Packers Place Taylor on IR

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers placed guard Lane Taylor on injured reserve on Tuesday.

Taylor earned the starting job at right guard but injured his knee in the opening game at Minnesota.

“It’s significant, obviously,” coach LaFleur said the day after the game. “My heart goes out to him. Just battling back from the significant injury that he had last year and to get to a position where he was in our starting lineup, certainly he will be missed. I feel bad for him as an athlete, as a man. It takes a lot to come back from a significant injury and he put the time in and put himself in a great position to have a great year. It’s always tough to see when somebody goes down.”

Taylor started the first two games of last season before suffering a torn biceps at practice. In his absence, Elgton Jenkins put the left guard position on lockdown. Rather than release Taylor in a cost-cutting move this offseason, the Packers reworked his contract, moved him to right guard and gave him a chance to start. He took full advantage, only to have his comeback short-circuited.

The transaction left the Packers with 51 players on their 53-man roster. Before each of the first two games, Green Bay elevated tight end John Lovett from the practice squad to the 55-man gameday roster. Teams can only elevate a player twice, so it stands to reason that Lovett will earn a promotion. That would leave one more empty spot on the roster to fill if it chooses.

Lovett played 11 snaps against Detroit, when rookie tight end Josiah Deguara was inactive. Eight of those were at fullback.

Also, the team released outside linebacker Greg Roberts from the practice squad. After the former Baylor standout went undrafted last year, the Packers took the unusual step of guaranteeing $72,000 of his base salary. However, he missed most of his rookie season following core-muscle surgery and most of training camp this summer due to COVID-19. His father played in the NFL.

With Lovett’s presumed promotion and the release of Roberts, Green Bay has two openings on its 16-man practice squad.

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