Packers waive OL Jake Hanson with an injury designation

According to ESPN’s Rob Demovsky, the Green Bay Packers decided to waive offensive lineman Jake Hanson on Tuesday. Hanson has been battling a shin injury and was given an injury designation.

With Hanson’s injury designation, this leaves the door open for his return to the team at a later date. When players are injured, teams have the option to place a player on the injured reserve or waive with an injury designation. If Hanson were to be placed on the injured reserve before the 53-man roster cutdown, he would be unable to be activated during the regular season. Should Hanson pass through waivers, he would be allowed to re-sign with the Packers once he’s recovered from his shin injury.

Hanson was one of three centers on the Packers’ roster, along with presumed starter Josh Myers and James Empey — who was claimed off of waivers in July. Empey was working as the second-team center on Tuesday, but it’s likely that someone like Elgton Jenkins, Zach Tom or Jon Runyan would move over to the center position if there were ever an injury to Myers in a meaningful game.

From a roster construction standpoint, the team might only keep one center on their initial 53-man roster. It’s something we’ve discussed at APC before, including in our recent article covering the position battles that are unsettled going into the Packers’ final preseason game.

Waiving Hanson was a corresponding roster move to Green Bay signing cornerback Elijah Hamilton and inside linebacker Marvin Pierre on Monday. To make room for Hamilton and Pierre, the team let go of Hanson and placed tight end Tyler Davis on the injured reserve. The Davis news also came out on Monday.

Hanson was a sixth-round draft choice for the Packers back in 2020, following his college career at Oregon. He played 11 games for Green Bay, mostly featured on the field goal protection team aside from a Week 1 start against the Minnesota Vikings last season.