The Green Bay Packers have raided the New York Giants’ practice squad to beef up their defensive tackle depth before Week 14’s game with the Chicago Bears.
According to the team’s transaction wire, the Packers signed third-year defensive tackle Jordon Riley — a 2023 seventh-round pick — off the Giants‘ practice squad and to their 53-man roster on Wednesday, December 3, filling their recently vacated roster spot.
Riley made five starts and appeared in 21 total games over his first two seasons with the Giants, recording 20 total tackles, four tackles for loss and one quarterback hit. He fell to the practice squad in 2025, though, after failing to make the initial 53-man roster.
Now, Riley will have a chance to reinforce Green Bay’s defensive tackle room, which lost starter Devonte Wyatt to a season-ending ankle injury in Thanksgiving’s win over the Detroit Lions. The Packers also began Week 14 with Karl Brooks on the injury report.
The Packers (8-3-1) will host the Bears (9-3) and their second-ranked rushing offense at Lambeau Field for a key divisional matchup at 4:25 p.m. ET on Sunday, December 7.
Packers Confirm Worst for Devonte Wyatt’s Ankle
The Packers suffered a significant loss when Wyatt went down with an ankle injury on the final defensive play of Week 13’s win over the Lions. He had gotten his ankle rolled up by one of his teammates and needed the help of the medical cart to get off the field.
In the postgame, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur told reporters that Wyatt’s injury “doesn’t look good,” but that he would undergo further testing. This week, however, LaFleur confirmed the worst for Wyatt: that he will miss the rest of the 2025 season.
“Yeah, it’s tough, but that is the nature of our game,” LaFleur said of losing Wyatt on December 1. “Certainly he’s a guy that’s going to be pretty tough to replace. I think it just falls on everybody else kind of raising the level of their game.”
Without Wyatt, the Packers are down to Brooks, Colby Wooden, Warren Brinson, Nazir Stackhouse and Riley for the interior of their defensive line. They could also experiment with playing former first-round edge rusher Lukas Van Ness inside more often when he returns from his foot injury, but that may not be happening in the immediate future.
Either way, it is a more depleted group than the Packers probably envisioned when they traded away former Pro Bowler Kenny Clark in their deal for All-Pro Micah Parsons. In fairness, though, Parsons has brought a game-changing impact to the Packers defense that makes the exchange worth it, even if Clark would have helped the current situation.
Could Packers Recall More DL Help From Injury Lists?
Riley might be the only reinforcement the Packers have on the way for the interior of their defensive line heading into Week 14’s game against the Bears, but there is a good chance they will recall more edge-rushing help from injury lists in the weeks to come.
Earlier this week, the Packers opened the 21-day practice windows for both defensive ends Brenton Cox Jr. and Collin Oliver to be activated off their respective injury lists. Cox has been on injured reserve with a groin injury since Week 2, while Oliver landed on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list during the 53-man roster cutdown.
While the Packers are likely not keen on rushing either one back, they did list each of them as limited participants for Wednesday’s practice on their initial injury report.
The Packers would need to activate them by 4 p.m. ET on Saturday, December 6, at the latest for them to have the chance to play against the Bears in Week 14’s divisional tilt.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Packers Poach 338-Pound DT From Giants After Losing Devonte Wyatt appeared first on Heavy Sports.