As the Green Bay Packers prepare for their Week 18 matchup against the Minnesota Vikings, the team decided to shake up its defensive tackle depth. On Tuesday, the Packers announced that they placed defensive tackle Jordon Riley on injured reserve, per CBS Sports.
Riley suffered an Achilles injury in the first half and had to be carted off the field in the Packers’ Week 17 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. To take Riley’s spot on the 53-man roster, Green Bay brought back Jonathan Ford, who was waived by the Chicago Bears.
However, the Packers also decided to part with defensive tackle Quinton Bohanna, which was quite shocking given the depth concerns at the position. The Packers brought in Bohanna a few weeks ago, along with Riley, immediately after it was announced that Devonte Wyatt was put on injured reserve.
Most Packers fans didn’t have huge expectations for Bohanna, as they were just happy to see the team add more depth to a unit that has struggled to find its footing after parting ways with Kenny Clark in the Micah Parsons trade.
Packers Suddenly End Quinton Bohanna Experiment in Week 18
That said, Bohanna did not see the field immediately, which was not a good sign. As he, along with Nazir Stackhouse, were healthy scratches. Meanwhile, Riley was quickly put on the field, as he played in 64 total defensive snaps in the Packers’ last four games.
During that stretch, Riley only had two combined tackles, but earned enough trust from Green Bay’s coaching staff to take over as the fourth defensive tackle. As for Bohanna, he eventually made his Packers’ debut in Week 17 following Riley’s injury. The 26-year-old defensive lineman played 15 defensive snaps and had two combined tackles.
Zach Kruse of the Packers Wire pointed out that Bohanna had a 37.3 overall defensive grade on Pro Football Focus, which isn’t great for someone who played a limited amount of snaps. The Packers were likely hoping he could help out in stopping the run, but as we saw, no one on the defense had answers for Ravens running back Derrick Henry.
With Bohanna out the door, it will be interesting to see if he’ll get picked up by another team before the season ends or if he’ll get a futures deal in the coming weeks.
As for the Packers, they’ll likely throw Ford into action to see if he can provide some stability at the defensive tackle spot. It will also be a good opportunity for Stackhouse to demonstrate that he can be a factor and carve out a role. He’s been a healthy scratch for the last four games, but with Bohanna out of the way, it could be his time to shine.