The Green Bay Packers indirectly unveiled a tidbit of injury information earlier in the day, prior to the team’s Thursday night game against the Atlanta Falcons.
The Packers decided not to elevate any players from the practice squad, which given the fact that teams can have to make five players inactive from the 53-man roster, and that six players were out or questionable; one of the two questionable players must therefore be ready to suit up on September 24.
The two questionable players involved: nose tackles Javon Hargrave and Anthony Campbell. Based purely off of the practice statuses of the pair, it appeared that Hargrave may have had a slight advantage going in, considering he was limited in practice on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. On the other hand, Campbell did not practice Monday despite doing so in a similarly limited fashion on Tuesday and Wednesday.
It appears that said judgement would have been correct, as the Packers released the list of inactives around 90 minutes ahead of kick-off, and Campbell appeared on the list; Hargrave did not.
WR Jayden Reed OT Zach Bako-Bewele DT Warren Brinson DT Anthony Campbell G Aaron Banks
Javon Hargrave IS available.
Javon Hargrave Set to Play Against the Atlanta Falcons
It is not apparent whether Campbell is actually unavailable due to injury, or if he is simply the 49th man on the roster at this point.
Especially as the Packers now have five interior defensive lineman healthy and read to go, and it would be surprising to see the 2025 UDFA see much game time on defense as such.
Regardless, this is excellent news for the Packers, who now see the return of their starting nose tackle who signed a two-year $23 million free agent deal this past offseason to move within the NFC North division after being cut by the Minnesota Vikings just one year into his prior free agent deal signed back in March 2025.
How Much Will the Packers Use Javon Hargrave on TNF?
2023 sixth round pick Karl Brooks has operated as the Packers’ most used IDL in both Week 1 and 2, but broadly speaking Green Bay have maintained a fairly fluid rotation at the unit, with backups Chris McClellan and Jonathan Ford both managing between 42% and 46% of defensive snaps in both games since the start of the season.
Hargrave is likely to see a similar amount of action that he did in the season opener, where he saw the field on 46% of defensive snaps.
It is quite possible, however, that Hargrave is utilized more in a game where the primary responsibility will be to stop All-Pro running back Bijan Robinson – despite starter Michael Penix Jr. making his long-awaited return from a partially torn ACL suffered last season.
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