GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love says the thumb on his non-throwing hand feels fine a week after he underwent surgery on it.
Love was limited to participating in 7-on-7 drills Thursday during a joint practice with the Seattle Seahawks, but said he’d be able to play if the Packers had a regular-season game this week. Love has been practicing all week with his left thumb heavily taped.
“It feels good right now,” Love said.
The health of his receiving group is a bit less certain with Jayden Reed (foot), Dontayvion Wicks (calf) and rookie third-round pick Savion Williams (hamstring) all limited to varying degrees as the Packers close training camp and prepare for their Sept. 7 opener against the Detroit Lions.
Green Bay’s injury issues at receiver may help explain why Love went just 3 of 12 in red zone drills against Seattle’s defense on Thursday.
“I think those guys have been doing a great job staying locked in on the side,” Love said. “Obviously, they’re missing a lot of reps, which isn’t great, but I think once they get back out there, we’ll be able to hit the ground running.”
As for the Seahawks’ quarterback situation, coach Mike Macdonald said rookie third-round pick Jalen Milroe will play the entire preseason game Saturday at Green Bay as Sam Darnold gets to rest for the regular-season opener Sept. 7 against the San Francisco 49ers.
“I think it’s just a great opportunity for him to get great experience,” Macdonald said. “All rookies, they need reps, they need experience. Jalen’s right there. He’s really excited for the opportunity. He’s going to do a great job. Go out, operate the offense and go play ball the way you know how.”
Two fights took place in rapid-fire succession between Green Bay’s offense and Seattle’s defense during red zone drills. Some of the main participants included Packers right tackle Zach Tom, Seahawks linebacker Ernest Jones IV and Seahawks cornerback Devon Witherspoon.
Tom said afterward that he was kicked out of the joint practice for throwing a punch.
“They were in our huddle and I saw somebody to my left got hit, so I just reacted,” Tom said. “So, it’s really nothing more than that.”
The jawing between the two teams continued even after practice had ended, which annoyed Seahawks defensive end Leonard Williams.
“I didn’t appreciate in general them coming to our sideline while practice is over and we already broke the huddle,” Williams said. “Our guys are on our side, their guys are on their side, and people were coming over. It’s hard with these joint practices because stuff like that always happens. You don’t want it to happen, but it just happens. We try to avoid it as much as possible. Yeah, I didn’t appreciate it.”
Packers cornerback Keisean Nixon was one of the players doing some trash-talking at the end of the practice. Nixon said it shouldn’t be much of a surprise when fights occur during joint practices.
“I mean the coaches are not going to like it, but it just comes with the territory, for real,” Nixon said. “That’s just how it goes. It’s too many alphas on the field.”
NOTES: Seahawks RB Kenneth Walker Jr., who has been limited by a sore foot for much of camp, was a full participant in Thursday’s practice. … Macdonald says he plans to announce the Seahawks starters at center and right guard next week. Jalen Sundell, Anthony Bradford, Olu Oluwatimi, Christian Haynes and Josh Jones are competing for the two spots. … Packers S Evan Williams delivered one of the best plays of Thursday’s practice when he intercepted a long pass from Darnold during two-minute drills. Other standouts included Seahawks WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Packers TEs Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave. … Packers S Xavier McKinney participated in individual drills Thursday. The All-Pro selection has been dealing with a calf issue during training camp. “I feel good,” McKinney said. “Like said before, I’ll be ready to go. Right now, I’m just trying to make sure that my wind is where it needs to be and just continuing to sharpen up while I’m not actually out there practicing. So that’s really all I need.”
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love watches during an NFL football joint training camp with the Indianapolis Colts, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025, in Westfield, Westfield, Ind. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love, right, talks with quarterback Malik Willis during the second half of a preseason NFL football game against the Indianapolis Colts, Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
NEW YORK (AP) — Ryan Weathers was steamed when he found out he was joining the New York Yankees.
“I had had just finished up my bullpen and I get back to the house — I have like a little travel sauna,” he recalled Thursday. “I literally probably had sat on my couch for about two seconds and I got a phone call from Peter Bendix that I had been traded.”
