Packer Central

Saturday’s Packers Transactions: What They Mean vs. Eagles

The Green Bay Packers have elevated running back Patrick Taylor and safety Innis Gaines for Sunday night’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Bill Huber

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GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers elevated running back Patrick Taylor and safety Innis Gaines from the practice squad to play in Sunday night’s game at the Philadelphia Eagles.

Here’s the breakdown of the moves that were made, and the moves that were not made.

Elevated: RB Patrick Taylor

The Packers released running back Patrick Taylor this week to make room for outside linebacker Justin Hollins, then re-signed him to the practice squad. Regardless of whether or not he’s on the 53-man roster, Taylor is the No. 3 back behind Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon, making this move a no-brainer.

Taylor has played in eight games, logging one snap on offense and 78 on special teams. He’s been in on two tackles on special teams.

Taylor remains ahead of undrafted rookie Tyler Goodson on the depth chart.

Elevated: S Innis Gaines

The Packers elevated safety Innis Gaines for the second time this season. Gaines went undrafted and unsigned in 2020 following a knee injury that ended his final season at TCU. He spent all of 2021 on Green Bay’s practice squad and might have made the roster this summer if not for a nagging hamstring injury that led to his release. The Packers re-signed him to their practice squad last month.

Gaines made his NFL debut at Buffalo last month. He played nine snaps and was flagged for holding on a kickoff return.

While rehabbing the injury in 2020, Gaines got a job delivering food for DoorDash.

Not Elevated: OLB La’Darius Hamilton

With Rashan Gary on injured reserve, the Packers claimed Justin Hollins off waivers from the Los Angeles Rams this week. Hollins gives the Packers a fourth outside linebacker on the 53-man roster behind starters Preston Smith and Kingsley Enagbare and third-year pro Jonathan Garvin.

That the Packers didn’t elevate La’Darius Hamilton from the practice squad would signal that Hollins – despite arriving on Thanksgiving – will serve as the team’s No. 4 at the position and play on special teams.

It's not an unfamiliar position for Hollins, who was released by the Broncos at the end of camp in 2020 and played right away for the Rams. Packers defensive coordinator Joe Barry was the Rams’ linebackers coach at the time.

“The thing I noticed about Justin, which we’re going to have to rely on that again, is how really savvy and smart and how he was able to make a seamless adjustment,” Barry said. “The first time Matt (LaFleur) met him was Thursday walking out to practice. Usually, you’d like for those situations to happen a little bit earlier in the week when you get a guy. Maybe you can give them a crash course on a Tuesday and prepare them for a Wednesday and Thursday practice, but he literally got here walking out to the practice field. He’s a great kid. He’s played a lot of football.”

Hollins started five games for the Rams this season. He had 24 tackles, including one sack, on defense and two more stops on special teams.

Not Elevated: WR/PR Dede Westbrook

The Packers signed receiver/returner Dede Westbrook to their practice squad on Nov. 15. With a career average of 9.3 yards per return with one touchdown, he walked into the locker room as the team’s most accomplished punt returner. However, Westbrook was one of several players who was sick this week. So, his debut will have to wait another week.

“Dede’s been doing a good job since he’s been here,” special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia said on Friday. “He’s got a history of returning punts in the league and we’ll see how that shakes out here over the next few weeks.”

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.

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