Hayward dealing with a foot injury

It's not the hamstring this time, but a foot injury Casey Hayward sustained at the start of the offseason could keep him off the field until training camp.

The Green Bay Packers' fourth-year cornerback, who's expected to compete for a starting spot on the perimeter, spent the first practice of organized team activities watching from the sideline.

"Take it easy until camp right now," Hayward said. "We have a little minor foot thing right now. We'll probably take it into camp."

Hayward played in all 18 games (including playoffs) for the Packers last season, but missed most of training camp and all but three regular-season games the year before with a recurring hamstring injury that he suffered a week before training camp.

The incident taught Hayward patience. Not wanting to aggravate the injury, the 5-foot-11, 192-pound cornerback isn't rushing anything.

With first-round pick Damarious Randall dealing with an ankle injury, it meant more reps for second-year cornerback Demetri Goodson with the first-team defense.

"I don't think it's setting me back at all," said Hayward. "I know what type of player I am. They know what type of player I am. When I'm on the field, I make tons of plays. So whenever I'm healthy and on the field, I'm going to be full go and I'm going to be ready to compete and not just be a starting corner, be the No. 1 corner."

Jordy Nelson also sat out of most of Thursday's practice, but was almost acting like an assistant coach.

The Pro Bowl receiver, who's still recovering from offseason hip surgery, stretched with his fellow receivers at the start of practice before picking up a schedule sheet and walking many of the team's rookies through their assignments.

Nelson said he decided on having surgery after injury bothered him during the final stretch of last season. Although it's "nothing major," the 29-year-old receiver doesn't have an exact timeline of when he plans to be back.

At least, not one that he was willing to offer.

"Not necessarily," Nelson said. "We're just going to continue to progress going forward. We're excited about where we're at. We don't have any worries about anything that's of importance down the road. But we feel excited about where we're at and feel good about it."