Packers relatively healthy entering Sunday night

-- It may be tough to remember the Green Bay Packers being as healthy as they currently are heading into a season-opener.

As of Thursday evening, their injury report remained stagnant. Only safety Josh Jones and linebackers Oren Burks and James Crawford were listed.

Jones, however, was held out of practice for the second consecutive day with an ankle injury. Burks and Crawford were listed as limited participants.

Burks' recovery is an important one to watch, as reports speculated he wouldn't be ready for the Packers' first game Sunday night with the possibility he misses time beyond that.

Thursday was the Packers' first padded practice of the regular season, and while Burks only went through non-contact individual drills, he did sport full padding along with a harness on his injured shoulder.

Burks, the Packers' third-round pick in April's draft, dislocated his shoulder during pre-game warmups prior an exhibition game against the Oakland Raiders two weeks ago. His status for Sunday night is in doubt, but the Packers have reinforcements to combat the Chicago Bears.

They acquired linebackers Antonio Morrison via trade with the Indianapolis Colts and signed free agent Korey Toomer, previously of the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Chargers as of late.

Along with Crawford, who is still dealing with a hamstring injury, the Packers will ride the momentum of Blake Martinez, who will have Morrison starting alongside him in the base defense.

The Packers will likely keep Burks out of the inaugural game of the season regardless of how quickly his recovery is going. They have the bodies at the position to survive for a week and to re-evaluate him at a later date.

After not practicing this week, there's a good chance the Packers will hold Jones out against the Bears.

That's a misfortune that may not put much of a crimp in the Packers' plans at safety. Kentrell Brice, according to the team's unofficial depth chart, is the starter at strong safety ahead of Jones. That'd leave Jones to play as a hybrid linebacker in the box where he was most comfortable in his rookie season.

Now, new defensive coordinator Mike Pettine could be somewhat handicapped in how he operates schematically. This is where having an influx of middle linebackers could prove to be useful.

The Packers could also plug Jermaine Whitehead -- one of the five safeties to make the 53-man roster last weekend -- into the back end and allow Brice into the box as a linebacker, as he has experience there. 

__________________________

Zachary Jacobson is a staff writer/reporter for Cheesehead TV. He's the voice of The Leap on iTunes and can be heard on The Scoop KLGR 1490 AM every Saturday morning. He's also a contributor on the Pack-A-Day Podcast. He can be found on Twitter via @ZachAJacobson or contacted through email at [email protected].

0 points
 

Comments (19)

Fan-Friendly This filter will hide comments which have ratio of 5 to 1 down-vote to up-vote.
Coldworld's picture

September 06, 2018 at 05:39 pm

If you count Jones, that’s half our ILB corps down potentially. That’s pretty darn thin. Will also affect special teams I would think.

0 points
0
0
DraftHobbyist's picture

September 06, 2018 at 05:56 pm

How do these injuries translate to being relatively healthy? I mean, we haven't even hit Week 1 and we lost our starting ILB (Ryan), his backup (Burks), and his backup that can fill in from SS hasn't been practicing due to injury (Jones). Oh yeah, and another depth guy used mainly for ST's (Crawford) is hurt. Sure, we have Martinez and Morrison, but that's basically it, and we need both of them to play at the same time. Furthermore, we just got Morrison so he's going to be limited in his understanding of the Defense. Sure, guys like Rodgers are healthy, but heck, even Bakhtiari might still be a little banged up and who knows about if Bulaga is being rushed back or not. This is not exactly what I call relatively healthy going into Week 1.

0 points
0
0
ZacharyJacobson's picture

September 06, 2018 at 06:15 pm

... One player didn't practice. How is that not relatively healthy? Bryan Bulaga wasn't supposed to play. Nick Perry probably wasn't going to play if he didn't kill his rehab. You can't do anything about freak injuries during training camp over a month ago. If you can close out the preseason with three players on your injury report - and two of them are limited - then I'll take that as a huge win compared to other years.

0 points
0
0
DraftHobbyist's picture

September 06, 2018 at 07:05 pm

You just completely ignored the fact that we already have a starting ILB lost for the season. You'd take a starting playing lost for the season before the season even starts as a huge win? Not me. Literally every ILB is injured besides Martinez and one we traded to get in Morrison, including a SS. I just have no clue how this is considered healthy.

And actually, we have 5 players on IR: Jake Ryan, Quinten Rollins, Kyle Murphy, Devante Mays, Jake Kumerow. Some of those players may not have made the roster, but Ryan definitely would have. Murphy was probably making the roster as a pretty high backup. He was either going to be behind Spriggs or backing up RT. Mays had an opportunity with Jones suspended given that he made the 53 to start the season last year. How many players have to be lost for the season before you say we're not healthy?

0 points
0
0
Oppy's picture

September 06, 2018 at 08:32 pm

Im fairly sure Mays and Rollins were waived (injury settlement), not placed on IR.

Could be wrong.. but I'm pretty sure.

0 points
0
0
DraftHobbyist's picture

September 06, 2018 at 08:59 pm

0 points
0
0
Oppy's picture

September 07, 2018 at 01:53 am

Drafthobbyist, I wonder if the site hasn't been updated, or perhaps the Injury settlements haven't been finalized yet. Tom Silverstein reported that according to NFL documents on the waiver wire, they were designated Injured-Waived, meaning injury settlements were on the way:

https://packerswire.usatoday.com/2018/09/02/packers-releasing-quinten-ro...

