Packers announce 8 roster moves

SB Nation

After the NFL trade deadline came and went without the Green Bay Packers making a trade, the team announced eight — that’s right, eight — roster moves on Tuesday. Let’s take you through these moves one

by one to explain what happened, since there was so much change.

TE Tucker Kraft to the injured reserve

This was expected, as Tucker Kraft reportedly tore his ACL in the Packers’ loss to the Carolina Panthers. If his recovery timeline matches up with receiver Christian Watson’s ACL recovery over the last year, Kraft should be back around the start of the 2026 regular season.

TE Josh Whyle to the 53

The Packers have liked Josh Whyle for a while, as they brought him in for a pre-draft visit back in 2023. Generally, when available, Green Bay likes to get its hands on visitors. In his first two years of his NFL career, Whyle played 501 offensive snaps (including seven starts) and 177 special teams snaps for the Tennessee Titans. When Whyle was waived by the Titans at the roster cutdown deadline this summer, the Packers signed him to their practice squad.

So, moving forward, Green Bay’s tight ends on the active roster will be Luke Musgrave, John FitzPatrick and Whyle, as Ben Sims, who was previously on the 53-man roster for the last three seasons, was waived by the Packers two weeks ago and was claimed by the Minnesota Vikings, the team that originally signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2023. Like Whyle, Sims was also a pre-draft visitor. Pay attention to the Packers’ visitors! They tell you who they’re interested in!

TEs McCallan Castles and Drake Dabney to the practice squad

To backfill for Whyle on the practice squad, who is backfilling for Kraft on the 53, the Packers signed two tight ends today: McCallan Castles and Drake Dabney. Castles had a workout with Green Bay on Monday and has previously spent time with the Philadelphia Eagles, Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Rams.

Dabney was a surprise signing in the NFL this offseason, as he worked his way onto the Tennessee Titans’ summer roster off the strength of his performance as a tryout player at the team’s rookie minicamp. He was waived at the cutdown deadline, signed to the practice squad and was waived by the team in mid-September. Since then, he’s had workouts with the New England Patriots and Cleveland Browns.

DE Arron Mosby to the 53

Packers defensive end Arron Mosby has already exhausted his three practice-squad call-ups this season, so Green Bay’s options were the following: They either had to play without Mosby, using him only as a practice player moving forward, or he’d have to be called up to the active roster to participate in games. The Packers chose the latter.

In truth, Mosby is more of a special teams player than a true defender. He’s played both off-ball and line of scrimmage roles in the NFL, lining up on defense 152 times to 325 special teams snaps over 22 career regular-season games. This year, he’s played 51 special teams plays over three games to 0 on the defensive side of the ball.

This is probably a sign that Lukas Van Ness won’t be active this week, as the Packers do not need Mosby if he’s the team’s sixth defensive end behind Micah Parsons, Rashan Gary, LVN, Kingsley Enagbare and Barryn Sorrell on gamedays.

LB Kristian Welch to the practice squad

As expected, Kristian Welch, who was promoted to the 53-man roster last week and was released by the team this week, was added back to the Packers’ practice squad. This is sort of an interesting way of doing things, if the team ultimately wanted Mosby on the 53-man roster over Welch. One benefit to playing Welch up last week, though, is that Welch wasn’t subject to waivers, as he’s a vested veteran, unlike Mosby.

Now, since the trade deadline has passed, all players, including vested veterans, are subject to waivers. So while Mosby’s practice squad elevations have been exhausted, Welch’s three promotions have been preserved. In the meantime, neither of those players was available to be plucked by teams on waivers. Remember, a practice squad poach forces the poaching team to guarantee the player’s roster spot for three weeks. If a player is simply claimed off waivers, though, there are no rules about how quickly the claiming team can release the player and create a spot on the 53-man roster.

Assume that Welch, who played 10 special teams snaps last week, will get a practice squad call-up to the gameday roster for as long as linebacker Nick Niemann is on the injured reserve. Without Niemann, the Packers only have four linebackers on their 53-man roster: Mike linebacker Quay Walker, Will linebacker Edgerrin Cooper, Sam linebacker Isaiah McDuffie and backup Ty’Ron Hopper.

Welch joins undrafted rookie linebacker Jamon Johnson on the practice squad. If Welch’s call-ups get exhausted before Niemann’s return, Johnson being activated for gamedays is a possibility down the stretch.

WR Michael Woods II to the practice squad

This is the weird one. Michael Woods is a former draft pick who has dealt with multiple injuries during his career, most importantly an Achilles rupture but most recently a hand injury, and doesn’t have a history as a returner. Still, the Packers chose to sign him on Tuesday, despite already having four receivers on the practice squad. At some point, you can expect Green Bay to drop one of these receivers to make room for another position in practice.

OL Lecitus Smith released from the practice squad

This summer, with offensive line injuries mounting, the Packers signed Lecitus Smith to his fourth stint with the team. Now that Jacob Monk is off the injured reserve, as he’s recovered from his hamstring injury, it doesn’t seem like Green Bay feels the need to have a practice squad center anymore.

Beyond the 10 offensive linemen on the Packers’ 53-man roster, the team still has offensive linemen Brant Banks and Dalton Cooper on its practice squad. Banks was previously called up to the 53-man roster against the Dallas Cowboys, when he allowed a blocked PAT, and was later claimed off waivers by the Tennessee Titans for a week before landing back with the Packers’ practice squad. Cooper was a pre-draft visitor for Green Bay this summer. Pay attention to visitors!

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Okay, now that we’ve caught you up, let’s give you what the Packers’ roster looks like this second. That was a lot of information to take in.

Packers 53-man roster update

QB-2: Jordan Love and Malik Willis
RB-3: Josh Jacobs, Emanuel Wilson and Chris Brooks
WR-6: Romeo Doubs, Christian Watson, Matthew Golden, Dontayvion Wicks, Malik Heath and Savion Williams
TE-3: Luke Musgrave, John FitzPatrick and Josh Whyle
OL-10: Rasheed Walker, Aaron Banks, Elgton Jenkins, Jordan Morgan, Zach Tom, Sean Rhyan, Anthony Belton, Darian Kinnard, Jacob Monk and Donovan Jennings
DE-6: Micah Parsons, Rashan Gary, Lukas Van Ness, Kingsley Enagbare, Barryn Sorrell and Arron Mosby
DT-5: Devonte Wyatt, Colby Wooden, Karl Brooks, Nazir Stackhouse and Warren Brinson
LB-4: Quay Walker, Edgerrin Cooper, Isaiah McDuffie and Ty’Ron Hopper
CB-5: Keisean Nixon, Carrington Valentine, Nate Hobbs, Bo Melton and Kamal Hadden
S-5: Xavier McKinney, Evan Williams, Javon Bullard, Zayne Anderson and Kitan Oladapo
K-2: Brandon McManus and Lucas Havrisik
P-1: Daniel Whelan
LS-1: Matt Orzech

Packers practice squad update

QB-1: Clayton Tune
RB-1: Pierre Strong Jr.
WR-4: Isaiah Neyor, Will Sheppard, Jakobie Keeney-James and Michael Woods II
TE-2: McCallan Castles and Drake Dabney
OL-2: Brant Banks and Dalton Cooper
DE-0: None
DT-1: James Ester
LB-2: Kristian Welch and Jamon Johnson
CB-1: Tyron Herring
S-2: Jonathan Baldwin and Jaylin Simpson
International Exemption-1: DT Dante Barnett