Packers’ Darnell Savage, Eric Stokes ruled out for game due to injury
The Packers are dealing with a plethora of injuries during their Week 7 matchup with the Broncos. Three defensive players left Sunday’s game and were ruled out for the remainder of the contest because of injury concerns, including Devonte Wyatt, Darnell Savage and Eric Stokes.
Wyatt exited with a knee injury and Savage suffered a calf injury. Stokes also exited with a hamstring.
All three players entered the game listed as “questionable.” So, it might have been slightly premature to put those guys out on the field in Denver.
Stokes had just been activated from the PUP list after battling a year-long foot injury. It marked his first game of the 2023 season. All three are significant losses for Green Bay.
In total, Green Bay listed nine players as questionable for Sunday’s game. Seven of them played.
So far, Wyatt has appeared in five games for Green Bay with two starts. He has totaled 13 tackles with 2.5 sacks. The Packers entered Sunday’s game with a 2-3 record.
Stokes hasn’t been on the field since last season, but put up impressive numbers as a rookie in 2021. He tallied 55 stops, 14 passes defended and an interception that year. Last year, he was responsible for 26 tackles.
Savage entered Sunday’s contest with 33 tackles through the first five games of the season.
This wasn’t exactly what Green Bay had in mind coming out of a bye week. Usually, players use that extra time off to recover and return as close to full strength as possible.
Packers had just activated Eric Stokes
The injury bug probably hit Stokes the hardest. While we don’t know the severity of the injuries for anyone just yet, the cornerback had made a long-awaited return from injury. It was probably extremely frustrating to leave midway through his first game back.
Earlier in the week, Stokes talked about getting back on the field.
“Physically, yeah, mentally, yeah. Everything is there,” Stokes said about his return, per SI.com. “It’s just the point of I’ve just got to get there, it’s just the point of me being 100 percent sure with everything that’s going on. It’s being smart, being safe because it’s a long season. I think we still got like 11, 12 games after this, so it’s still a long season ahead.”
With Green Bay activating Stokes for Sunday’s game, the team also released linebacker Justin Hollins.
Stokes is in his third year with the Packers out of Georgia. He appeared in just nine games during the 2022 campaign because of the season-ending foot injury.