GREEN BAY, Wis. — All signs indicate that the Green Bay Packers have lost a fourth player to a season-ending injury in five games to begin the year.
Late in Sunday’s blowout win over the Chicago Bears, veteran defensive tackle Javon Hargrave ended up on the grass with a non-contact injury and had to be carted off the field. With the Packers already sporting a comfortable 31-7 lead over the Bears with two minutes left in the game, it’s worth wondering why the 33-year-old Hargrave was still even on the field.
The decision will now cost Hargrave the remainder of the season, as the early belief is that he suffered a torn Achilles. Head coach Matt LaFleur called the Packers’ decisive and punishing victory “bittersweet,” dampening what should’ve otherwise been a celebratory afternoon in Green Bay.
“I’m obviously really excited for our team and winning the game, but I just saw Hargrave, and it doesn’t look good,” LaFleur said. “It takes the air out of the room when you lose not only such a great player, but a great guy, and a key piece to the team.
“It puts a little bit of a cloud on the day.”
Hargrave was already questionable with a toe injury after being a late addition to the practice report on Friday. That’s nothing new for Hargrave, who hasn’t really had a clean bill of health in his first season with the Packers. He fought through training camp with a knee injury that he carried into the regular season, then sustained a concussion in the team’s Sept. 13 opener versus the Minnesota Vikings. The only game he missed was the following week’s win over the New York Jets, but he has yet to play more than 33 defensive snaps in any of the Packers’ contests this year.
That includes Sunday. By the time Hargrave exited, he had only played 30 snaps. Hargrave will likely undergo an MRI to confirm the Packers’ fears, then become their ninth player to be placed on injured reserve in the young season.
“Anytime you see a player—especially at a meaningless point of the game—get hurt, it’s just deflating,” LaFleur said.
The Packers have been relatively snakebit in the injury department. Edgerrin Cooper and Hargrave have torn their Achilles tendons in back-to-back weeks after the team’s star linebacker went down in last week’s road victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They make up two of the four players to have suffered season-ending injuries in the last month alone, joining Jayden Reed and Zach Bako-Bewele.
Their misfortunes transcend the 2026 campaign. Dating back to Nov. 2 of last season—or 343 days ago—the Packers have lost a player to a significant, season-ending injury 12 different times. Nine of those players are starters.
Nov. 2: Tucker Kraft tears ACL.
Nov. 10: Elgton Jenkins fractures fibula with ligament damage.
Nov. 27: Devonte Wyatt fractures fibula with ligament damage.
Dec. 14: Micah Parsons tears ACL.
Dec. 14: Zach Bako-Bewele suffers partial tear of right patellar tendon.
Dec. 20: John Fitzpatrick tears Achilles.
Dec. 27: Jordon Riley tears Achilles.
Dec. 27: Kamal Hadden’s ankle dislocation with tibia and fibula fracture.
Sept. 20: Jayden Reed’s neck injury; surgery required.
Sept. 20: Zach Bako-Bewele suffers complete tear of right patellar tendon.
Oct. 4: Edgerrin Cooper tears Achilles.
Oct. 11: Javon Hargrave tears Achilles.
“It is what it is; it’s football,” LaFleur said. “We’re not going to sit up here—it’s the next man up, and guys have to get ready to play. We expect them to come in and play at a high level.
“I was proud of our inside linebackers today. I thought they did a really good job. [Isaiah] McDuffie, I knew he’d be ready to play. [Ty’Ron] Hopper had a great game as well. It falls on the collective of all 11 that are out there.”
The health of Anthony Campbell will be worth monitoring moving forward. He’s missed each of the Packers’ last three games with an ankle injury, but he could be called upon to play rotational snaps in the near future with Hargrave out of the picture. Devonte Wyatt, Chris McClellan, Karl Brooks, and Jonathan Ford are the only other players at the position on the 53-man roster. David Blay Jr. is the only option on the practice squad.
Warren Brinson, who was placed on injured reserve last weekend with a lingering calf issue, will be eligible to return later this month. He’ll have to miss two more games before he can be activated, assuming he’s healthy. The soonest he’ll be able to make his second-year debut will be when the Packers host the Carolina Panthers on Oct. 29. By then, Jordon Riley will be more than 10 months removed from his own Achilles tear, so he could be activated from the physically unable to perform (PUP) list, too.
Zachary Jacobson is the author of The Packer Dispatch. He is entering his 12th season covering the Green Bay Packers after spending seven as the Editor-in-Chief of Packer Report. He is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America. Follow him on Twitter @zachjacobson or contact him via email at itszachariahj@gmail.com.