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Saturday’s Packers Roster Moves: What They Mean for Sunday at Buccaneers

Here is what you need to know about the roster moves the Green Bay Packers made – and the ones they didn’t make – on Saturday.
Bill Huber|
The Green Bay Packers placed defensive lineman Warren Brinson on injured reserve on Saturday.
The Green Bay Packers placed defensive lineman Warren Brinson on injured reserve on Saturday. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers signed three veteran offensive linemen this week. One of them, former first-round pick Mekhi Becton, was signed to the practice squad.

The Packers, however, are not elevating him to the gameday roster for Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In fact, the Packers aren’t activating anyone from the practice squad for a third consecutive week.

The only roster move made on Saturday was placing defensive tackle Warren Brinson on injured reserve. That’s it, though the roster moves that weren’t made were important, too, when you look deeper.

Here’s the weekly breakdown.

Not Elevated: OL Mekhi Becton

When the Packers signed Mekhi Becton to the practice squad on Monday, a source said he would probably need a week to get ramped up physically after playing through a torn labrum last season. That, indeed, is the case.

While the Packers let Laken Tomlinson focus on left guard and Kevin Zeitler focus on right guard, Becton was playing right guard – his full-time position with the Eagles in 2024 and the Chargers in 2025 – and right tackle, which he played a little with the Jets in 2023.

It appears the plan with Becton is for him to fill the role that Anthony Belton was supposed to play this season. In a perfect world, Zack Bako-Bewele would have been the right tackle, Jacob Monk would have been the right guard and Belton would have backed up both. Instead, Bako-Bewele is out for the season and Belton is the right tackle.

What about for Sunday with Monk out with a quad injury? Zeitler and Donovan Jennings are the options at right guard and Travis Glover could be the backup plan at right tackle.

Not Elevated: LB Kristian Welch

The big news on Friday’s injury report was that starting linebacker Edgerrin Cooper (concussion/shoulder) moved from limited participation on Wednesday and Thursday to full participation on Friday.

On Saturday, the team announced Cooper had cleared the concussion protocol and is good to go for Sunday.

Thus, the Packers didn’t have to elevate veteran linebacker and special-teams standout Kristian Welch from the practice squad. That means it will be business as usual for Green Bay with Cooper and Zaire Franklin in the starting lineup and Isaiah McDuffie and Ty’Ron Hopper as the next men up.

The starters will play a huge role on Sunday against running back Bucky Irving and athletic rookie quarterback Jalon Daniels.

Not Elevated: Defensive Tackle

The Packers ruled out two defensive tackles, Warren Brinson (calf/groin) and Anthony Campbell (ankle), on Friday.

“Unfortunately I think he’s going to miss a significant amount of time. All he did was slip and injuries occur and, a lot of times, it’s noncontact,” coach Matt LaFleur said on Friday.

However, the Packers really don’t have anyone to elevate. Their only defensive tackle on the practice squad is undrafted rookie David Blay Jr., who was signed this week.

So, the Packers will roll against Tampa Bay with a five-man rotation of starters Devonte Wyatt, Jonathan Ford and Karl Brooks and backups Javon Hargrave and rookie Chris McClellan. The Packers had five last week, too, when Brinson and Campbell were inactive.

This will be a different challenge, though, on a 90-degree day with 70 percent humidity. Gannon has rotated those players in and out of the lineup all season and will continue to do so on Sunday. 

“Yeah, that was one of our deeper rooms, thankfully,” LaFleur said. “You guys could all see it throughout the offseason and into the preseason. You just have less bodies in the room, and it puts a little bit more of a load on everybody else.”

What About Warren Brinson’s Roster Spot?

The Packers did not announce a corresponding roster move. So, the Packers will take a 52-man roster to Tampa.

Who will take his place? The two players who are on injured reserve/designated for return are edge Collin Oliver and receiver Savion Williams.

With receiver Jayden Reed on injured reserve, the Packers are a man down at receiver. While he has not started practicing, he was catching passes from a JUGS machine at practice this week.

Micah Parsons will not have his practice window opened next week, according to Tom Pelissero. Another player on PUP is defensive tackle Jordon Riley, who is recovering from last year’s torn Achilles. With Brinson on injured reserve, the Packers will welcome Riley back when he’s ready.

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.