If you were hoping that a bye week for the Green Bay Packers was going to solve all of their health issues, I’m here to break some bad news. On Wednesday, the Packers released their first injury report
since September 26th. Despite the rest, two Packers are still non-participants in practice, while eight others were listed as limited participants for what will likely be Green Bay’s only padded practice of the week.
The players who were non-participants were tackle Anthony Belton (ankle) and defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt (knee). Belton was injured during Wednesday practice in Week 4, which head coach Matt LaFleur stated was not going to be a long-term injury at the time. Two weeks later, he’s still not on the field. Wyatt was injured against the Dallas Cowboys. LaFleur has said Wyatt’s issue is of a week-to-week nature.
The limited participants in practice today were left guard Aaron Banks (groin), defensive end Kingsley Enagbare (ankle), cornerback Nate Hobbs (concussion), kicker Brandon McManus (quadricep), offensive lineman Jacob Monk (hamstring), right tackle Zach Tom (oblique), left tackle Rasheed Walker (quadricep), receiver Christian Watson (knee) and receiver Savion Williams (groin). If you’re keeping score here, Banks and Tom did not play in the Packers’ last game, while Hobbs dropped out of action.
The other members of the 53-man roster were able to finish the game against the Cowboys in Week 4, but it’s worth remembering here that both Monk and Watson are still currently on the physically unable to perform list. The Packers opened up their 20-day practice window on Monday, which means they’ll have any time before now and kickoff against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 8 to call up these players to the 53-man roster, or they will revert to the season-ending injured reserve.
At the moment, Green Bay does have two open roster spots on the 53-man roster, so the expectation right now is that both Monk and Watson, eventually, will be called up to the active roster without the team having to make a corresponding roster move.
Things seem to be trending positively for the Packers on the injury report, as the two non-participants were already players with known injuries — not players who got banged up during Monday’s practice. The biggest news, in terms of what will impact Green Bay on Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals, is probably that cornerback Nate Hobbs is still in the concussion protocol.
