5 days ago
2
According to Bill Huber of Sports Illustrated, starting quarterback Jordan Love will be active on Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings. The team will go out of its way to put Love on the field, but an injury to Clayton Tune would put Love, coming off a concussion, on the field against Brian Flores’ blitz-heavy unit.
Indeed, a source said, Love will be the backup to Tune on Sunday.
With backups throughout the lineup, it’s almost impossible to believe the Packers would risk Love against the blitz-happy Vikings if pressed into duty. If he had to play in case of emergency, the offense would probably be handoff up the middle, handoff left, handoff right.
On Friday, the typical starting backup quarterback, Malik Willis, was listed as questionable on the Packers’ injury report with both shoulder and hamstring designations. Green Bay called up Tune from the practice squad this week, but the Willis injury meant that either the Packers would have to bring in Love or Desmond Ridder, a mid-week practice squad signing, into Sunday’s action.
Advertisement
Ultimately, Ridder wasn’t one of the eight practice squad players who are eligible out of the Packers’ pool of 55 players to make up the team’s 48-man gameday roster in Week 18. In total, Green Bay had to make 21 roster moves just to limp into its regular-season finale, due to the vast amount of injuries that the team is facing. Just this week alone, the team placed six members of the 53-man roster on the injured reserve, which means that their only opportunity to return to the team will be if the Packers advance to the Super Bowl.
Hopefully, Green Bay stays healthy enough that their starters won’t have to be forced into the lineup due to injuries to players at the bottom of their roster, but at this point, it’s hard to count out a player dropping out of action in this injury-riddled season.
Along with Willis, receiver Dontayvion Wicks (concussion) was listed as doubtful for the game and right tackle Zach Tom (back/knee) was listed as questionable on the injury report. The Packers, even with practice-squad call-ups, can only scratch a maximum of seven players on Sunday, which also includes injured players. Below is the full roster breakdown in Week 18:
Quarterback
Jordan Love
Malik Willis (questionable – shoulder/hamstring)
Clayton Tune
Advertisement
Running Back
Josh Jacobs
Emanuel Wilson
Chris Brooks
Receiver
Romeo Doubs
Christian Watson
Jayden Reed
Dontayvion Wicks (doubtful – concussion)
Matthew Golden
Jakobie Keeney-James
Tight End
Luke Musgrave
Josh Whyle
Drake Dabney
Offensive Line
Rasheed Walker
Aaron Banks
Sean Rhyan
Anthony Belton
Zach Tom (questionable – back/knee)
Jordan Morgan
Darian Kinnard
Jacob Monk
Lecitus Smith
Defensive End
Rashan Gary
Kingsley Enagbare
Lukas Van Ness
Brenton Cox Jr.
Barryn Sorrell
Arron Mosby
Collin Oliver
Defensive Tackle
Colby Wooden
Karl Brooks
Warren Brinson
Nazir Stackhouse
Jonathan Ford
Linebacker
Quay Walker
Edgerrin Cooper
Isaiah McDuffie
Ty’Ron Hopper
Jamon Johnson
Cornerback
Keisean Nixon
Carrington Valentine
Trevon Diggs
Bo Melton
Jaylin Simpson
Shemar Bartholomew
Safety
Xavier McKinney
Evan Williams
Javon Bullard
Kitan Oladapo
Jonathan Baldwin
Kicker
Brandon McManus
Punter
Daniel Whelan
Long Snapper
Matt Orzech
English (US) ·