Packers send Aaron Rodgers back to IR, re-sign Callahan, release two players

There may have been some reason for the Green Bay Packers to keep Aaron Rodgers in games the last two weeks of the season if they were still alive in the NFC playoff race, but that ship sailed on Monday night. As a result, the Packers have taken the expected step of shutting Rodgers down for the remainder of the season on Tuesday.

In a press release this afternoon, the Packers announced that Rodgers has been placed back on injured reserve, officially ending his 2017 season. The team also announced that Joe Callahan has been re-signed to the active roster, presumably to back up Brett Hundley the rest of the way.

The Packers also released fullback Joe Kerridge from the active roster and released quarterback Jerod Evans from the practice squad in unrelated transactions.

The plans at quarterback now are unclear at best for the final two games against the Vikings and Lions. Hundley will presumably remain the starter, but given head coach Mike McCarthy’s public comments in support of Callahan it would not be a shock to see him see some playing time over the final two weeks -- particularly if the Packers are involved in any blowout situations.

This move assures that Rodgers will not be exposed to additional unnecessary hits over the final two weeks and that he will have a full offseason to heal up his broken clavicle and return in full health for OTAs. As for the other signal-callers, time will tell what the team plans to do.

Head coach Mike McCarthy will speak to the media on Tuesday afternoon and may give some indication at that time if he plans to give Callahan any playing time, so stay tuned.

Editor’s note: this article initially indicated that Jerod Evans was promoted to the active roster instead of released. We apologize for the error.