Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur announced during his Monday press conference that the team will have running back Josh Jacobs in practice this week, but that edge defender Micah Parsons will not be practicing, another sign that Parsons has yet to be medically cleared by the training staff. According to LaFleur, Jacobs has been training with the team, which is allowed while he was on the commisioner exempt list, but the team is going to give him a full week of practice before deciding on whether or not he’ll be active against the Detroit Lions on Sunday.
With the addition of Jacobs, the Packers’ active roster is up to 51 players out of the allotted count of 53. Reports also claim that defensive lineman Mazi Smith has signed with Green Bay’s practice squad, which is currently full. Depending on whether or not the Packers release a practice squadder to make room for the addition of Smith or if they move a practice squadder to the active roster, the team has one to two open roster spots on their full 70-man squad (active roster and practice squad) going into the week.
Last week, the Packers only needed to make four scratches on their active roster: cornerback Benjamin St-Juste (who was ruled out with an injury on Friday) and three offensive linemen. They backfilled from the practice squad with the game-day elevations of edge defender Aaron Mosby and receiver Coleman Owen, who only saw playing time on special teams in Week 5.
On the topic of guard Aaron Banks, who came into the season as the Packers’ preferred option at left guard, LaFleur said that Banks’ practice last week was the “best he’s looked” in a long time. A looming question in Green Bay is whether or not Banks or Kevin Zeitler will end up taking over as starting guards at some point in 2026, especially after Laken Tomlinson and Travis Glover didn’t play great against the Cowboys on Sunday Night Football. The Tomlinson-Glover combo was certainly better than the Donovan Jennings-Jacob Monk combo that the team started the season with, but the team is clearly hoping for continued improvement up front.