Two Green Bay starters made their way back to the field today
The Green Bay Packers’ defense has been held together by string and gum the past couple of weeks with middle linebacker Quay Walker and safety Evan Williams out of the picture. On Wednesday, both of those starters returned to practice, giving some hope that normalcy will return to the defense for their Wild Card round matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Walker injured his ankle against the Seattle Seahawks in mid-December. Since then, Eric Wilson, who has been attacked frequently in the passing game, has been the team’s starting middle linebacker.
Without Williams, who is dealing with a quad injury that he suffered in practice on December 21st, the Packers have started Zayne Anderson — who is now going into his third week in the concussion protocol — and rookie Kitan Oladapo at safety. When Anderson went down against the Minnesota Vikings, rookie Javon Bullard was pushed from the nickelback position to safety. The following week, the Packers elected to play Oladapo as a full-time safety to keep Bullard in the slot against the Chicago Bears.
The fact that both defenders are able to suit up in the first practice of the week means there’s a good chance that they’ll be able to play against the Eagles. If they can go, Walker and Edgerrin Cooper will likely be the most-played linebackers in both base and nickel sets while Carrington Valentine and Keisean Nixon get the nod at outside cornerback, Bullard will play the slot and Williams and Xavier McKinney would be the team’s starting safeties.