Packers activate OLB Rashan Gary off of PUP list

On Monday, Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur stated in his pre-practice press conference that outside linebacker Rashan Gary would be activated off of the physically unable to perform list today. This will mark Gary’s first practice since tearing his ACL 275 days ago, which ended his 2022 campaign. Prior to the injury last season, Gary was on Pro Bowl pace as a pass-rusher.

LaFleur said that Gary will only be participating in the walkthrough portion of practice today, so don’t expect him to be going full speed in the immediate future. Monday’s practice will be the last time that the Packers practice in Green Bay before taking the trip to Cincinnati, where they’ll have a joint practice with the Bengals before their preseason opener. It’s highly doubtful that Gary will see his first live-action snaps in either of those two scenarios.

With Gary being activated in early August, though, this gives the team plenty of options at outside linebacker going into the regular season. Like Gary, Preston Smith returns as an incumbent starter. With Gary out of practice up to this point of the offseason, a trio of Justin Hollins, Kingsley Enagbare and first-round rookie Lukas Van Ness have been rotating as “starters” opposite of Smith. All five pass-rushers are rosterable NFL players, which likely will lead the Packers to keep the entire group.

Now that Gary has been activated, only two Packers remain on the team’s injury lists. Cornerback Eric Stokes is still on the PUP list with an ankle injury that also ended his 2022 and rookie seventh-round receiver Grant DuBose is on the non-football injury list for a back injury.

Gary’s activation will not impact Green Bay’s roster count, which has one available roster spot following the release of quarterback Danny Etling on Sunday.

According to ESPN’s Rob Demovsky, Dubose will also be activated from the NFI list, leaving just Stokes on the Packers’ injury lists moving forward.