A recent addition and two starters both landed on the virus list coming out of Sunday’s game.
Another Monday means another set of positive COVID-19 tests around the NFL. After getting a slew of players back over the weekend from the reserve/COVID-19 list, the Green Bay Packers have deactivated three players on the first day of the final week of the regular season.
Two of those players come from the 53-man roster and were in the starting lineup in Sunday’s #1-seed-clinching victory over the Minnesota Vikings. Free safety Darnell Savage and right tackle Dennis Kelly both head to the list, shutting them down for the next few days. Both players will have an opportunity to return this weekend, however, if they are vaccinated and asymptomatic.
Joining them on the virus list is return man David Moore, who signed to the Packers’ practice squad just last Thursday. Moore was elevated to the active roster for Sunday’s game and recorded the team’s longest punt return of the season, a 21-yarder early in the third quarter. Moore replaced Amari Rodgers on returns in the game because Rodgers was placed on the COVID list last week, remaining there through the weekend and into the start of this week.
The Packers did remove one player from the COVID list, but that player is outside linebacker Chauncey Rivers, who is on injured reserve. Rivers is not expected to return this season. His return drops the total number of players on the list to nine, consisting of the following:
- Jaire Alexander
- Kingsley Keke
- Dennis Kelly
- Amari Rodgers
- Darnell Savage
- JJ Molson (practice squad)
- David Moore (practice squad)
- Jayson Stanley (practice squad)
- Ray Wilborn (practice squad)
One other notable move, however, is that the Packers released kicker Elliott Fry from the practice squad on Monday. That move suggests that the team expects Molson to return from the list this week to ensure that the team still has a backup to Mason Crosby.