The Green Bay Packers signed former third-round edge rusher D.J. Johnson to their practice squad. The fourth-year player was one of three new faces the team added to the roster before their Week 9 matchup with the New England Patriots.
Packers also signed quarterback Cam Miller and safety John Saunders to the practice squad. As the corresponding move, they released Khalef Hailassie.
Green Bay Packers Sign D.J. Johnson to Practice Squad
Johnson was a third-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. So, he is still in his fourth NFL season, and he is still just 27 years old. However, he was never able to live up to his draft billing. Johnson played in 231 snaps as a rookie and had three pressures on 83 pass-rush attempts.
In his second year, the team gave him a few more chances. However, he had 392 snaps, 128 pass-rush attempts, and just one pressure to show for it. In 2025, the team buried him further down the depth chart. He only played in 53 snaps.
Johnson joined the Washington Commanders‘ practice squad late into 2025. He stuck with the team through the 2026 offseason, but the Commanders released him at the end of the preseason.
He has been a free agent since then. Now, he is joining the Packers.
Packers Have Need at Edge Rusher
When Edgerrin Cooper went down for the Packers, they had to call up Isaiah McGuire and Tyrone Hopper to take on more snaps on defense. With that, they lost a lot of special teams snaps, so the team has been using practice squad edge rusher Arron Mosby as a special teams option in the last three weeks.
However, they have run out of practice squad call-ups for Mosby. The team either has to add him to the roster, release Mosby, or they have to keep him on the practice squad for the rest of the year without bringing him up to the active roster. That is likely why they signed D.J. Johnson.
The Packers also have Nyjalik Kelly as an edge rusher on the practice squad, joining Mosby and Johnson.
This likely does not have an impact on Micah Parsons, who is expected to practice this week. Reports are that Parsons will return to practice in a light capacity this week. Then he will join team work the next week.
Because the Packers have a bye in week 11, his anticipated return is week 12 against the Los Angeles Rams. Green Bay still has Lukas Van Ness, Barryn Sorrell, Brenton Cox, and Dani Dennis-Sutton.
So, if the team did call Johnson up to the active roster before Parsons got healthy, there is a good chance he would not see much work on defense. Still, Johnson had enough talent to get drafted in the top 100 picks as recently as three seasons ago. This is a fun player to have, with some upside just in case he figures things out as he gets more NFL experience.
Packers Sign Former 3rd-Round Before Week 9