0 points
0
0
Coldworld's picture

September 07, 2018 at 06:02 am

A team can not waive a player who is injured in preseason and walk away. Unless claimed, the player will revert to injured reserve and be entitled to be paid accordingly unless an injury settlement is reached. Players designated for IR in preseason cannot be designated for return.

An injury settlement can’t be reached until a player passes his physical. So it will not be updated unless and until a settlement is reached. Packers could simply keep them on IR if any post season interest since they cleared waivers.

0 points
0
0
ZacharyJacobson's picture

September 06, 2018 at 09:15 pm

My response to your comment about losing Jake Ryan: "You can't do anything about freak injuries during training camp over a month ago."

Which, is true. The most you can do in the event of that happening is full out your roster with depth to mitigate the blow; players who can do similar things. That's why Antonio Morrison is there.

Plus, the headline was specifically "entering Sunday night," not that they've been relatively healthy "all summer." I think you're the one ignoring the facts here. Be grateful your favorite team's injury report is as minuscule as it is coming out of the preseason.

0 points
0
0
DraftHobbyist's picture

September 06, 2018 at 09:21 pm

You are changing the subject when it comes to Ryan. Your article is about whether we are healthy or not, not whether we can do something about injuries. It doesn't matter if the Ryan injury was freak or whether we can do something about it. An injury is an injury is an injury. The fact is we have a starting ILB on IR. When Jordy Nelson went down with that non-contact blown ACL, that was a bit of a freak injury, but that was still an injury that hurt the team rather than just being recognized as a freak injury the Packers couldn't do anything about. Hopefully Antonio Morrison can learn the Defense in full by the end of the season.

0 points
0
0
Since'61's picture

September 07, 2018 at 03:17 pm

DraftHobbyist - look at Jake Ryan's injury as a potential blessing in disguise.
Now we have an opportunity to find a player or maybe a combination of players who can actually play the position. I expect Oren Burks to be a better and faster player than Jake Ryan and Anthony Morrison may just as good or better than Jake Ryan.

I never considered Jake Ryan to be a starting caliber ILB. He may have been for the Packers but that doesn't mean he is good enough to start in the NFL. Rather he was playing because there was no one else. We're not losing a starting ILB we're gaining an actual football player.
Thanks, Since '61

0 points
0
0
DraftHobbyist's picture

September 07, 2018 at 04:06 pm

My comment is not really about how good Ryan is, it's about the health of our team. I don't think it's a blessing that Ryan got hurt, either. He's not the best ILB, but he does fill a role. Ryan is a run-stopper while Burks is a pass-defender. Burks has been horrendous in the box. He's a specialty Nickle-backer IMO. Between Ryan, Martinez, and Burks, we have a solid enough group to get by, but without any one of them our ILB corps really suffers. I don't see Burks as this ILB savior that others seem to see him as. Morrison has some potential I think, but we need to be careful hoping for too much out of him because Indianapolis didn't even want him. We'll see what happens. I'm certainly hoping for the best.

0 points
0
0
Lare's picture

September 06, 2018 at 06:11 pm

Not sure why the Packers would keep an injured Crawford over a healthy Thomas. Hopefully, Jones & Burks don't end up on the frequently injured list like Matthews, Perry, Bulaga, Cobb and Montgomery.

0 points
0
0
DraftHobbyist's picture

September 06, 2018 at 07:10 pm

For Special Teams.

0 points
0
0
PatrickGB's picture

September 06, 2018 at 06:21 pm

Wow, 2010? Injuries at important positions and yet we still win it all? ;-)

0 points
0
0
Grandfathered's picture

September 06, 2018 at 08:54 pm

I'm happy with the injury report. Hopefully its a sign of better training, implementation of technology, and an embracing of an attitude to be open to innovation s that will reduce major injuries. I'm talking about a "How can we reduce injuries" attitude as opposed to a "Injuries are part of the game" resignation. The Packer Org has always looked like a old school conservative group that is reactive more than proactive. Although the med staff they do have a good reputation in the league, It seems the players have had to take the initiative in inovative training and I recall MM being unable to say how he would use tech like so called GPS and better real time tech. I would like to see some reporting about the training staff, etc.

0 points
0
0
Spock's picture

September 07, 2018 at 05:53 am

I can't recall any recent season where the Packers had so many healthy players on the active roster. Maybe this is the year where the football gods finally stay on the Packers side. The Vikings last year were blessed with unbelievable good luck with their roster (not that it did them any good despite a 'career year' from QB1 Case Keenum). With a healthy year this team could be in the SB a year sooner than some were predicting. Go, Pack, Go!

0 points
0
0
DD's picture

September 07, 2018 at 09:27 am

I think our defense can hold up. My major concern is can our offensive line? That's the key
And can MM be unpredictable on downs and use deception to offset their rush? I bet we'll see the same offense with little change. Can hardly wait!! Come on Pack.

0 points
0
0
billybobton's picture

September 07, 2018 at 01:12 pm

It was not a sure bet Jake R made the roster. The day of a slow run stopping pass failing LB is gone. Nothing Ryan could do would not be done better by a DB (now that we have a couple of real DBs and Ranall and Rollins are ruining someone elses season) or a DLman. Each person on the Dl is a much better choice to have in game than Jake R was. Each of them. Jake R getting snaps was only a tribute to bad coaching working hand in had with a bad GM.

0 points
0
0