Green Bay Packers Could Add Another RB with Patrick Taylor on PUP

After placing Josiah Deguara on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list and Isaiah McDuffie on the non-football injury (NFI) list on Friday, the Green Bay Packers made another injury-related move on Saturday, also placing second-year running back Patrick Taylor on the PUP list as well, according to Aaron Wilson.

Taylor was an undrafted rookie out of Memphis in 2020 and essentially red-shirted his rookie season, recovering from offseason foot surgery from an injury that he sustained in college. Taylor did return to practice late in the season, but ultimately he stayed on the NFI list.

Taylor was an under-the-radar player that I was going to have my eyes on during training camp and someone that I was excited to see in action. While Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon will take a bulk of the workload at running back this season, the RB3 role is up for grabs. Although many assume that job is Kylin Hill’s for the taking — and it very well could be — I wouldn’t have been surprised to see Taylor win it either.

He was a very productive ball carrier out of the backfield during his collegiate career, a willing pass-blocker, and effective in the passing game as well. Taylor is really an ideal fit for this Matt LaFleur offense and even though he missed a majority of his rookie season with an injury, don’t discount the time that he spent learning the playbook and his responsibilities.

When a player is placed on the PUP list, they can return at any time, but in Taylor’s case, at least at this time, we don’t know how much time he may miss. If there is the possibility that he could be out for an extended period of time, then we very well could see the Green Bay Packers bring in another running back.

Without Taylor available, the Packers have only four running backs on the 90-man roster–Jones, Dillon, Hill, and Dexter Williams. They released Mike Weber earlier this offseason to make room on the roster for De’Vondre Campbell.

There are some big names still on the market such as Todd Gurley, Duke Johnson, Dion Lewis, and Adrian Peterson, however, I wouldn’t expect the Green Bay Packers to go after any of those players or ones of that ilk. With Jones and Dillon, they don’t need significant contributions from the third running back–just someone who can take some snaps here and there to provide some respite.

But what they do need is another body for camp; there simply could be just too many reps to go around for only four running backs–especially once the preseason begins where we likely won’t see much of Jones or Dillon on the field.

Green Bay recently had in tight end Tommy Stevens for a workout, along with cornerback Rashard Robinson and nose tackle Sterling Johnson. So if in the coming days we hear that they are having a running back or two in for a tryout, don’t be surprised, they could certainly use the reinforcements if Taylor is going to miss significant time.