Saturday’s Roster Moves: What They Mean vs. Washington
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers made a couple of roster moves on Saturday. None of them involved All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari being activated to play on Sunday against Washington.
Here are the moves:
Packers Send Josh Myers to Injured Reserve
The Packers placed center Josh Myers on injured reserve. It’s been a tough rookie season for the second-rounder. After playing through an injured finger for a handful of weeks, he sat out the Week 5 game at Cincinnati. He returned for last week’s game against Chicago, only to suffer a knee injury on the opening series.
After the game, coach Matt LaFleur said Myers would be out for a few weeks. With the transaction, Myers will miss the Washington game as well as big road tests against Arizona and Kansas City. Lucas Patrick, who earned rave reviews for his performance against the Bears, will move back into the starting lineup.
Ben Braden Elevated
For the second time this season, offensive lineman Ben Braden was elevated to the gameday roster. This time, it will be as a COVID-19 replacement for receiver Malik Taylor. Braden played 14 snaps on special teams against Cincinnati.
Players can be elevated from the practice squad twice. The third time means a season-long promotion to the 53-man roster. However, because this is a COVID elevation, this game is excluded from the math.
With Myers sent to IR and veteran offensive tackle Dennis Kelly (back) ruled out on Friday, Braden will join Yosh Nijman and Jake Hanson as the backups on Sunday.
David Bakhtiari Remains on PUP
That Bakhtiari wasn’t activated by the 3 p.m. Saturday deadline was not a surprising development. Even for a great player like Bakhtiari, it would have been foolish to run him onto the field after three practices that followed a layoff of almost 10 months from a torn ACL. All week during the portion of practice open to reporters, Elgton Jenkins was first in line at left tackle.
Up next is a Thursday night game at Arizona. The Packers probably will hold a light practice on Tuesday. So, it would seem unlikely that Bakhtiari will be back to face the undefeated Cardinals, whose defense is led by edge rusher Chandler Jones, who had five sacks in Week 1 and is third in the league with 14 quarterback hits despite playing in only four games.
A short week to get ready for Arizona means a long week to get ready for the Chiefs. With his three practices this week, one next week and the likelihood of four practices before Kansas City means Bakhtiari would have eight practices under his belt.
The next possibility would be the Week 10 home game against Seattle. That’s the game that Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson is targeting for his return from a broken finger.
“We’ve got a plan,” LaFleur said on Friday. “We’re going to keep that plan in-house for now.”
No News Is Good News at Outside Linebacker?
It’s worth noting the Packers didn’t elevate outside linebacker Tipa Galeai from the practice squad. That would indicate the Packers feel good about the health of Preston Smith (oblique), the readiness of veteran addition Whitney Mercilus or both. With Smith missing most of the Chicago game, Green Bay had only Rashan Gary, Jonathan Garvin and La’Darius Hamilton at the position.
