Packers Activate St. Brown from Injured Reserve
GREEN BAY, Wis. – With a relatively healthy roster coming out of their bye week, the Green Bay Packers didn’t need to make a bunch of transactions ahead of Sunday’s game at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
So, they did not.
The Packers activated receiver Equanimeous St. Brown off injured reserve, their one and only transaction made on Saturday. League rules allow a maximum of 53 players on the roster but up to 55 on game day. Instead, the Packers will have only 51.
On Friday’s injury report, coach Matt LaFleur ruled out only receiver/returner Tyler Ervin. Cornerback Kevin King, outside linebackers Za’Darius Smith and Rashan Gary, and defensive tackle Montravius Adams are questionable.
St. Brown, who surprisingly slid into the sixth round of the 2018 draft despite his blend of size and speed (4.48 in the 40), caught 21 passes for 328 yards and zero touchdowns as a rookie. He saved his best for last, with five catches for 94 yards against the Jets. While he caught only 61.7 percent of targeted passes, he had zero drops and finished third on the team with 1.31 yards per route – better than Marquez Valdes-Scantling’s 1.22 and Randall Cobb’s 1.13.
He spent all of last season on injured reserve with an ankle injury. He was inactive for the season-opening game at Minnesota, when he wasn’t on the injury report, and placed on injured reserve before the Week 2 game against Detroit.
St. Brown and rookie linebacker Kamal Martin (knee), who remains on injured reserve, returned to practice on Monday.
“He’s progressed lately and he’s done a great job and everything in the rehab room,” receivers coach Jason Vrable said on Thursday. “He’s pretty quiet and pretty low key, doesn’t really say much, just kind of goes out and works and prepares. I thought initially in training camp (he) showed a lot of progress through the offseason, just winning 1-on-1s and playing fast and playing with confidence. I felt really, really good about him going into the season. It was unfortunate for him the knee kind of had its issues but I’m excited about Eq. Obviously, if he gets back, he’s going to have a role for us. He’s a pro and prepares like one, so I have no doubts of how he’s going to go in there and perform. He’s already proven it in games. His rookie year, he played in some big games and made some big-time catches.”
St. Brown joins Davante Adams, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Darrius Shepherd and Malik Taylor as the receivers on the roster.
