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On Wednesday, just three days ago, Green Bay Packers left guard Lane Taylor seemed to be in good shape. He was still the starter and he seemingly would have practiced if the team had not switched to a walkthrough that day.
Now, as of Saturday morning, he is on injured reserve.
The Packers announced roster moves today, placing Taylor on injured reserve. The Packers also signed offensive lineman Adam Pankey from the Tennessee Titans’ practice squad to take his place. The decision will put Taylor on the shelf for at least eight weeks, when he may be eligible to return if the team decides to bring him back at or after that time.
Taylor is the second Packers player to go on injured reserve this week, joining safety Raven Greene. However, while Greene’s ankle injury took place in the Packers’ week two win over the Minnesota Vikings, the origin of Taylor’s biceps injury is unclear. It appears that he may have suffered that injury during Thursday’s practice. That day, he landed on the injury report as a limited participant, and was listed as a non-participant on Friday.
Likewise, rookie Elgton Jenkins apparently learned that he would be taking over as the starter on Thursday, suggesting that the team knew that day that the injury was serious enough to keep Taylor out at least this week.
Taylor had started all but three games in the past three seasons, and all but one of those came at left guard. Now Jenkins slides into the starting lineup with 18 snaps under his belt, all coming in last week’s game when he rotated in and out with Taylor. The Packers selected Jenkins 44th overall in the 2019 NFL Draft, clearly viewing him as a potential starter. He competed with Taylor for the left guard job in training camp, narrowly missing out on the starting job for week one.
As for Pankey, he had spent the past two years in Green Bay, moving back and forth a few times between the active roster and the practice squad. Pankey was released at final cuts this year and chose to sign with the Titans’ practice squad. However, his time in the Packers’ organization in the past made him an obvious candidate to come back aboard Green Bay’s roster for depth purposes.