After overcoming a career-threatening ankle injury and grueling rehab, Kamal Hadden battles back onto the field, fighting to climb the Green Bay Packers' wide-open defensive depth chart.
There are a ton of storylines surrounding the Green Bay Packers as they work through the early days of training camp.
The offense has a chance to be explosive, with Jordan Love having a full repertoire of weapons to throw to in Christian Watson, Matthew Golden and Jayden Reed. Let's not forget tight end Tucker Kraft, who is off the physically unable to perform list and aiming not just for a new contract, but to start in Week 1.
Defensively, the Packers are working through new coordinator Jonathan Gannon's scheme, which includes a heavy emphasis on safety play. Everything on the defensive side of things is new, but many of the same players from 2025 are expected to make plays.
Speaking of 2025, several key injuries derailed what was shaping up to be a good season. Chief among them was the torn ACL suffered by superstar pass-rusher Micah Parsons, who will miss time to start this season but just may come back better than ever.
A lot is going on in Green Bay, and that's not even to mention star running back Josh Jacobs' potential legal issues.
With all that in mind, it can be easy to sweep the story of a former sixth-round pick and depth player on defense, cornerback Jamal Hadden, making his return from a brutal ankle injury he suffered last December.
There was a chance that Hadden, 25, never played football again. Instead, over the weekend and after seventh months of intense rehab, Hadden was cleared off the physically unable to perform list.
Speaking to reporters at camp, the cornerback wanted to take time to thank Green Bay's training staff.
"I wanted to get a group picture with me and all of them because we all put in a lot of work to get back," Hadden said, according to team reporter Wes Hodkiewicz. "It was hours and hours and hours of rehab and ups and downs, emotional times and (the trainers) were there for me. They walked me through every step and every phase. It meant everything for me to get back out there."
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect.Hadden had to work hard to come back and now he'll have to work hard to get his way back onto the field and try to get some meaningful playing time. The Packers' depth chart from CB1 through CB4 seems to be set with Keisean Nixon, Carrington Valentine, rookie Brandon Cisse, and free agent pickup Benjamin St-Juste all competing for playing time, but nobody in that group is a sure thing.
If Hadden can make plays in camp, he very well could quickly find himself working up the depth chart.
At the very least, now that he's healthy, he has a chance to get back out there and play football.
That looked like a distant possibility in December of 2025. Hadden had fractured both his tibia and fibula while also dislocating his ankle.
