Acme Packing Company
As someone who has hand-charted the Green Bay Packers’ rotations on offense and defense this year, I want to go position-by-position through the Packers’ roster, detail how the depth chart stands (at least as of Week 18) and try to tell the story of the team that will be facing off against the Chicago Bears on Saturday night. I’m going to try to stack this depth chart as true as I can, but there are times when the true answer is that two (or more) players really share a role. We’ll get into that and all the nitty-gritty, including how injuries have impacted the depth chart, in this piece.
Obviously, Jordan Love is going to be the starting quarterback when healthy. Despite going down with a concussion the last time the Packers and Bears faced off, Love passed concussion protocol last week and served as Clayton Tune’s backup in the team’s less-than-competitive game against the Minnesota Vikings.
Head coach Matt LaFleur said earlier this week that Willis will be able to return to the field, if needed. Behind him is Desmond Ridder, signed to the practice squad last week, who was swapped in for Clayton Tune on Tuesday.
The NFL has a third quarterback rule that states that if both of the team’s top two quarterbacks (in this case Love and Willis) get injured, then a healthy scratch quarterback on the 53-man roster (in this case Ridder) would be able to enter the game, so long as the team accepts that neither of the top two quarterbacks can return to action. That disaster scenario is why Ridder is on the active roster right now. This is common for NFL teams in the postseason.
Josh Jacobs has been dealing with a knee contusion ever since he had an unpleasant meeting with MetLife Stadium’s turf on November 18th. Last week, the Packers made Jacobs one of their four healthy scratches for the game in their meaningless matchup against the Vikings, when Green Bay actively tried to put the lowest players on their depth chart on the field for as many snaps as they could physically handle.
Jacobs will be the bell-cow running back for the playoffs, barring some sort of health setback. What gets really interesting is what the team does in the backup running back role.
While Emanuel Wilson has held down that role for a good chunk of the year, blocking back Chris Brooks has played as many or more snaps than Wilson in four of the Packers’ last six games. Initially, Green Bay tried to use Wilson in a route-running role (14 receptions for 95 yards on the year) and Brooks in two-back looks, with him as a run blocker, or as a lone pass-protector. That seems to have changed recently, though, as Brooks is getting on...
