There were a lot of moving parts on the Green Bay Packers’ roster this week, as the team placed three contributors on the injured reserve. Who stepped in their place against the Dallas Cowboys? Let’s take a position-by-position look at who was on the field for the Packers on offense and defense in the team’s Week 6 win, explaining what has changed with the group.
Quarterback
- Jordan Love: 73 snaps
- Tyrod Taylor: 0
Nothing has changed here.
Running Back
- Pierre Strong Jr.: 41
- MarShawn Lloyd: 30
- Kaleb Johnson: 2
For the second straight week, running back Kaleb Johnson has basically been a non-factor in the offense, following his fumble against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 4. Johnson only had nine snaps, all in the second half in garbage time, against the Chicago Bears in Week 5, while MarShawn Lloyd played 27 and Pierre Strong Jr. played 25. Snaps were split between Strong and Lloyd again this week, with Johnson getting even fewer looks.
Interestingly, head coach Matt LaFleur has recently said that if Pierre Strong Jr., who was dealing with a hamstring issue earlier in the year, was healthy in Week 1, then Strong would have played for the team — despite being a member of the practice squad. Don’t be surprised if the Packers end up dropping Strong to the practice squad when Josh Jacobs is activated on Monday, but then the team ends up activating Strong as a game-day elevation while Johnson — who is under a three-year cost-controlled rookie contract — is scratched as a developmental prospect.
None of the Packers’ running backs have posted great production this season, which is part their fault and part the fault of the offensive line. Here’s what their unit has produced:
- Lloyd: 48 carries for 122 yards (2.5 YPC)
- Johnson: 28 carries for 104 yards (3.7 YPC)
- Strong: 16 carries for 35 yards (2.2 YPC)
- Chris Brooks: 15 carries for 70 yards (4.7 YPC) — currently on the injured reserve
Receiver
- Christian Watson: 66
- Matthew Golden: 63
- Savion Williams: 40
- Bo Melton: 18
- J. Michael Sturdivant: 2
- Coleman Owen: 0
With Jayden Reed, the team’s preferred starting slot receiver, and Skyy Moore, the team’s next man up at the slot position, now both on injured reserve, the Packers pivoted to mostly playing Savion Williams, himself called up from the injured reserve this week, to play in the slot in Week 6. Bo Melton, who played the position in-game when Moore dropped out last week, also got some looks — as well as a few opportunities as an outside receiver.
J. Michael Strudivant and Coleman Owen, who was called up from the practice squad this week, look like special teams contributors who are really on “receivers” in case of emergency. For what it’s worth, Owen was the team’s primary punt returner (mixed results in his first showing, as he fair caught a football around the five-yard line but also had a decent return when given the opportunity), while Sturdivant jumped up to being the “off returner” (essentially a lead blocker) in the kick return game for Melton, who was pushed to the team’s main kick returner. The team had to backfill at both returner positions after Moore’s injury.
Tight End
- Tucker Kraft: 56
- Mark Redman: 23
- Josh Whyle: 15
- Jonnu Smith: 9
Josh Whyle getting more snaps than Jonnu Smith is a little surprising here, but Tucker Kraft has been the number one tight end on the team all year, and Mark Redman has been the season-long tight end two by a good margin. It’ll be interesting to see if this Whyle-Smith dynamic is a one-off. Smith has played 101 snaps to Whyle’s 36 on offense this year.
Offensive Line
- Jordan Morgan: 73
- Laken Tomlinson: 73
- Sean Rhyan: 73
- Travis Glover: 73
- Anthony Belton: 73
- Kevin Zeitler: 0
- Jacob Monk: 0
- John Williams: 0
Nothing surprising here, as the Packers rolled out their line of Jordan Morgan, Laken Tomlinson, Sean Rhyan, Travis Glover and Anthony Belton (left to right) for another full game tonight. The question here is how much longer the team will keep Kevin Zeitler on the bench, as neither Tomlinson or Glover played great against the Cowboys.
