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Green Bay Packers defensive end Brenton Cox Jr. was placed on the injured reserve on Thursday, leading up to the Packers’ game against the Washington Commanders. Cox, like cornerback Bo Melton, was ruled out on Wednesday by Green Bay for Week 2 action.
Cox injured his groin during the Packers’ Week 1 victory against the Detroit Lions and was unable to play the final quarter and a half of the game. He will likely be replaced by rookie defensive end Barryn Sorrell in the lineup, who was inactive last week due to a knee injury. Cox was Green Bay’s fifth defensive end last week, behind Rashan Gary, Lukas Van Ness, Micah Parsons and Kingsley Enagbare.
With Cox on IR, the soonest he’ll be able to return to the 53-man roster is in Week 7 against the Arizona Cardinals. The Packers did not announce a corresponding move with Cox going on the IR, meaning that Green Bay currently has a 52-man roster.
The Packers had five players on their injury lists before the Cox addition — receiver Christian Watson (PUP), defensive end Collin Oliver (PUP), offensive lineman John Williams (PUP), running back MarShawn Lloyd (IR) and offensive lineman Jacob Monk (IR) — who are eligible to return to the team in 2025. It’s possible that the 53rd roster spot eventually goes to one of these players.
What Green Bay did do, though, is call up two players from the practice squad for tonight’s game: offensive lineman Brant Banks and cornerback Micah Robinson. The Packers already had nine offensive linemen on their 53-man roster, so the promotion of Banks makes little sense unless Green Bay believes they’ll be out left guard Aaron Banks and right tackle Zach Tom against the Commanders. The NFL’s gameday rules state that teams can have 47 players on the gameday roster, but there’s an exemption for an eighth offensive lineman. Without Banks and Tom, who are listed as questionable going into their matchup with Washington, the Packers would only be at seven offensive linemen.
Robinson was called up last week, but he didn’t play a single snap for the team, on defense or on special teams. With Melton out for the game, though, there’s a good chance that Robinson (0 snaps) and Kamal Hadden (2 snaps) see a significant increase in special teams work this week, especially if cornerback Nate Hobbs (questionable, knee) is held out for a second straight week.
