Packers' Jayden Reed Out for Season, Needs Neck Surgery After Week 2 Hit vs. Jets

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Jayden Reed will undergo season-ending neck surgery, head coach Matt LaFleur confirmed Wednesday. Reed's 2026 campaign is over before it really started for the team's No. 1 slot weapon.

"It will be a season-ending [injury]," LaFleur told reporters. "He'll be out, unfortunately. He let me know yesterday that he's going to have to have surgery as well."

The injury happened on the second offensive play of Green Bay's Week 2 game against the New York Jets on Sept. 20 at MetLife Stadium. Reed caught a 4-yard pass from quarterback Jordan Love and took a hard hit that left him motionless on the field, according to multiple outlets covering the game. Medical personnel immobilized him on a spine board and carted him off before he was taken to a New Jersey-area hospital, where he stayed overnight for observation.

LaFleur said at the time that Reed had movement in all his extremities, and Reed posted to Instagram that he was "doing much better." The Packers went on to beat the Jets 20-17 in overtime, according to Field Level Media.

But the recovery news soured from there. LaFleur said Sept. 22 it was "way too early" to know if Reed could return this season. Green Bay lost its next game, 35-14 to the Atlanta Falcons in Week 3, without him. By this week, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported the Packers were placing Reed on injured reserve, calling him out indefinitely, "if not for the season."

Reed appeared to signal the news himself before it became official. Wednesday morning he posted on Instagram, "God will use the unusual to do the unexpected... 11 out," referencing his jersey number. Hours later, LaFleur confirmed the surgery and the season-ending diagnosis.

"Anytime you go through a situation like that, it's a pretty scary deal," LaFleur said. "I didn't even realize the magnitude at the time, but certainly when I was out there with him, and just seeing what was going on, it shocks you. It jolts you a little bit because you never want to see anyone in that position, let alone one of your own guys."

LaFleur added he does not believe the surgery will end Reed's career, though he cautioned that outcome depends on how the procedure and rehab go, and eventually on Reed weighing the risk of another neck injury against his desire to keep playing.

A Costly Absence for a Team That Just Paid Him

Reed, 25, was a second-round pick out of Michigan State in 2023 and quickly became a fixture in Green Bay's offense, setting the franchise rookie record with 64 catches that year en route to 793 yards and eight touchdowns. He followed with 857 yards and six scores in 2024. Injuries derailed 2025, when a broken collarbone in Week 2 and later foot surgery limited him to seven games.

Despite that injury history, the Packers signed Reed to a three-year, $50.25 million extension in April, including $20 million in guaranteed money, according to Field Level Media and Pro Football Rumors. This season lasted all of one and a half games for him: three catches for 20 yards in the opener against Minnesota, then one catch for 4 yards against the Jets before the hit. His career totals stand at 142 receptions for 1,881 yards and 15 touchdowns across 42 games.

Without Reed, LaFleur said the Packers will spread his workload rather than hand it to one player. "It's going to be by committee," he said, pointing to wide receivers Christian Watson, Matthew Golden, Skyy Moore, Bo Melton and J. Michael Sturdivant as the players who will absorb Reed's snaps. Watson and Golden have already stepped up early in the season: Watson ranks among the NFL's top five in receiving yards, and Golden, the team's 2025 first-round pick, has emerged in his second year, according to NFL.com.

No date has been set for Reed's surgery, and the Packers have not released a recovery timeline beyond LaFleur's assessment that Reed will be out "a significant amount of time." Whether Reed plays again in 2027 will likely hinge on how that surgery and rehabilitation progress, and on a decision Reed himself will eventually have to make about returning to a collision sport after a neck injury serious enough to require a spine board and an overnight hospital stay.