Green Bay Packers: A Busy Tuesday with A Lot of Roster Moves

It was a busy Tuesday for the Green Bay Packers; catch up on all of their reported roster moves here.

Coming off their win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, it ended up being quite the busy Tuesday for GM Brian Gutekunst and the Green Bay Packers. There were a few new additions to the practice squad, an elevation to the 53-man roster, and reportedly, a few players will be going on IR.

Let’s take a look back at everything that happened.

Green Bay Packers reportedly sign TE Isaac Nauta to Practice Squad

Isaac Nauta was a seventh-round pick in the 2019 NFL draft by the Detroit Lions out of Georgia. After appearing in 13 games with the Lions, where he totaled three receptions on five targets for 16 yards, he was recently released.

At Georgia, Nauta hauled in 68 passes over his three-year career, 59 of which came during his freshman and junior seasons. He’d total 905 yards and eight touchdowns. Coming out of college, he was known as a very good blocking tight end, and his Pro Football Focus grades at the NFL level reflects that as well. For a quick look at Nauta’s game, here is what Kyle Crabbs of The Draft Network had to say in his final pre-draft scouting report:

"“Isaac Nauta should have a fairly straight forward transition to the NFL. Nauta is an ace blocker, his ability to dictate at the LOS is tremendous and will afford him ample looks early on in his NFL career. Nauta’s physical presence extends to the receiving game as well, where he shows the ability to bully and knock around defenders on his route stems. Nauta will need to be more deliberate with his physicality to create more separation on his breaks to be a big threat as a receiver, though.”"

There is the possibility that Nauta could have been drafted earlier if it wasn’t for a poor performance at the NFL Combine. His Relative Athletic Score of 1.53 out of 10 is well below average for his position group. The move is not yet official as Nauta still has to clear COVID protocols.

Green Bay Packers reportedly sign C Anthony Fabiano to Practice Squad

With Corey Linsley recently being moved to IR, this is an addition that makes sense from a depth perspective. Anthony Fabiano went undrafted in the 2016 draft out of Harvard. Since then, he has been with eight different NFL teams — nine if you count Cleveland twice — and hasn’t taken any regular season snaps since 2017.

During his limited experience in the 2016 and 2017 seasons, Fabiano totaled 160 offensive snaps in nine games, 78 of which were pass-blocking attempts, and he gave up one sack and three pressures, according to Pro Football Focus ($).

At 6’4″ – 303 pounds, Fabiano is very athletic compared to other interior offensive linemen, posting a Relative Athletic Score of 9.77 out of 10. Like Nauta, this move is not yet official.

Two players are reportedly heading to IR

An unfortunate part of Sunday’s game against the Eagles was that we saw several players leave the game with injuries. This group included Jace Sternberger, Equanimeous St. Brown, Tyler Ervin, Billy Winn, along with Raven Greene. And according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, both Ervin and Winn will be heading to IR.

In Winn’s case, if there is a silver lining, it is that the triceps injury isn’t season-ending. Rather, the plan is to rehab and get him back on the field in three weeks. In the meantime, we may start to see the recently signed Anthony Rush take some of Winn’s snaps as added depth along the interior defensive line.

Unfortunately, Ervin’s injury appears to be worse. As Pelissero reported, he doesn’t need surgery on his foot, but he will miss at least a month, meaning Ervin’s season may be over. That Tavon Austin signing from a week ago is looking even more important now.

Another name to keep your eye on in the coming days is Raven Greene. In Matt LaFleur’s Zoom call on Monday, in addition to Winn and Ervin, he expressed “concern” about Greene’s injury as well.

Green Bay Packers elevate Henry Black from practice squad to 53-man roster

While we don’t’ know if Raven Greene is headed to IR or not, this is a sign that he may miss at least some time with his shoulder injury. Black has seen action in three games this season, totaling 24 snaps on defense where he’s recorded three tackles, one run-stop, and forced a fumble against Houston. In his limited action, he has still managed four special teams tackles, which is the fifth most on this Packers team.

There may be another move or two to follow as we make our way through the rest of the week, but as far as Tuesdays go, this one was a fairly busy one for the Green Bay Packers.