The Packers will be starting Clayton Tune at quarterback against the Vikings on Sunday and it will not be Desmond Ridder backing him up.
Ridder signed to the practice squad this week, but the team did not elevate him from the practice squad. That means Jordan Love or Malik Willis be the next man up should anything happen with Tune during the game.
The Packers did elevate tight end Drake Dabney and linebacker Jamon Johnson from the practice squad. They also signed wide receiver Jakobie Keeney-James and offensive lineman Lecitus Smith to the active roster.
Offensive lineman Donovan Jennings and wide receiver Savion Williams went on injured reserve to open those two roster spots.
Signs have pointed to quarterback J.J. McCarthy returning to the starting lineup all week and it became official on Friday.
Head coach Kevin O’Connell said on Friday that McCarthy will get the start against the Packers on Sunday. McCarthy missed Week 17 with a hairline fracture in his right hand.
Sunday’s game will be McCarthy’s 10th start of the season. He also missed time with an ankle injury and a concussion.
The Vikings ruled out tight end Gavin Bartholomew (back), tight end T.J. Hockenson (shoulder), running back Aaron Jones (hip), and wide receiver Myles Price (ankle). Cornerback Dwight McGlothern (hip) is listed as questionable.
After Thursday’s comments from Cowboys defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus caught the eye of former Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons, Parsons defended his reaction to Eberflus linking the team’s defensive performance to the sudden departure of Parsons via late August trade.
“Y’all want me to feel bad?” Parsons posted on Twitter. “Jerry Jones slandered my name to Cowboys media and national media for months. So I do think I can react to comment if I want to!”
In his usual Friday appearance on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, Jones addressed Parsons’s remarks.
“I wish Micah the very best,” Jones said, via Jon Machota of TheAthletic.com. “I’d love to have Micah on the team. But we just couldn’t afford him. We wanted four or five players more than we did him. But he’s outstanding. I understand his sensitivity and can even understand these comments.”
They say business isn’t personal. But the Parsons business became personal, once Parsons refused to reduce to writing the deal he supposedly agreed to in direct conversations with Jones. In turn, Jones refused to negotiate with Parsons’s agent, David Mulugheta.
The Cowboys, in our view, had banked on Parsons playing under his fifth-year option, kicking the can to 2026 for a possible franchise-tag dance. When it became clear that Parsons would refuse to practice or play due to a back injury, the Cowboys decided to get what they could for Parsons, in lieu of paying him a market-level deal that would have been much more expensive than the fifth-year option now and the franchise tag later.
Along the way, things were said. Feathers were ruffled. That’s how Jones, first, tried to get what he wanted and, second, played the P.R. game when it became clear that the only move was to move on from Parsons.
More than two months after the trade happened, Jones took a clear shot at Parsons while praising former Cowboys Michael Irvin and DeMarcus Ware.
“Not one time, not even in the hottest of days and two-a-days in August in Texas, between eleven in the morning or when they quit practicing or four in the afternoon, did I never see any one of these two go over and lay on a damn training table in front of a million people,” Jones said. “Never. It’s not in their makeup. . . . It’s just not in their makeup. . .
“And you’d like to think if you’re going to be [paying] the highest that’s ever been paid for something in football, you could get that. And when you don’t have it and you pay the highest that’s ever been in football, you really got a problem.”
Jones was still trying to justify trading Parsons. And, yes, that included slandering his name by suggesting that Parsons isn’t worthy to be the highest-paid defensive player in football, tying it to the fact that he was taking a stand to get the contract Jones refused to give him.
For Parsons, it’s understandably personal. For Jones, it’s all business. And his business interests required him to make it personal with Parsons. Which explains why Jones isn’t bothered by Parsons’s natural reaction to Jerry’s tactics.
Still, the message to other players should be obvious. Starting with receiver George Pickens.
If you don’t do what Jerry wants you to do, he’ll eventually slander your name, too.
The Giants fired Brian Daboll on Nov. 10 after the club started 2-8, leaving Daboll with a 20-40-1 record.
Now as the 2025 regular season comes to its conclusion, New York’s coaching search is starting to take shape with the club casting a wide net.
Jordan Raanan of ESPN reports the Giants’ list of candidates includes former Packers and Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy, former Raiders head coach and former Giants player Antonio Pierce, Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, Colts defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, and Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula.
While owners John Mara and Steve Tisch will make the final decision on the next coach, the search is being led by General Manager Joe Schoen.
Schoen’s presence is not expected to hamper candidates’ interest in the job, Raanan notes.
Raanan also lists interim head coach Mike Kafka, Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, Texans defensive coordinator Matt Burke, Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, Vikings QBs coach Josh McCown, and Jaguars offensive coordinator Grant Udinski as potential candidates for the job.
As for current head coaches, Raanan lists the entire slate in the AFC North — Cleveland’s Kevin Stefanski, Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin, Baltimore’s John Harbaugh, and Cincinnati’s Zac Taylor — as candidates, with Stefanski as “a name to watch” who could attract “serious interest” should he be fired.
The Giants can interview candidates who are not currently with teams now, including McCarthy and Pierce.
The Packers could deploy recently-acquired cornerback Trevon Diggs as soon as Sunday, at Minnesota. Diggs has a high level of confidence in his ability to make a difference for the NFC’s No. 7 seed.
“I still feel like I’m the best,” Diggs said Thursday, via Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com.
Diggs plans to be the same player he has always been.
“I think I just need to be myself, you know?” Diggs said. “Be who I know I am. Go out there and perform, and performing everything will take care of itself. I’m not chasing accolades. I’m not chasing anything. I’m chasing, you know, being a better me, being better every day . . . helping this team win.”
Regardless of whether Diggs plays on Sunday, the Packers will need him when the playoffs start next weekend.
“It feels good, you know?” Diggs said. “I want to be comfortable with being uncomfortable being somewhere that I’ve never been before. Just starting over, starting fresh, a clean slate, and just working, and keeping my head down, and just working.”
Diggs has been reunited with former Cowboys teammate Micah Parsons.
“He told me, you know, it’s work,” Diggs said. “It’s a lot different. He said I’m going to like it a lot and I’m going to enjoy it. So far, I’ve been enjoying it a lot. My first day was out there today, and I had a lot of fun. And it’s a great, great thing to be here.”
The Packers get both the short-term benefit from having Diggs in the postseason, and the long-term value of inheriting a contract that extends through 2028, with no guarantees. It gives them the ability to evaluate Diggs for now, and to make a longer-term decision about his status on the team later.
