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Musgrave has two more weeks to be activated off of the injured reserve
Little changed on the Green Bay Packers’ injury report on Friday, which isn’t a surprise considering the team is going fairly light this week. As head coach Matt LaFleur noted in his post-practice presser today, the team has yet to practice with full pads in their lead-up to their game against the banged-up New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football.
Starting middle linebacker Quay Walker (ankle) and slot defender Javon Bullard (ankle) remained as non-participants in practice. Walker would be replaced by Eric Wilson, who has stepped in for Walker several times this season, while Bullard would be subbed by cornerback Keisean Nixon — should the two starters miss the action.
Cornerback is an interesting position, because Nixon is the team’s preferred starting outside cornerback opposite of Jaire Alexander when everyone is healthy. Alexander has only played 10 snaps since going down with a knee injury against the Jacksonville Jaguars midseason, though, and Nixon’s needed in the slot. Alexander has been a full participant in back-to-back practices, but we saw similar last week before he was pulled for the team’s final practice of the week. Tomorrow’s practice will tell us a lot about how the team feels about Alexander.
If Alexander is cleared, the assumption is that he will start outside with some combination of Carrington Valentine and Eric Stokes playing opposite of him. Valentine and Stokes have often rotated with Alexander out of the lineup, though, it’s pretty clear that Valentine is outperforming Stokes — who is in the final year of his contract — as of late.
The limited participants in practice on Friday were cornerback Corey Ballentine (hamstring) and tight end Luke Musgrave (ankle). Ballentine battled his hamstring injury last week, but he was still active for gameday against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday. Expect similarly this week.
Musgrave is a player who is apparently trending in a positive direction, according to LaFleur. The head coach stated that the tight end “looked pretty good out there” and that he could “potentially” suit up as soon as Monday. Musgrave is in Week 2 of his 21-day practice window with the team before the Packers have to decide to activate him to the 53-man roster or shut him down for good, allowing him to revert back to the injured reserve for the remainder of the year.
