Pack's Love back at practice after thumb surgery

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Six days after he underwent surgery on his left thumb, Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love returned to practice on Monday and took part in everything except 11-on-11 drills.

Love had his left thumb wrapped at the start of practice and then when it began raining early on, he had a plastic bag covering his entire non-throwing hand.

The Packers modified some drills to keep Love's thumb out of harm's way. For shotgun plays, he started with the ball in his hand. For plays under center, he picked up the ball off a small stool in order to keep his thumb from getting any contact.

And here's Love using the stool to take the snap. pic.twitter.com/w0KZltP79T

Coach Matt LaFleur even added two periods of 7 on 7 -- something he doesn't normally do at practice because he has said he doesn't think it's a realistic drill without any offensive or defensive linemen. Love completed 16-of-24 passes during those two sessions. He was intercepted twice but showed perfect ball placement on a touchdown pass to rookie receiver Matthew Golden. Love delivered the pass on a corner route between two defenders.

Malik Willis handled all the starting quarterback reps in full team (11-on-11) periods.

Love had surgery last Tuesday to repair a ligament in the thumb, an injury that occurred in the Aug. 9 preseason opener against the Jets. Love tried to practice two days after the injury but even after making it through that session, he opted to have surgery so that he could go into the Sept. 9 regular-season opener against the Lions without having to worry about it.

The Packers have two more training camp practices this week, including a joint practice with the Seahawks on Thursday, before Saturday's preseason finale against Seattle.

While Love returned Tuesday, the Packers still had 16 players who did not practice because of injuries. The latest to join that list were: offensive linemen Aaron Banks (back) and Jacob Monk (hamstring) plus defensive linemen Kenny Clark (back) and Lukas Van Ness (back). Receiver Romeo Doubs returned to practice after sustaining a back injury last week.