Packers place Jared Abbrederis on injured reserve

The Green Bay Packers have not come out of the "mini-bye" as healthy as expected. Now, they have placed wide receiver Jared Abbrederis on injured reserve, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's Tom Silverstein.

Abbrederis suffered a thigh injury during his one snap against the Dallas Cowboys two weekends ago and had not participated in a game or practice since. Given the somewhat limited severity of the injury, it appears as though the Packers decided to place the receiver on injured reserve in order to free up a spot on the 53-man roster for a player at another position, most likely in the secondary.

A lot of Packers have landed on injured reserve over the last seven days. The team placed cornerback Sam Shields on the list last Tuesday due to lingering issues with the concussion he suffered in Week 1 and running back Eddie Lacy joined him two days later after finding out his ankle would require surgery. Since then, Chris Banjo and his bum hamstring have found their way onto IR as well. As with Abbrederis, the motivation for at least some of these decisions appear to have come from the need to open up roster spots in the short term.

Abbrederis played little during the Packers' six games this season. He entered the year as a long shot to make the roster but put together a solid training camp and preseason, ultimately convincing the team to retain seven receivers on the final roster. Abbrederis' departure leaves the Packers with eight healthy pass catchers.