Davante Adams' toe is still smarting, Geronimo Allison is still clearing his head and Marquez Valdes-Scantling narrowly avoided a bad knee injury last Monday night against the Detroit Lions.
Even though the Packers conducted just a walkthrough practice on Wednesday, all three hit the team's first injury report in advance of this Sunday's game against the Oakland Raiders at Lambeau Field.
That's getting mighty thin at receiver, leaving Jake Kumerow, Darrius Shepherd and the Monday night hero Allen Lazard as the remaining healthy targets for Aaron Rodgers.
That's why General Manager Brian Gutekunst padded the depth by signing veteran receiver Ryan Grant on Wednesday. That's a familiar name. I can't imagine he's ever been mistaken for the Pack's 5th all time leading rusher....
(Audio: Ryan Grant)
This Ryan Grant was a 5th round selection of the Washington Redskins in the 2014 draft out of Tulane University. The 6-0, 194 pound receiver played his first four seasons in D.C.. He played for the Indianapolis Colts in 2018 and was with the Oakland Raiders for the first three weeks of this season before he was released. He's played in 80 career games with 29 starts, catching 123 passes for 1333 yards and 7 touchdowns.
He has a little familiarity with Matt LaFleur's offense which is similar to what he learned with Kyle Shanahan in Washington.
Grant also knows Adams well, having trained with him during the off-season in recent years as both had the same assistant receivers coach in their college years.
To make room for Grant, the Packers waived running back Tra Carson.
The additional receiver might not have been neccessary if the Packers decided to keep Trevor Davis on the roster. He was dealt to the Raiders last month for a sixth round draft choice. Oakland had injuries hit their receiver corps at the time and the Packers were OK to part with their top kick returner who had trouble breaking into the receiver rotation.
Davis has made an immediate impact with the Raiders. Head Coach Jon Gruden said in a conference call Wednesday Trevor has already started at flanker and is the primary return man. In his first game as a Raider, he took a jet sweep for 60 yards and a touchdown against the Colts. He's caught four passes in two games and has handled both punt and kickoff returns, bringing one kickoff back for 52 yards.
The Packers return duties have fallen to Shepherd but he struggled Monday night against the Lions, fumbling away a punt because of a poor decision to attempt the catch with a gunner bearing down on him.
Head Coach Matt LaFleur says they'll stick with Shepherd but you wonder for how long? Tremon Smith, signed to handle returns after the Davis trade was released last week but already has been brought back on to the practice squad.
In another practice squad move Wednesday, the Packers signed running back Damarea Crockett (another player in the Oakland organization) and the team released tight end Ethan Wolf.
Jace Sternberger, the tight end drafted in the third round out of Texas A&M, has spent the first six weeks of the regular season on injured reserve and on Wednesday, the Packers designated him as an IR player to return. That starts a three week clock for Sternberger to resume practicing with the team and eventually be activated.
