Packers-Falcons Inactives: Green Bay’s Rolling Dice on Rookie, Offensive Line

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Last week against the New York Jets, the Green Bay Packers had eight offensive linemen on the gameday roster. At one point, with Donovan Jennings in the medical tent, they almost ran out.

“That was a very scary situation,” offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said this week. “I was joking with (offensive line coach Luke) Butkus, like, you see Monk’s in the blue tent and he came out and it was Undertaker popping out of the coffin (raises his hands) and I was like, ‘Yeah, let’s go.’ I was really scared at that moment, so that was good to see him.”

The Packers will go with eight offensive linemen again for Thursday night’s game against the Atlanta Falcons. One of the eight is rookie Jager Burton, who will start at left guard.

With right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele out with a season-ending knee injury and left guard Aaron Banks inactive with knee and toe injuries, versatile John Williams and guard/tackle Travis Glover are active for the first time this season.

But the Packers didn’t elevate any of their four linemen from the practice squad. So, with two veterans out and two young players in, the Packers will roll the dice again with eight linemen against the Falcons.

Packers Inactives

Along with Bako-Bewele, Banks and receiver Jayden Reed, who suffered a neck injury against the Jets, the team’s other inactives are defensive tackles Warren Brinson (calf) and Anthony Campbell (ankle).

The Packers will regain the services of veteran defensive tackle Javon Hargrave, who was inactive last week against the Jets with the concussion sustained in the opener.

Without Reed, the Packers’ receivers are Christian Watson, Matthew Golden, Skyy Moore, Bo Melton and J. Michael Sturdivant.

Moore took most of the reps after Reed’s injury last week.

“I feel great,” quarterback Jordan Love said of the connection with Moore. “Since OTAs, training camp, Skyy’s done some great things. Obviously, just with the depth we have, J-Reed was the guy. With him being out right now, I’m very confident in Skyy.

“He’s played ball. He’s been on some great teams. I think his feel for the game and understanding the offense and just really he has a great feel I think as a route runner for finding the voids in a defense and knowing when to throttle down on certain things. I think he’ll be great. It’s just a matter of getting him comfortable when he’s out there. Obviously, we see what he can do with the ball in his hands when he had those big returns last week. So, he’s definitely going to be a big playmaker for us.”

Falcons Inactives

The Falcons’ inactives include edge Samson Ebukam, who leads the team in quarterback hits, and quarterbacks Cooper Rush (third quarterback) and Jack Strand.

The Falcons are going with Michael Penix as the starter and veteran Tua Tagovailoa as the backup.

Billy Bowman Jr. is ACTIVE for tonight's gamehttps://t.co/3H4rvUf83W pic.twitter.com/23vcJ4vCfC
— Atlanta Falcons (@AtlantaFalcons) September 24, 2026

Packers Starting Offensive Line

Chances are, they’ll probably be OK without elevating rookies Dillon Wade or Josh Gesky, first-year player Dalton Cooper or recently added veteran Cordell Volson to the gameday roster. The thought of having to move Tucker Kraft to offensive tackle, which was the backup plan last week after Bako-Bewele, Banks and Donovan Jennings exited before Monk’s injury scare, is incredibly rare.

So, the big question is who will form the starting offensive line. Anthony Belton will be the right tackle but how about the left guard?

Jennings was the next man up the first two games – he started in place of Banks against the Vikings and replaced Banks against the Jets before leaving with an injured hand – and the team could have went that way in the name of continuity.

When Jennings went down last week, the team pivoted to rookie Jager Burton.

“Yeah, potentially,” coach Matt LaFleur said this week of letting Burton take over, ”but we’re also trying to just build the continuity of the five guys up front. So, I think there’s a little bit of a double-edged sword right there. Yeah, you want to get those guys reps and get that experience and let them play through some growing pains that most young players have. But, just with our situation as it is right now, I would expect him to end up having to play some football for us.”

Based on pregame warmups, Burton will make his first career start.

“Just Donovan was playing better, Jager wasn’t, but that doesn’t mean it’s not [final]. We write that in pencil; it’s not in pen,” Stenavich explained this week. “Yeah, I liked what I saw from him – I’m talking about Jager. He did a nice job out there competing, and if he’s playing, I’m excited to see him out there. I like all the guys. I thought their play style was nice. We have a lot to clean up, obviously, but they were playing hard, and we can work with that for sure.”

The No. 1 line will be Jordan Morgan at left tackle, Burton at left guard, Sean Rhyan at center, Monk at right guard and Belton at right tackle.

“Good, man,” Rhyan said this week of Burton. “It’s tough going from, you don’t think you’re going to be playing to yeah, you’re starting. It’s raining, a little bit loud, a little bit muggy. He did a good job for his first kind of step.”

The Packers are hoping to set an NFL record tonight.

Will they? Here are our predictions. ⬇️https://t.co/29vOKZW6K2
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) September 24, 2026

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