Green Bay Packers Week 13 Injury Report: The List is Shrinking!

The Green Bay Packers posted their final Week 13 injury report, which is shrinking but does include Za’Darius Smith as well as Tyler Ervin.

At one point this season, it felt like the Green Bay Packers’ injury report was about a mile long. However, entering the final stretch of the regular season, they are starting to get healthier at just the right time.

This week’s final injury report included only three players listed as questionable — Za’Darius Smith, Tyler Ervin, and Krys Barnes — with Corey Linsley listed as out. But that was to be expected after Linsley was diagnosed earlier this week with an MCL sprain.

Smith popped up unexpectedly on the injury report this week as a limited participant on Thursday, and he even sat out of Friday’s practice with what is listed as an ankle injury. However, when asked about the severity of the injury, Coach Matt LaFleur wasn’t too worried about it, and from the sounds of it, Smith will play on Sunday:

"“I’m not overly concerned about it but it’s something (he’s) been battling through all season. Some days are better than others. We held him out today and we’ll see where he’s at on Sunday.”"

The Green Bay Packers will be up against what is one of, if not the worst offensive line unit in the league this weekend, so if Smith can go, he, and the rest of the pass-rushers, will have a tremendous opportunity to wreak some havoc and affect this game in a major way.

Meanwhile, Ervin has missed the last two games with a rib injury, but once again, LaFleur does not seem terribly concerned about his status for Sunday. Tom Silverstein of Packers News called LaFleur “optimistic” when discussing Ervin’s injury. With the signing of Tavon Austin this past week, Green Bay now doesn’t have to expose Ervin to the additional hits that come with being a return man; rather, he can specifically be used as the team’s motion man–a key part of this LaFleur offense.

Lastly, we have Barnes, who is listed as questionable with a calf injury and was also just activated off the COVID/reserve list after missing the last three games. The undrafted rookie from UCLA has made seven starts this season at linebacker, and his possible return on Sunday will give the Packers added depth at the position as well as some help on special teams.

So that’s it this week. Fortunately, it is short and sweet, and based on LaFleur’s comments, it sounds like both Smith and Ervin have a good chance of playing this weekend. This means that players like Lucas Patrick, Allen Lazard, Kevin King, Josh Jackson, Darnell Savage, and others, who were all listed on the injury report at one time this week, are good to go.

Also worth noting on the Philadelphia Eagles’ side of things is that Fletcher Cox will be playing on Sunday after being listed on the injury report all week with a neck injury. Cox has 5.5 sacks, 34 pressures, and 18 run stops this season.