Green Bay Packers Place Devin Funchess on IR, Ending his Season

One of the big topics of conversation this summer — if not the biggest — was, who was going to be the Green Bay Packers’ sixth wide receiver?

After a strong preseason debut against the Houston Texans where Devin Funchess caught six of his eight targets for 70 yards, he put himself right in the middle of that conversation along with Malik Taylor, who also performed quite well that game.

Equanimeous St. Brown had missed some practice time and a preseason game due to injury, but even when available, he never consistently stood out. Juwann Winfree impressed early on but, unfortunately, has been sidelined the last few weeks—narrowing the battle to Funchess and Taylor.

However, during joint practices with the New York Jets, Funchess would leave with an injury and he missed the following preseason game. Meanwhile, Taylor continued to impress, catching four of his five targets at nearly 17 yards per catch, according to PFF ($$).

But for Funchess, he was still not at practice on Monday or Tuesday of this week, and as a result, he has now been placed on IR, ending his season with the Green Bay Packers.

Funchess was always one of, if not the biggest wildcard on this Packers team coming into this season. We’ve seen him produce in the past with Carolina, and with his 6’4” – 225-pound frame, there was the potential for him to carve out a role on third downs and in the red zone—especially from the slot where he could be a real matchup problem.

On the flip side, we also didn’t know how quickly Funchess would be able to shake the rust off after not playing in a regular-season game since the beginning of 2019. That season with Indianapolis, he broke his collar bone in Week 1 and then last year he opted out due to COVID.

If healthy, the Green Bay Packers were going to have to decide between Funchess’ upside and higher ceiling as a receiver or Taylor’s ability to also contribute on special teams.

However, that is all a moot point at this time as Funchess’ season with the Green Bay Packers is now over. If a player is placed on IR before the regular season begins, they cannot return with that team—meaning Taylor is likely WR6.

There were a few other moves reportedly made; Green Bay also cut wide receiver Chris Blair and signed interior defensive lineman Abdullah Anderson as well as cornerback Stephen Denmark. Both players were in recently for workouts.