Packers placing safety Darnell Savage on injured reserve

Bad news Packers fans. Your defense just got a little weaker because Green Bay needs to place safety Darnell Savage on injured reserve.

ESPN reported the news, Wednesday, citing a source who wasn’t identified. Savage came into Sunday’s game against the Broncos with a tender calf. He aggravated the injury and will now need several weeks to heal. The earliest estimate for his return is Thanksgiving, when the Packers go on the road to face the Lions.

The Broncos game was particularly brutal for the Packers. Not only did they lose to a team that had won only one game, Green Bay also saw their injury list keep growing.

“It’s amazing,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur told reporters after the Broncos game. “It’s like every game it kind of compounds on itself.”

It wasn’t just Savage who left the game against Denver. So did defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt (knee) and cornerback Eric Stokes (hamstring). The Packers will release their first injury report this afternoon for their game, Sunday, against divisional foe, Minnesota. So we’ll learn more, then.

Stokes was very unlucky against the Broncos. The Packers activated him Saturday after he hadn’t seen action in about a year. Then he strained his hamstring after a handful of special teams snaps.

The Packers were already playing without two defensive starters — cornerback Jaire Alexander (back) and linebacker De’Vondre Campbell (ankle). Each has missed three games.

However, according to reporters at the Packers complex, both Alexander and Campbell were back at practice, although it’s not known if they’re limited in workouts.

Plus tight end Luke Musgrave, who also was injured in Denver, wasn’t at practice.

Jaire Alexander (back) is practicing after missing Sunday at Denver. So is De’Vondre Campbell (ankle).

Not practicing: Eric Stokes (hamstring), Darnell Savage (headed to IR), Josh Myers (unknown), Luke Musgrave (ankle).

Wyatt, Watson, Reed — all banged up in Denver — are going. pic.twitter.com/eI9tYIm215

— Rob Demovsky (@RobDemovsky) October 25, 2023

With Savage headed to IR, Packers made 2 other roster moves

The Packers selected Savage in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft. He’s started since he arrived in Green Bay.

With Savage now unavailable for at least four games, the Packers are elevating cornerback Corey Ballentine from the practice squad to the 53-man roster. In addition, Green Bay signed cornerback Robert Rochell from the Panthers practice squad.

The Packers already have promoted Ballentine three times this season. He played in eight games for Green Bay last season.

Rochell was a 2021 Rams fourth-rounder who played in 28 games for the team over the last two years. The Rams picked Rochell in the fourth round of the 2021 draft. The Rams waived him on the cut to 53 this August. The Seahawks picked him up for their practice squad, then cut him three weeks later. The Panthers signed him the next day.