The Green Bay Packers announced on Saturday that they have promoted two practice squad players to the team’s gameday roster
against the Minnesota Vikings. These players are running back Pierre Strong Jr. and linebacker Jamon Johnson. This does not mean that these players will be active against Minnesota, but that they are among the eligible players who can make up Green Bay’s 48-man gameday roster tomorrow.Both of these moves correlate to some concerning injuries for the Packers’ starters. First,
Strong would need to be active against the Vikings if and only if starting running back Josh Jacobs isn’t active. He left last week’s game with a knee bruise and is considered questionable for tomorrow’s game. Without Jacobs, Green Bay only had two running backs on the 53-man roster, including blocking back Chris Brooks.
With that being said, Strong was brought up one time earlier this week, when Jacobs was dealing with a calf injury, only to become a healthy scratch when Jacobs was ready to suit up for action.
Johnson was elevated because starting Mike linebacker Quay Walker is dealing with a stinger, again dating back to the New York Giants game, and has been ruled as doubtful against the Vikings. If the Packers are without Walker, Isaiah McDuffie will step in as the starting Mike and signal-caller for Green Bay, while Ty’Ron Hopper plays the third linebacker role.
With that being said, if Walker is out, that will only leave the team with one backup linebacker on the 53-man roster: Kristian Welch. Welch hasn’t even played the Packers’ goal-line defenses this year, when they play five linebackers, as the team would rather have Xavier McKinney in that role than Welch. Welch, for the most part, is on the roster to play special teams, not defense.
So that’s why Johnson is being made available for tomorrow. If there’s an injury at the position, do not be surprised if it’s Johnson playing defensive snaps at linebacker, not Welch.
If there’s any good news here, it’s that the Packers didn’t activate a receiver, meaning that their players will likely be able to push through their injuries on Sunday. Receivers Matthew Golden (shoulder and wrist), Dontayvion Wicks (calf) and Savion Williams (foot) were all listed as questionable for this weekend’s action on the team’s final injury report of the week.
The Vikings also announced on Saturday that they have officially brought up center Ryan Kelly from the injured reserve. Kelly had been a full participant with Minnesota this week, so the move was expected.
