Earlier this offseason, Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst admitted that the team was underprepared by only carrying five off-ball linebackers during the 2024 season, their first under new defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley and his 4-3 scheme. So it was a shock to many on Tuesday when the Packers only kept four linebackers, Edgerrin Cooper, Quay Walker, Isaiah McDuffie and Ty’Ron Hopper, on the team’s initial 53-man roster.
Tomorrow is a new day, though, and it comes with new rules.
Per the NFL’s cutdown regulations, only two players were allowed to be put on the injured reserve with a designation to return while the team shaved its roster from 90 to 53. If the Packers wanted to put any other players on the IR on Tuesday, it had to be the season-ending variety, which they did in the case of safety Omar Brown.
Going into Tuesday, Green Bay had four candidates who could have ended up on IR with a return designation: running back MarShawn Lloyd (hamstring), center Jacob Monk (hamstring), defensive end Barryn Sorrell (knee) and safety Zayne Anderson (knee). Sorrell and Anderson both made the initial 53-man roster, but Lloyd and Monk were placed on IR.
On Wednesday, though, there will be no restrictions on how many players the Packers can put on IR. If the team wants, they can move both Sorrell and Anderson (or others) to IR and open up roster spots to add that fifth linebacker back on the roster — be it Kristian Welch, Isaiah Simmons or a waiver pick-up. After the cutdown deadline passes, teams no longer have to designate players to return at the time that they’re placed on IR, which gives teams more options moving forward.
The NFL only allows its clubs to bring eight players off the IR during a single season, so those designations are valuable, but it’s better to burn through all eight than to go through a season patching a roster together while the designations go unused.
Based on our 53-man roster prediction tracker, the Packers only keeping four linebackers was the biggest surprise of the day by far. Of the 15 projections we logged, every one had the team keeping at least one of Simmons or Welch today. You can bet on a move being made there, especially with hybrid defensive end-linebacker Collin Oliver remaining on the physically unable to perform list.
To make room for the addition of that extra linebacker, someone is probably going on the IR. As a reminder, both Simmons and Welch are vested veterans, so they are not subject to the NFL’s waiver system over the next 24 hours.
Who knows what the Packers’ roster will look like at 3 p.m. CT tomorrow, but we do know they’re probably going to make a couple more moves before their roster actually settles into its Week 1 form. Enjoy the ride.
