The Green Bay Packers got back two key players back in practice on Wednesday, edge rusher Micah Parsons and running back Chris Brooks. Both opened up their 21-day practice windows, with the expectation that they’ll be added to the active roster down the line, potentially around the Packers’ Week 11 bye week.
Parsons is on the team’s physically unable to perform list, while Brooks is now the third of eight allotted injured reserve return designations that the Packers can make this season. The other
two exhausted return designations the team has made are receiver Savion Williams (returned) and edge defender Collin Oliver (has yet to return), who were automatically given these designations when they were placed on IR at the cutdown deadline.
Green Bay’s active roster is currently full, so corresponding moves would need to be made to open up vacancies for Parsons and/or Brooks to slide into. Here’s the current breakdown for the roster:
- QB: Jordan Love and Tyrod Taylor
- RB: Josh Jacobs, MarShawn Lloyd, Pierre Strong Jr. and Kaleb Johnson
- WR: Christian Watson, Matthew Golden, Savion Williams, Bo Melton, J. Michael Sturdivant and Coleman Owen
- TE: Tucker Kraft, Mark Redman, Josh Whyle and Jonnu Smith
- OL: Jordan Morgan, Aaron Banks, Sean Rhyan, Laken Tomlinson, Anthony Belton, Travis Glover, John Williams, Kevin Zeitler, Jager Burton, Mekhi Becton Sr. and Donovan Jennings
- DL: Karl Brooks, Devonte Wyatt, Chris McClellan, Jordon Riley and Anthony Campbell
- ED: Lukas Van Ness, Barryn Sorrell, Brenton Cox Jr. and Dani Dennis-Sutton
- LB: Zaire Franklin, Isaiah McDuffie, Ty’Ron Hopper, Nick Niemann and Kristian Welch
- CB: Keisean Nixon, Brandon Cisse, Carrington Valentine, Benjamin St-Juste and Kamal Hadden
- S: Xavier McKinney, Evan Williams, Javon Bullard and Kitan Oladapo
- K: Trey Smack
- P: Daniel Whelan
- LS: Matt Orzech
At a minimum, the Packers can’t allocate five roster spots to the running back position upon a Brooks activation, so something has to give there.
In non Parsons/Brooks news, the non-participants in Wednesday’s practice were tight end Josh Whyle (concussion), center Sean Rhyan (ankle), offensive lineman Travis Glover (knee) and linebacker Zaire Franklin (shin). None of these are really surprising, as Rhyan, Glover and Franklin didn’t play last week, while Whyle dropped out of action.
The limited participants today were Brooks (ankle), receiver Christian Watson (rib), left guard Aaron Banks (knee), Parsons (knee) and cornerback Keisean Nixon (groin).
The New England Patriots, the Packers’ next opponent, had four non-participants in practice, all of whom are contributors on the team: running back TreVeyon Henderson (illness), receiver A.J. Brown (ankle/knee), tight end Hunter Henry (foot) and defensive lineman Christian Barmore (illness).
