GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Kevin King couldn't wait to ditch the brace on his surgically repaired left shoulder.
"It still ties me down," King told ESPN early in training camp. "I've got to get used to it again. Last year, I got so used to doing so many things with my right hand that I've got to get used to being able to use my left."
That finally happened Sunday.
Except then he needed the brace for his right shoulder.
The Green Bay Packers' second-year cornerback -- their top draft pick in 2017 -- has been forced back into the restrictive contraption after he injured his other shoulder last week. King returned to practice Sunday but only for a handful of individual drills while he deals with his latest shoulder injury.
That has to be concerning given what King went through last season, when an old college injury returned during his rookie training camp. He played through it for as long as he could (a total of nine games), but his position coach Joe Whitt said no one ever saw the real King last year before surgery to repair the torn labrum ended his season with five games still to play.
It also has to be worrisome given that the Packers would like to pair King with veterans Tramon Williams and Davon House while they integrate first-round pick Jaire Alexander and second-rounder Josh Jackson into the cornerback rotation.
"It's kind of an odd way that it happened," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said without elaborating. "Kevin's a tough guy. My gosh, you saw what he went through last year to play in games. It was remarkable. We'll see how he is. He's had a great camp. We were just sitting here yesterday going back through the one-on-ones, just watching the guys match up, watching who was going against who -- evaluation is the most important part of that drill -- but Kevin's having, he's really shown taking that big step for us. We just have to get him right and hopefully not have a setback."
King wouldn't say exactly what happened other than calling it "just a little football injury. It happened while I was playing. It's nothing too new."
He said this hasn't caused his shoulder to pop out of place like last year's injury did. King estimated last season that his shoulder popped out of place nine or 10 times.
Neither King nor Alexander played in last week's preseason opener against the Tennessee Titans. Alexander looks like a better bet to play Thursday against the Pittsburgh Steelers after he was able to work at least some in all of Sunday's practice periods.
In fact, Sunday saw the return of several injured players, including left tackle David Bakhtiari. He was back on the field for selected individual drills just eight days after he sprained his left ankle. And while he didn't say whether he would play at all in the preseason, he sounded confident in his Week 1 availability.
"If it's going to happen, I'd rather it happen now than during the season where I've got to deal with it and going out there and potentially limping around to play in a game," Bakhtiari said of his injury. "Now I can rest it up and make sure the wheel's ready to go. Not saying that preseason doesn't matter but when it truly matters against your win-loss record."
Others who returned in at least some capacity were: WR Randall Cobb (ankle), RB Aaron Jones (hamstring), FB Joe Kerridge (shoulder), RT Bryan Bulaga (knee), DT Mike Daniels (quad), TE Jimmy Graham (knee) and DT Muhammad Wilkerson (groin). Jones, Bulaga and Daniels did not do any team (11-on-11) drills.