Lecitus Smith was signed by the Packers on Wednesday and could play on Sunday.
The Green Bay Packers have activated center Lecitus Smith for their Sunday Night Football matchup against the Dallas Cowboys. This shouldn’t be a surprise, considering that Zach Tom and Anthony Belton have already been ruled out of Week 4 due to injury. What this does mean, though, is that Aaron Banks (groin), who was listed as doubtful on the Packers’ final injury report of the week, will likely be out, too.
Green Bay only needed to call up a practice squad offensive lineman if they didn’t believe that they were going to have eight healthy players at the position going into the Cowboys game. The way the NFL’s gameday active rules work is that teams get 47 roster spots, out of their 53-man active roster and two potential practice squad call-ups, but they receive a 48th player if and only if that final player is an eighth offensive lineman.
If Tom, Belton and Banks are out, then the Packers would only have seven offensive linemen available for the game, hence Smith’s call-up to the gameday roster. This is your hint that Green Bay believes that Banks won’t be suiting up on Sunday.
Without that trio, along with Travis Glover and Jacob Monk on the injured reserve and John Williams on the physically unable to perform list, the Packers’ starting offensive line should be: Rasheed Walker, Jordan Morgan, Elgton Jenkins, Sean Rhyan and Darian Kinnard (left to right).
If any of those expected starters drop out, though, Green Bay’s backup options will be Donovan Jennings, who has yet to play an NFL regular-season snap, Brant Banks, an undrafted rookie who was just called up to the active roster from the practice squad this week, and Smith, a practice squadder who was just signed by the team on Wednesday.
As we wrote on Friday, the Packers will be in pretty uncharted territory if they sustain even one more injury up front. It’s anyone’s guess how Jennings, Banks or Smith would perform against starting-caliber NFL athletes.
Beyond just the offensive impact, half of Green Bay’s preferred field goal protection unit will be out of action against Dallas, too. In need-to-win positions, the Packers like to have Tom, Banks and Belton on the field, on top of tight end Tucker Kraft, who has been taking breathers on special teams as of lately. Jenkins hasn’t been asked to play special teams at all this year, but with how dire the line situation is for the Packers, the 29-year-old might have to be asked to play on the field goal team in Week 4.
Category: General Sports
