The Green Bay Packers’ linebacker corps has seen better days.
After opening training camp last week with star pass rusher Za’Darius Smith on the reserve/non-football injury list with a back injury, the Packers have another two linebackers joining him on the sideline after both outside linebacker Randy Ramsey and inside linebacker Kamal Martin sustained injuries in this week’s practices.
Packers head coach Matt LaFleur confirmed Tuesday that Ramsey — who established himself as the fourth outside linebacker in the rotation in 2020 and contributed on special teams — suffered a significant ankle injury during Monday’s practice. LaFleur was not ready to rule out Ramsey for the entire season, but he also expressed little optimism about him returning in the near future.
“That was not a good injury, and it’s a shame because he’s done so much in terms of bringing that special teams value, but also he’s reliable when we’ve been putting him in there on defense as well, and bringing some much-needed depth to that position,” LaFleur said Tuesday.
On Wednesday, LaFleur also revealed the Martin, the team’s 2020 fifth-round draft pick, would be temporarily sidelined after sustaining an injury of his own at Tuesday’s practice. The Packers had been experimenting with him at the outside linebacker spot due to their depleted numbers and plan to use him in both spots this season.
“We’re a little bit short losing Rambo at the outside ‘backer position, so we’re going to try Kamal in that role,” LaFleur said. “He will be OK, but he did suffer a minor setback with a slight injury there during that one-on-one pass-rush drill. But we’ll just see how long it takes him to get back in the fold, and that is something we’re going to (experiment) with him, both outside and inside.”
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