Bendix, Miami's president of baseball operations, sent the 26-year-old left-hander to New York for four prospects on Tuesday: outfielders Brendan Jones and Dillon Lewis, and infielders Dylan Jasso and Juan Matheus.
Weathers is the son of David Weathers, a pitcher who helped the Yankees win the 1996 World Series after he was acquired from the Marlins at the trade deadline.
“We’ve kind of had a weird, similar paths as to how we got to New York,” Ryan Weathers said.
David was in the Dodger Stadium bullpen when he found out two minutes before the trade deadline he had been dealt to the Yankees. Manager Rene Lachemann called him on the bullpen phone and said Weathers needed to speak with general manager Dave Dombrowski.
“I went in the locker room and Kevin Brown, Al Leiter, John Burkett, Robb Nen, they said, `Hey man, good luck. You're going to win a World Series ring,' and they turned out to be prophetic,” David Weathers said.
David learned his son had been traded while watching a basketball game with wife Kelli at Loretto High School in Loretto, Tennessee, where he has coached baseball.
“One of my friends came up and said, `I think Ryan’s been traded to the Yankees.' And I said: `Well, if he has, I hadn’t heard anything about it,'" David recalled. "We laughed, and about that time my phone started ringing. It was Ryan.”
When Ryan makes his Yankees debut, they will become the fifth father-son duo for the pinstripes, joining Yogi and Dale Berra, Clay and Cody Bellinger, Mark Leiter and Mark Leiter Jr., and Ron Davis and Ike Davis.
Ryan was in shock when he spoke with Yankees general manager Brian Cashman and manager Aaron Boone.
“I just couldn’t believe that the New York Yankees were a team that I could ever have a chance to play for," he said.
New York’s rotation at the season's start projects to also include Max Fried, Cam Schlittler, Will Warren and Luis Gil while Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón rehab from injuries.
Weathers, 26, was 2-2 with a 3.99 ERA in eight starts last year in his second straight injury-shortened season. He missed time with a strained left flexor, made his season debut on May 14, then didn’t pitch for Miami between June 7 and Sept. 11 because of a left lat strain.
He was 5-6 with a 3.63 ERA over 16 starts in 2024, when he was sidelined by a strained left index finger.
“This is the best I’ve probably felt in a year-and-a-half,” Weathers said. “I really did a dive and worked with company on figuring out how to lengthen my lat out, lengthen my back out. We really adjusted a lot of my lifting patterns. We really adjusted my mobility and my prep work, and I think my arm is reaping the benefits right now.”
Ryan grew up in big league clubhouses and remembered the Cincinnati Reds' room with Ken Griffey Jr. and Joey Votto. He played pickle with Dusty Baker, Ramón Hernández, Eric Milton and Juan Castro.
“There’s been a lot of hours put in the Cincinnati Reds' batting cages,” Weathers said. “I just remember Pops taking me to the field every day. I know when his arm was hurting, he’d still throw me BP.”
Ryan was the seventh overall pick by San Diego in the 2008 amateur draft and made his first big league appearance against the Dodgers in the 2020 NL Division Series — among only six players to make a major league debut in the postseason. His dad's knowledge helped him during tough times.
“When I first started going through it and getting adversity and getting traded, he really helped me along those lines of figuring out: This is what you do with your new team. This was what you do in your day-to-day,” Ryan said. “So I’ve been doing mechanics since I was age 10.”
He has remained close with pitcher Aaron Harang, a teammate of his father who last played in 2015.
“He still texts me all the time,” Weathers said. “When I was younger, I didn’t really care about pitching. I just wanted to hit bombs in the outfield, so I didn’t really think about it.”
For David, pitching in the World Series was less nerve-racking than being in the seats at Ryan's games.
“It’s way tougher being a dad and watching your son pitch than being a pitcher,” David said. “When he pitches, man, it is just like all day, it’s like I’m pitching. I’m thinking about what I would do, how I would attack these guys.”
Notes: New York finalized its $2 million, one-year contract with right-hander Paul Blackburn.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
FILE - Miami Marlins starting pitcher Ryan Weathers throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Sept. 24, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson, File)
