The Green Bay Packers have been hit with a slew of injuries this season with many key players forced to miss time because of their assorted hurts.

Despite the fact that the Packers are presently in the thick of the NFC playoff race, the team has been very conservative with their injured players thus far, keeping many of them out of games despite the players’ insistence that they are able to play.

While this course of action has been controversial at times, it has been a wise philosophy for the team with the underlying knowledge that the season is a marathon rather than a sprint and that it is most important to have their best players healthy come playoff time rather than in September and October.

Here is a look at some of the Packers decisions regarding injured players thus far:

DL Kenny Clark

Pro Bowl defensive lineman Kenny Clark suffered a groin injury in the season opener in Minnesota. He did play again until the Packers Week 6 loss in Tampa Bay which was after the team’s bye week.

Clark may have been healthy enough to play before the bye against Atlanta, but the coaching staff decided to hold him out.

Clark is by far the team’s best defensive lineman. He is the only interior lineman who can provide any pass rush up the middle and is the team’s best run defender. When Clark is healthy and playing well, he can occupy multiple blockers at the line of scrimmage on running plays. This means even when he does not make the tackle on a play, he can free up teammates to make tackles because multiple blockers are occupied trying to stop Clark.

By being conservative with Clark’s groin, an injury that can become much more serious if a player tries to return too quickly, the Packers ensured that they would have Clark in the lineup in the middle of the season and hopefully for the rest of the campaign.

WR Davante Adams

Adams suffered a hamstring injury during the Packers Week 2 victory over Detroit. He did not return to the lineup again until Week 6 in Tampa Bay.

The Packers are considered thin at receiver and they had even less depth after WR2 Allen Lazard went down with an injury against New Orleans. But they did not rush their number one wideout back.

While Adams was out of the lineup, the Packers offense adjusted. Lazard had a career day against the Saints while tight end Robert Tonyan stepped up and shined in the game against the Falcons. Head coach Matt LaFleur was able to make changes to his game plans and the Packers continued to score points and pile up wins.

Tae was hoping to return to the lineup before the Packers bye against Atlanta and even made a brief post on social media questioning why he was being held out, but Adams was kept off the field until Week 6.

Last week against Houston, Adams responded with a 13-catch game that saw him gain a career-high 196 yards and score two touchdowns.

Again, the Packers were able to be productive on offense without their best receivers and prevented Adams from suffering an injury that would keep him out of the lineup for an extended time. The Packers will need Adams healthy and available if they hope to beat the best teams in the league in January and beyond.

RB Aaron Jones

Jones is the Packers most dangerous running back and he scored a touchdown in each of the Packers first five games this season.

Jones strained a calf muscle in practice before last week’s game in Houston and although Jones thought he could play, the coaching staff held him out. Jamaal Williams started in his place and gained more than 100 yards from scrimmage and scored a touchdown as the Packers rolled up 35 points in another win.

The team has already announced that Jones will not be in the lineup this week when the Packers host the Vikings. Again, this makes sense as it gives Jones’ calf muscle more time to heal.

The Packers have a short week coming up with a Thursday night trip to San Francisco. The 49ers are a tougher opponent than the Vikings on paper and they have a much better run defense. It would be better for the Packers to give Jones more time to heal and hopefully have him ready against San Francisco.

Even if Jones can’t go next Thursday, the Packers will still need a healthy Jones down the stretch and in the playoffs.

The team has also been cautious with other injured starters like CB Kevin King, return specialist Tyler Ervin and OT David Bakhtiari.

The team realizes that they need their best players healthy for the stretch drive and playoffs. It’s December, January and February when the team needs to be playing their best football and that means they will need as many of their star players in the lineup and healthy if possible.

By taking this long-term approach, the Packers are trying to prevent a nagging injury from becoming a serious, long-term injury and hoping to have their best players available when it counts the most.

It may frustrate some of the players in the short term, but if the Packers are able to win another Super Bowl, the players will realize these decisions are worth it in the end.