The Green Bay Packers, as expected, had to make a couple of roster moves on Saturday to piece together a 48-man game-day roster for Sunday. Today, the Packers announced the activations of running back Chris Brooks and receiver Skyy Moore from the injured reserve. To make room for those additions on the 53-man active roster, Green Bay placed tight end Josh Whyle (concussion) on the injured reserve and released receiver Coleman Owen. On top of these moves, the Packers also elevated tight end Drake
Dabney from the practice squad for a second consecutive week.
Brooks gives Green Bay five running backs on their 53-man roster at the moment, as Josh Jacobs, who had surgery on his broken finger on Saturday, was not placed on the injured reserve. Jacobs will miss Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings, meaning the Packers are likely to carry three of their four healthy running backs — Brooks, MarShawn Lloyd, Pierre Strong Jr. and Kaleb Johnson — into tomorrow’s action.
Moore is a slot receiver and a returner, the latter being a role that Owen filled while Moore was on the IR. Moore took over as the Packers’ starting slot receiver once Jayden Reed had his season-ending neck injury. Moore was later replaced by Savion Williams. It will be interesting to see if Moore takes over in the slot this week or if Williams will continue in that spot.
Below is the full breakdown of the Packers’ 54 roster options going into Week 10:
- QB – 2: Jordan Love and Tyrod Taylor
- RB – 5: Josh Jacobs, Chris Brooks, MarShawn Lloyd, Pierre Strong Jr. and Kaleb Johnson
- WR – 6: Christian Watson, Matthew Golden, Skyy Moore, Savion Williams, Bo Melton and J. Michael Sturdivant
- TE – 4: Tucker Kraft, Mark Redman, Jonnu Smith and Drake Dabney
- OL – 11: Jordan Morgan, Aaron Banks, Sean Rhyan, Laken Tomlinson, Anthony Belton, Kevin Zeitler, John Williams, Travis Glover, Mekhi Becton Sr., Jager Burton and Donovan Jennings
- DL – 5: Karl Brooks, Devonte Wyatt, Chris McClellan, Jordon Riley and Anthony Campbell
- EDGE – 4: Lukas Van Ness, Barryn Sorrell, Brenton Cox Jr. and Dani-Dennis Sutton
- LB – 5: Zaire Franklin, Isaiah McDuffie, Ty’Ron Hopper, Nick Niemann and Kristian Welch
- CB – 5: Keisean Nixon, Brandon Cisse, Carrington Valentine, Benjamin St-Juste and Kamal Hadden
- S – 4: Xavier McKinney, Evan Williams, Javon Bullard and Kitan Oladapo
- K – 1: Trey Smack
- P – 1: Daniel Whelan
- LS – 1: Matt Orzech
Green Bay has already ruled out the following players against Minnesota:
- RB Josh Jacobs (finger)
- C Sean Rhyan (ankle)
On top of that, linebacker Zaire Franklin is doubtful to play (fractured shin — didn’t practice this week), and these players are questionable:
- RB Chris Brooks (ankle)
- S Javon Bullard (ankle/knee)
- OL Travis Glover (knee)
- S Xavier McKinney (foot)
- WR Skyy Moore (ankle)
- EDGE Lukas Van Ness (back)
- G Kevin Zeitler (ankle/triceps)
Based on the roster math — post-Jacobs and Rhyan — the team has 52 options to make up their 48-man game-day roster. Two more offensive linemen will be ruled out, as Green Bay generally keeps eight up on the game-day roster. That gets us down to 50. Add Franklin to that, and it’s 49. Scratching whoever is the fourth running back in the pecking order gets us down to the game-day 48.
That’s probably the scenario we’re looking at for Sunday. Assuming that the questionable players (outside of potentially the offensive linemen) are going to suit up against the Vikings. If that were not the case, the Packers probably would have used a second practice squad elevation this week.
