The Green Bay Packers received major news for their defense on Thursday. Cornerback Jaire Alexander, who missed the Pittsburgh Steelers game because of a shoulder injury, was back at practice three days before the game against the Los Angeles Chargers.

On Wednesday, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur indicated that Alexander was getting closer to a return.

"I think he's getting better," LaFleur said. "But he's still not ready."

It's unclear at this point if Jaire Alexander will play on Sunday, especially because the Packers tend to be cautious when players are close to fully healthy — or as healthy as a player can be at this point of the season. The final report with injury designations will be released on Friday.

Jaire Alexander has already missed four games this season. First, he missed three because of a back injury. When he appeared to be recovered from that, he hurt his shoulder during the Los Angeles Rams game, which forced him to sit out against the Steelers.

Without Jaire Alexander and Eric Stokes, who is still on injured reserve, the Packers had to start Carrington Valentine, Corey Ballentine, and Keisean Nixon at cornerback last Sunday in Pittsburgh. Stokes still has to miss at least two more games to be allowed to return from IR.

Practice report

The only Packers player who is active on the 53-man roster and didn't practice on Thursday was safety Rudy Ford. He hadn't practiced on Wednesday either, and was listed on the injury report with a biceps issue.

Darnell Savage is also on IR, so if Ford isn't able to play on Sunday, the starting safety duo will be veteran Jonathan Owens and seventh-round rookie Anthony Johnson Jr., the same group that started the Rams game.

DT Kenny Clark (shoulder), G Elgton Jenkins (knee), RB Aaron Jones (hamstring), T Yosh Nijman (back), G Jon Runyan (neck), LB Quay Walker (groin), and WR Christian Watson (shoulder) all practiced in some capacity.

New issue for Watson

Second-year wide receiver Christian Watson has a new injury, and that's why he was limited. After handling a hamstring injury earlier in the season that made him miss three games to start the year, he was listed with a back injury last week. However, he was able to face the Steelers.

Now, it's a shoulder injury for Watson. He practiced on Wednesday and Thursday, so there's at least a decent chance that he will be good to go against the Chargers.

Jaire Alexander’s recent injury exposes Packers lack of CB depth

Alexander hasn’t practiced this week yet