Packers Place Kirksey, Lazard on Injured Reserve
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers placed two key players on injured reserve, with linebacker Christian Kirksey and receiver Allen Lazard to be sidelined for at least three games.
NFL rules for this season allow an unlimited number of players to use the short-term injured reserve rule. They would be eligible to return for the Week 8 game against Minnesota on Nov. 1.
Kirksey suffered an injured right pectoral during Sunday night’s victory at the New Orleans Saints. Kirksey has a team-leading 27 tackles, including 12 in each of his first two games.
Kirksey has wound up on injured reserve for three consecutive seasons. He missed the final 14 games of last season with a torn left pectoral tendon and the final nine games of the 2018 season with a hamstring injury. Before that, he had played in all 64 possible games from 2014 through 2017.
The Packers let Blake Martinez go in free agency and replaced him with Kirksey in hopes of upgrading the defense. That hasn’t been the case, though. Martinez has 30 tackles, four tackles for losses and two sacks. Kirksey hasn’t made any splash plays and, despite being a better athlete than Martinez, hasn’t been any better in coverage. He’s allowed a team-high 13 receptions, according to Pro Football Focus. Martinez gave up a team-high 58 last year.
Ty Summers, Krys Barnes and Oren Burks got the snaps against the Saints and figure to do so again on Monday against Atlanta.
“At no point did anybody in that room worry about where they were on the depth chart or worry about stuff they couldn’t control,” position coach Kirk Olivadotti said. “All that anyone is doing is just preparing themselves for the opportunity because, when that opportunity comes, you want to make sure that you’ve put the work in. You don’t want to be cramming for a test. And I think the group mentality that that group has, and it’s led by Kirko, is that, ‘Hey, we just want to learn and learn and learn and get reps and get better and get better.’ And in a year like this and most years really, and in that room, you’re going to have to play with almost everybody that you have on your roster. That’s just the nature of being an inside linebacker in the NFL.”
In three games, Lazard caught 13-of-17 passes for 254 yards and two touchdowns. He caught six passes for 146 yards and one touchdown at New Orleans to help the team overcome the absence of Davante Adams. Moreover, his physicality has made him a key presence in the running game. That, as much as his pass-catching ability, will be difficult to replace.
“He loves the game and he loves everything about it,” offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett said on Friday. “So, he’s going to grind through it as much as possible. And his adrenaline gets going and you’re not going to know anything’s happened. And I give a credit to him. Those are the kinds of guys that we want to be on this team, the guys that are going to fight through things and do everything that they can to play. It’s unfortunate, but I’ll tell you, he had a heck of a game.”
Among all receivers targeted at least 15 times, Lazard is the only receiver in the NFL to have rewarded his quarterback with a perfect 158.3 passer rating, according to Pro Football Focus. Despite being a big guy without blazing speed, he’s tied for fourth in the NFL with three receptions on passes thrown 20-plus yards downfield.
Without Lazard, the Packers could be incredibly thin at receiver. Davante Adams is questionable. Either way, the door is open for Darrius Shepherd to play a big role for the first time in exactly 51 weeks.
Countdown to Kickoff
Five Days: Five Keys to the Game
Four Days: Four Items from Inside the Falcons
Three Days: Three Reasons to Worry
