In Week 8, the Washington Commanders waived 2021 first-round pick Jamin Davis after an unsuccessful transition to the edge in Dan Quinn’s system. A week later, Davis joined the Green Bay Packers’ practice squad as a linebacker, the position he was drafted to play coming out of the University of Kentucky.
While Davis has yet to be activated for a Packers game, the hope was that he could eventually provide depth to the unit that is low on numbers. This has only been stressed even more in recent weeks, as rookie Edgerrin Cooper missed last week’s game with a hamstring injury he suffered during practice. On Monday, Green Bay listed both Cooper and Isaiah McDuffie, who was able to play out the win against the San Francisco 49ers, as estimated non-participants in practice.
If the Packers are down those two players, they’ll only have three healthy linebackers going into their game against the Miami Dolphins on Thursday: Quay Walker, Eric Wilson and Ty’Ron Hopper — who saw his first defensive snaps of his NFL career in garbage time against the 49ers.
This would be a prime opportunity for Davis to get called up, right? Well, the Packers’ NFC North rival Minnesota Vikings signed Davis off of the practice squad on Tuesday, adding him to their 53-man roster. So not only are the Packers down Davis now, but they don’t even have a practice squad linebacker now.
Before Davis was signed, Green Bay’s practice squad linebacker was Chris Russell, Cooper’s former teammate at Texas A&M, who was originally signed by the team back in August. With Davis out of the picture, don’t be surprised if the Packers turn back to Russell, currently a street free agent, to provide them a linebacker who is already familiar with the system.