Week 4 Inactives: Packers’ Aaron Jones, Christian Watson will play vs Lions

Leading up to kickoff, the Green Bay Packers have officially announced the seven players who will be inactive tonight against the Detroit Lions. Those players are receiver Malik Heath, left guard Elgton Jenkins, outside linebacker Brenton Cox Jr., inside linebacker De’Vondre Campbell, cornerback Jaire Alexander, safety Anthony Johnson Jr. and safety Zayne Anderson.

It was previously announced by the Packers that Jenkins, Campbell and Anderson were ruled out of the contest due to injury, so there are no surprises there. Heath, Cox and Anderson are healthy scratches while Alexander is the only player who was given a “questionable” status on Wednesday that also won’t suit up against Detroit.

In place of Alexander, who is dealing with a back injury, the presumed starter is going to be Carrington Valentine — who was listed as questionable for this game with a biceps injury. The Packers also called up two practice squad cornerbacks, Corey Ballentine and Kiondre Thomas, earlier today when left tackle David Bakhtiari was placed on the injured reserve and linebacker Kristian Welch was signed off of the practice squad. Welch will make his Packers debut tonight, as he was picked up by the team following cutdowns.

As far as the good injury news goes, running back Aaron Jones (hamstring), receiver Christian Watson (hamstring) and right tackle Zach Tom (knee) are active for this game. Watson will make his 2023 debut tonight, but NFL Network’s Tom Peliserro reported that Watson should be on a pitch count versus Detroit. Either way, the Packers will at least have a little more speed on the field than they’ve had since Jones’ injury against the Chicago Bears in Week 1.

On the other sideline, the Lions ruled out cornerback Emmanuel Moseley and safety Kerby Joseph for tonight’s game. Previously, right guard Halapoulivaati Vaitai was also given an “out” status. Left tackle Taylor Decker and running back David Montgomery are active, but we’ll just have to see how close they are to full health after being given questionable statuses on Wednesday.