Carted off the field in the Packers’ Week 1 game in Minnesota, Krys Barnes landed on injured reserve Tuesday. The Packers will be without the two-year linebacker starter for at least four games.
Although a cart and an aircast were necessary, Barnes is not expected to miss the rest of the season. He suffered a high ankle sprain and a calf injury during the Packers’ season-opening loss, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets. The team promoted tackle Caleb Jones from its practice squad to take Barnes’ roster spot.
The Packers’ Barnes plans changed this offseason, when they re-signed 2021 All-Pro De’Vondre Campbell and used a first-round pick on Quay Walker. Campbell and Walker are Green Bay’s top off-ball linebackers, though Barnes supplies quality depth. He played nine defensive snaps during his abbreviated Sunday of work.
A UDFA out of UCLA, Barnes became a starter fairly quickly as a pro. The Packers’ Week 1 Minnesota tilt two years ago introduced Barnes as a starter, and he trotted out with the team’s first-stringers 22 more times between the 2020 and ’21 seasons. Pro Football Focus rated Barnes just inside the top 50 at the linebacker spot last season. Barnes, who made 81 tackles last season and recovered two fumbles, should be back as a Green Bay second-stringer at some point this year.
The NFL adjusted its IR rule this offseason. After allowing teams to make unlimited IR-return transactions over the past two seasons, the league capped those moves at eight this year. That will reintroduce some strategy regarding IR, though not nearly as much as before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Quay Walker was injured too…no update?
he’s full practice this week. will play Sunday