{"id":661033,"date":"2026-01-07T12:00:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T12:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/661033\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T12:00:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T12:00:12","slug":"packers-make-5-roster-moves-going-into-wild-card-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/661033\/","title":{"rendered":"Packers make 5 roster moves going into wild card action"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Green Bay Packers announced on Tuesday that the team has released backup quarterback Clayton Tune, who had -7 net passing yards against the Minnesota Vikings in a Week 18 regular-season finale that almost exclusively saw the Packers\u2019 backup players receive playing time<\/a>. Earlier on Tuesday, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur admitted that starting quarterback Jordan Love, who didn\u2019t play a snap in the game, received a \u201cnormal\u201d amount of snaps throughout the week of prep for the Vikings, so it appears that Tune went into that game relatively cold. Love, who served as the team\u2019s backup against Minnesota because backup quarterback Malik Willis (shoulder\/hamstring) was out with an injury, was going to hand the ball off every single play had he been forced into action, according to LaFleur.<\/p>\n

Instead of Tune, it looks like Green Bay\u2019s emergency third quarterback for the playoffs will be Desmond Ridder, who was signed to the team\u2019s practice squad last week. Today, the Packers promoted him to the 53-man roster.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, Ridder was on the street and therefore has been available for the Packers during three different periods this year:<\/p>\n

August 26th – September 16thOctober 4th – November 27thDecember 12th – December 31st<\/p>\n

At any of those points, Green Bay could have dumped Tune in favor of Ridder, but the team chose to ride out the Tune train. As a reminder, Tune was in training camp for the Cincinnati Bengals, so at the start of the season, the Packers could have simply chosen to bring in Ridder, a 26-year-old former third-round pick, over Tune as their practice squad quarterback, but elected to go the Tune route.<\/p>\n

For what it\u2019s worth, LaFleur said that Willis is expected to play this week, so Ridder will likely not be active on gameday, despite being on the 53-man roster. Ridder can potentially enter the game, though, as the NFL has a third quarterback rule, which states that an inactive member (not on the gameday 48) of the 53-man roster can play if two quarterbacks are pulled and do not return to action for the remainder of the game. Previously, LaFleur has said that running back Josh Jacobs and receiver Jayden Reed are the team\u2019s emergency quarterbacks, if it comes down to a fourth option under center this week.<\/p>\n

Beyond the 53-man roster changes, the Packers also brought back receiver Julian Hicks and tight end Messiah Swinson to the practice squad. Hicks was brought in as an undrafted free agent for Green Bay this year and was released at the cutdown deadline this summer. Swinson was a 2024 undrafted free agent who got his start with the Packers, but was poached by the Carolina Panthers during the 2024 regular season from Green Bay\u2019s practice squad and has since had stints with the San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals\u2019 practice squads. Swinson was just released by the Cardinals on December 30th.<\/p>\n

There might be a real chance that Swinson, a blocking tight end, plays on Saturday. Right now, the Packers only have two tight ends on the 53-man roster, Luke Musgrave and Josh Whyle, as Tucker Kraft, John FitzPatrick and McCallan Castles are all on the team\u2019s injury lists, while Ben Sims was waiver claimed by the Vikings around midseason. It will likely be one of Swinson or Drake Dabney, who was signed to the practice squad in Week 10 and was elevated for action in Weeks 17 and 18, who will serve as the team\u2019s third tight end against the Bears.<\/p>\n

Green Bay also added receiver Kisean Johnson to the practice squad. Johnson was given the number six jersey, which was previously worn by Tune, so it appears that Tune will not be returning to the Packers.<\/p>\n

Over the last week or so, the Packers have made close to 30 total roster moves. Below is what the roster situation looks like after all of the injuries and shake-ups that happened in response to injuries:<\/p>\n

Jordan LoveMalik WillisDesmond RidderJosh JacobsEmanuel WilsonChris BrooksPierre Strong Jr. (practice squad)Damien Martinez (practice squad)MarShawn Lloyd (injured reserve)Romeo DoubsChristian WatsonJayden ReedDontayvion WicksMatthew GoldenJakobie Keeney-JamesWill Sheppard (practice squad)Isaiah Neyor (practice squad)Julian Hicks (practice squad)Kisean Johnson (practice squad)Savion Williams (injured reserve)Luke MusgraveJosh WhyleDrake Dabney (practice squad)Messiah Swinson (practice squad)Tucker Kraft (injured reserve)John FitzPatrick (injured reserve)McCallan Castles (practice squad – injury list)Rasheed WalkerAaron BanksSean RhyanAnthony BeltonZach TomJordan MorganDarian KinnardJacon MonkLecitus SmithJohn Williams (injured reserve – designated to return)Brant Banks (practice squad)Dalton Cooper (practice squad)Karsen Barnhart (practice squad)Elgton Jenkins (injured reserve)Travis Glover (injured reserve)Donovan Jennings (injured reserve)Rashan GaryLukas Van NessKingsley EnagbareBrenton Cox Jr.Barryn SorrellCollin OliverArron MosbyMicah Parsons (injured reserve)Colby WoodenKarl BrooksWarren BrinsonNazir StackhouseJonathan FordJames Ester (practice squad)Dante Barnett (practice squad – international exemption)Devonte Wyatt (injured reserve)Jordon Riley (injured reserve)Quay WalkerEdgerrin CooperIsaiah McDuffieTy\u2019Ron HopperNick Niemann (injured reserve – designated to return)Jamon Johnson (practice squad)Kristian Welch (injured reserve)Keisean NixonCarrington ValentineTrevon DiggsBo MeltonJaylin SimpsonShemar BartholomewTyron Herring (practice squad)Nate Hobbs (injured reserve)Kamal Hadden (injured reserve)Xavier McKinneyEvan WilliamsJavon BullardKitan OladapoJohnathan BaldwinMark Perry (practice squad)Zayne Anderson (injured reserve)Brandon McManusLucas Havrisik (practice squad)<\/p>\n

Green Bay is given the ability to call up two players from the practice squad this week to the pool of gameday eligible players (55 total, including the full 53-man roster), which will end up being cut to 48 active players on gameday against the Bears. As it stands now, I would assume that it will be a tight end (either Dabney or Swinson) and linebacker Jamon Johnson, if and only if linebacker Nick Niemann isn\u2019t called up to the 53-man roster from the injured reserve. The team\u2019s active roster and practice squads have now been filled.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Green Bay Packers announced on Tuesday that the team has released backup quarterback Clayton Tune, who had…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":661034,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,2703,2702,2704,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-661033","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-green-bay-packers-depth-chart","10":"tag-green-bay-packers-news","11":"tag-green-bay-packers-roster","12":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115853710123782895","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=661033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/661034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}