GREEN BAY, Wis. — Warren Brinson flashed in the Green Bay Packers’ Aug. 13 preseason opener versus the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The former sixth-round pick from Georgia finished the contest with a team-high three pressures in 20 snaps for the team’s No. 2 defense. It was an encouraging start to the exhibition slate for Brinson, whose place in a crowded room of defensive tackles had yet to be solidified.
He never had the opportunity for an encore.
A week later, Brinson sustained a calf injury during warm-ups ahead of the Packers’ Aug. 21 clash with the Denver Broncos. That knocked him out of their final two preseason games, as well as the first three games of the regular season. While the injury wasn’t severe enough to land him on injured reserve, Brinson’s latest ailment will keep him out for the foreseeable future.
“Yeah, unfortunately, I think he’s going to miss a significant amount of time,” said head coach Matt LaFleur on Friday.
Wednesday marked Brinson’s first practice in his return from the calf injury, but it was short-lived. He dropped out of the session after slipping and injuring his groin.
“Injuries occur,” LaFleur said. “A lot of times, it’s non-contact.”
After avoiding it initially, Brinson is now staring down a stint on injured reserve, which would keep him sidelined for at least four games. Brinson played sparingly in a rotational role last season as a rookie; he was only on the field for roughly 38 percent of the defense’s snaps. He appeared in 11 games and totaled as many pressures as a pass rusher, as well as 0.5 sacks—split with Isaiah McDuffie—and 13 tackles.
The defensive tackle position happened to be one that was rich with competition throughout training camp. The Packers are fairly well-stocked at the position, with Devonte Wyatt, Javon Hargrave, Chris McClellan, Karl Brooks, Jonathan Ford, and Anthony Campbell on the 53-man roster.
“That was one of our deeper rooms, thankfully,” LaFleur said. “You guys could all see it throughout the course of the offseason and into the preseason. You just have fewer bodies in the room, and it puts a little bit more of a load on everybody else.”
Campbell, who appeared in the first game of his career in the Sept. 20 win over the New York Jets, has missed a week’s worth of practice with an ankle injury. He’s unlikely to play in Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and newly signed David Blay Jr. is the only other defensive tackle on the practice squad. He’s only been in Green Bay since Wednesday.
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.