activities) and tried to do something and I just knew something ain’t feeling right,” said Walker, who has led the Packers in tackles each of his three seasons. “I didn’t want it just to linger on throughout the season, so I was like, I think the smart idea, probably go in and have surgery during OTAs and get it out the way.”
NOTES: LaFleur said he has decided on whether he will play starters in the Packers' preseason opener against the New York Jets, but he didn't detail those plans in his Tuesday news conference. He has told his starters to be ready. “Well, they’re football players, so everybody’s got to go into it expecting to play," LaFleur said. ... The Packers signed offensive lineman Lecitus Smith and waived wide receiver Sam Brown because of injury.
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Green Bay Packers' Carrington Valentine (24) and Nate Hobbs (21) run a drill during an NFL football practice Sunday, July 27, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)
Green Bay Packers' Nate Hobbs runs a drill during an NFL football practice Sunday, July 27, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)
Green Bay Packers' Nate Hobbs runs a drill during an NFL football practice Sunday, July 27, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)
A federal appeals panel on Thursday reversed a lower court decision that released former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil from an immigration jail, bringing the government one step closer to detaining and ultimately deporting the Palestinian activist.
The three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals didn’t decide the key issue in Khalil’s case: whether the Trump administration’s effort to throw Khalil out of the U.S. over his campus activism and criticism of Israel is unconstitutional.
But in its 2-1 decision, the panel ruled a federal judge in New Jersey didn’t have jurisdiction to decide the matter at this time. Federal law requires the case to fully move through the immigration courts first, before Khalil can challenge the decision, they wrote.
“That scheme ensures that petitioners get just one bite at the apple — not zero or two,” the panel wrote. “But it also means that some petitioners, like Khalil, will have to wait to seek relief for allegedly unlawful government conduct.”
The law bars Khalil “from attacking his detention and removal in a habeas petition,” the panel added.
It was not clear whether the government would seek to detain Khalil, a legal permanent resident, again while his legal challenges continue.
Thursday’s decision marked a major win for the Trump administration’s sweeping campaign to detain and deport noncitizens who joined protests against Israel.
In a statement distributed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Khalil said the appeals ruling was “deeply disappointing, but it does not break our resolve.”
He added: “The door may have been opened for potential re-detainment down the line, but it has not closed our commitment to Palestine and to justice and accountability. I will continue to fight, through every legal avenue and with every ounce of determination, until my rights, and the rights of others like me, are fully protected.”
Baher Azmy, one of Khalil's lawyers, said the ruling was “contrary to rulings of other federal courts.” He noted the panel’s finding concerned a “hypertechnical jurisdictional matter,” rather than the legality of the Trump administration’s policy.
“Our legal options are by no means concluded, and we will fight with every available avenue,” he added, saying Khalil would remain free pending the full resolution of all appeals, which could take months or longer.
The ACLU said the Trump administration cannot lawfully re-detain Khalil until the order takes formal effect, which won't happen while he can still immediately appeal.
Khalil's lawyers can request the active judges on the 3rd Circuit hear an appeal, or they can go to the U.S. Supreme Court.
An outspoken leader of the pro-Palestinian movement at Columbia, Khalil was arrested on March 8, 2025. He then spent three months detained in a Louisiana immigration jail, missing the birth of his firstborn.
Federal officials have accused Khalil of leading activities “aligned to Hamas,” though they have not presented evidence to support the claim and have not accused him of criminal conduct. They have also accused Khalil, 30, of failing to disclose information on his green card application.
The government has justified the arrest under a seldom-used statute that allows for the expulsion of noncitizens whose beliefs are deemed to pose a threat to U.S. foreign policy interests.
In June, a federal judge in New Jersey ruled that justification would likely be declared unconstitutional and ordered Khalil released.
President Donald Trump's administration appealed that ruling, arguing the deportation decision should fall to an immigration judge, rather than a federal court.
Khalil has dismissed the allegations as “baseless and ridiculous,” framing his arrest and detention as a “direct consequence of exercising my right to free speech as I advocated for a free Palestine and an end to the genocide in Gaza.”
Judge Arianna Freeman dissented Thursday, writing that her colleagues were holding Khalil to the wrong legal standard. Khalil, she wrote, is raising “now-or-never claims” that can be handled at the district court level. He does not have a final order of removal, which would permit a challenge in an appellate court, she wrote.
Both judges who ruled against Khalil, Thomas Hardiman and Stephanos Bibas, were Republican appointees. President George W. Bush appointed Hardiman to the 3rd Circuit, while Trump appointed Bibas. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, appointed Freeman.
The majority opinion noted Freeman worried the ruling would leave Khalil with no remedy for unconstitutional immigration detention, even if he later can appeal.
“But our legal system routinely forces petitioners — even those with meritorious claims — to wait to raise their arguments, the judges wrote. “To be sure, the immigration judge’s order of removal is not yet final; the Board has not affirmed her ruling and has held the parties’ briefing deadlines in abeyance pending this opinion. But if the Board ultimately affirms, Khalil can get meaningful review.”
The decision comes as an appeals board in the immigration court system weighs a previous order that found Khalil could be deported. His attorneys have argued that the federal order should take precedence.
That judge has suggested Khalil could be deported to Algeria, where he maintains citizenship through a distant relative, or Syria, where he was born in a refugee camp to a Palestinian family.
His attorneys have said he faces mortal danger if forced to return to either country.
Associated Press Writer Larry Neumeister contributed to this story.
FILE - Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil holds a news conference outside Federal Court on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025 in Philadelphia (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
