Packers-Giants Inactives: Aaron Jones Among Four Starters Out

Aaron Jones, Quay Walker, Christian Watson and Jaire Alexander are among the inactives for the Green Bay Packers for Monday night’s game at the Giants.

The Green Bay Packers have won three consecutive games. To extend the streak to four, they’ll have to beat the New York Giants without four starters who are on Monday night’s inactives list.

Running back Aaron Jones will miss his third consecutive game with a knee injury and his sixth game this season. Jones, who was questionable on the injury report, was hoping to play and participated in all three practices this week, but they’ll give him one more week to get healthy for the stretch run.

Veteran Kenyan Drake, who was signed to the practice squad this week, will provide the depth behind AJ Dillon and Patrick Taylor.

Linebacker Quay Walker, who collected a game-high 13 tackles last week against the Chiefs, didn’t practice all week due to a shoulder injury and was doubtful on Saturday’s injury report. The team’s leading tackler will miss a third game this season.

In his place will be Isaiah McDuffie, who is second on the team with 64 tackles. This will be his seventh start of the season.

“Isaiah’s done a nice job,” defensive coordinator Joe Barry said. “I sing his praises whenever I can because he does a nice job. It’s nice to have him and Eric Wilson, to be honest with you. Those guys are both professionals that at this point they’ve both started and played a lot of football in the NFL.”

Receiver Christian Watson will miss his fourth game of the season with hamstring troubles. He injured his right hamstring late in last week’s win vs. the Chiefs and was ruled out on Saturday.

“Obviously, anytime he’s not in the lineup, you lose that explosive threat that he is,” offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said. “It’s going to be by committee, I think. We’ll have to lean on the run a little bit more to set up some things down the field.”

Cornerback Jaire Alexander will miss his eighth game, including five in a row with a shoulder injury. He was questionable on the injury report on Saturday but downgraded to out on Sunday. According to a source, the team is hoping to get through this game and get him back on the field for next week against the Buccaneers.

Corey Ballentine, who incredibly went two years without playing so much as a snap of defense in a regular-season game, will make his fifth consecutive start.

“It’s happened before in my career where I’ve just been thrown in and I’ve been expected to play at a certain level,” Ballentine said, “so I kind of know how it goes already. I try to stay ready before I get out there so I don’t have anything sneak up on me and I’m prepared for whatever situation that’s in front of me.”

Offensive tackle Caleb Jones and cornerback Kyu Blu Kelly round out the list for the Packers. With Kelly down, the latest addition to the cornerback room, David Long, is active.

Cornerback Eric Stokes was not activated off injured reserve so will not play, either.

For the Giants, right tackle Evan Neal is inactive but defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence is back in the lineup. Lawrence will be part of what might be the most important matchup of the night. Also out is receiver/returner Parris Campbell.

Dexter Lawrence is ACTIVE for MNF.

GIANTS INACTIVES
WR Parris Campbell
RB Jashaun Corbin
S Gervarrius Owens
OLB Boogie Basham
T Evan Neal

PACKERS INACTIVES
LB Quay Walker
WR Christian Watson
CB Jaire Alexander
CB Kyu Blu Kelly
RB Aaron Jones
T Caleb Jones pic.twitter.com/DLTe378Eyt

— Dan Salomone (@Dan_Salomone) December 11, 2023

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