Packers send WR Trevor Davis to IR, claim CB Deante Burton, make practice squad swap

The Green Bay Packers continued to shuffle their roster on Tuesday, as general manager Brian Gutekunst promised following the team’s final cuts over a week ago. Initially, the team kept eight wide receivers on the 53, but that number dropped by one when the team placed Jake Kumerow on injured reserve with a shoulder injury.

Now, the number is down to six, as the Packers announced that return specialist Trevor Davis is going on injured reserve with a hamstring injury. Both Davis and Kumerow may be eligible to return later this season — Kumerow as early as week nine and Davis for week ten.

The move puts additional responsibility on the team’s three rookie draft picks at the position: J’Mon Moore, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, and Equanimeous St. Brown. In the team’s week one win over the Chicago Bears, Moore was inactive, St. Brown played exclusively on special teams, and Valdes-Scantling lined up for two snaps on offense while also returning a kickoff for 21 yards.

Filling the spot on the 53 that Davis vacated is a new face, cornerback Deante Burton, who was claimed on waivers from the Atlanta Falcons. Burton spent the entire 2017 season on the Falcons’ practice squad and suited up for his first NFL game last Thursday, playing five snaps and recording one assisted tackle on defense and adding 18 snaps on special teams. Burton played wide receiver at Kansas State from 2013-2016 before switching to cornerback in Atlanta last summer, mirroring the transition made by former Packers cornerback Herb Waters in 2016.

Burton fits the Packers’ traditional athletic profile for cornerbacks nicely and brings another big body to the position. According to NFL Draft Scout, he measured in at 6-foot-1-7/8 and 200 pounds at Kansas State’s 2017 Pro Day and ran the 40-yard dash in 4.53 seconds. He also has reported times of 6.75 seconds in the 3-cone drill and 4.07 seconds in the short shuttle, as well as a 38-inch vertical and 10-foot-10 broad jump.

In addition, the Packers made a swap on the practice squad. They released safety Marwin Evans, who spent the last two years on the active roster after making the team as an undrafted rookie in 2016. Taking his place is another cornerback, Will Redmond, who was released by the Kansas City Chiefs at final cuts. Redmond was a third-round pick of the 49ers’ in 2016, but he was inactive for his entire rookie season. He then was placed on injured reserve prior to the 2017 season before getting an injury settlement and signing with the Chiefs’ practice squad in November of last year.

Redmond had some productive seasons in college for Mississippi State, combining for five interceptions as a junior and senior. He is listed at 5-foot-11 and 186 pounds. A knee injury suffered midway through his senior season prevented him from working out at the 2016 NFL Combine or Mississippi State’s Pro Day.