Defensive Line
- Karl Brooks: 47
- Devonte Wyatt: 46
- Chris McClellan: 39
- Anthony Campbell: 31
The Packers were very thin on the interior defensive line this week, as they typically play five players at the position. This game, they only had four options, as Jonathan Ford and Javon Hargrave joined Warren Brinson on the injured reserve this week, all while Jordon Riley is working his way off the physically unable to perform list.
Frequently, the team was in 3-4 looks where Chris McClellan took over as the nose tackle (a role Ford previously played) and the only player at the position on the bench was Anthony Campbell, who had only played nine NFL snaps prior to this game. They lucked out that the Cowboys decided to play a lot of light formations on offense, keeping the 3-4 personnel from being ground out in the running game.
They might not be so lucky next week against the Detroit Lions. They need another body at the position.
Edge Defender
- Lukas Van Ness: 42
- Barryn Sorrell: 40
- Brenton Cox Jr.: 38
- Dani Dennis-Sutton: 35
- Arron Mosby: 0
When Arron Mosby was called up from the practice squad, he was obviously going to contribute on special teams. Last season, for example, Mosby played 221 special teams snaps over 12 games for the Packers (18.4 per game) compared to just 17 defensive snaps (1.4 per game).
Lukas Van Ness played a little less on defense than usual, but Green Bay generally splits snaps between Barryn Sorrell, Brenton Cox Jr. and Dani Dennis-Sutton evenly. Here are the season-long numbers at the position, defensively:
- Lukas Van Ness: 274 snaps
- Barryn Sorrell: 204 snaps
- Dani Dennis-Sutton: 181 snaps
- Brenton Cox Jr.: 179 snaps
Off-Ball Linebacker
- Zaire Franklin: 77
- Isaiah McDuffie: 42
- Ty’Ron Hopper: 33
- Nick Niemann: 0
- Kristian Welch: 0
Since Edgerrin Cooper’s injury, Ty’Ron Hopper has played 72 snaps of defense to Isaiah McDuffie’s 74. They tend to draft off drives about every two drives, likely to try to keep their legs fresh for special teams. For perspective, McDuffie ranked second on the team in special teams reps going into this week, while Hopper ranked fifth. Nick Niemann (first in special teams) and Kristian Welch are on pretty incredible special teams pace, too, which is why they’re on the game-day roster. Welch has only been on the roster for three weeks, but is basically matching Niemann’s pace when he’s up from the practice squad.
Cornerback
- Keisean Nixon: 77
- Brandon Cisse: 54
- Carrington Valentine: 25
- Kamal Hadden: 0
The Packers played two snaps of dime defense this week in third-and-long looks, which pushes Carrington Valentine into the slot. They seem to be treating their second slot in dime looks differently than true slot defenders, as Kamal Hadden (who got in at the position late in the Bears game in garbage time) is actually the “next man up” at the position.
Brandon Cisse, the team’s right cornerback, suffered a stinger, which pushed Valentine up to outside cornerback in this game, too. Cisse never returned to action, but he stated after the game to Packers.com’s Weston Hodkiewicz that he’s “fine.” Cisse was the only player in Week 6 who dropped out and did not return to play. Progress!
Also: Both Keisean Nixon and Cisse had pretty good games. Cisse was probably having his best game as a Packer before his injury. Valentine almost got two interceptions in his limited playing time, too.
Safety
- Xavier McKinney: 77
- Evan Williams: 77
- Javon Bullard: 66
- Kitan Oladapo: 0
The only notable thing here is that slot defender Javon Bullard played six-sevenths of snaps on defense, meaning that the Packers played a lot of nickel personnel in this game. As we mentioned in the defensive line section, Green Bay wasn’t forced to play their 3-4 base defense often (usually, it’s around one-third of their snaps, but varies a good amount from team to team), which really bailed out their thin line.
Like the deep linebackers, Kitan Oladapo is here to be a special teams contributor and an emergency defender. Coming into the week, he only played less than the top three linebackers, receiver Bo Melton, edge defender Barryn Sorrell and defensive lineman Karl Brooks (yes, he plays a ton of teams) in the kicking game. This has afforded the Packers the freedom to keep Xavier McKinney off special teams regularly for the first time since he’s been in Green Bay.