The Packers put tight end Luke Musgrave on the reserve/physically unable to perform list to start the season, but they believe he’ll be on the field before the season is over.
Packers General Manager Brian Gutekunst said today that he’s hopeful about Musgrave’s recovery from his neck injury and expects Musgrave to play at some point this season.
A 2023 second-round draft pick, Musgrave has played his entire career in Green Bay. Last season he played all 17 games and was on the field for 41 percent of the Packers’ offensive snaps, plus 8 percent of special teams snaps.
Musgrave was expected to have a big role on the Packers this year, but he suffered the neck injury during a June minicamp and didn’t practice in training camp or play in the preseason. Now the Packers will work with him on rehab and get him ready to play in the regular season.
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Defensive end Micah Parsons will miss the first four games of the season because he is on the physically unable to perform list and the question of how many more he might miss was a topic at Packers General Manager Brian Gutekunst’s press conference on Tuesday.
Parsons said this summer that the team’s Week 6 game against the Cowboys the “most optimistic” date for his first game since tearing his ACL last year and Gutekunst put forth a similar timeline. Gutekunst noted that players on the PUP list can begin practicing after Week 2 and suggested that will be a possibility for Parsons.
“Once we get out of that four-week window, we’re going to be pretty close,” Gutekunst said, via Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com.
The Packers have too much invested in Parsons over the long term to push things too fast when they’re close to the end of the rehab process, but there will be plenty of interest in what happens once Week 3 rolls around in Green Bay.
On Sunday, the NFL placed three players on paid leave, officially known as the Commissioner Exempt List. The question now becomes: When will they return?
Under the Personal Conduct Policy, placement on paid leave “will generally last until the Disciplinary Officer and/or the league makes a disciplinary decision and any appeal from that discipline is fully resolved.” Because the league doesn’t finalize its disciplinary decisions until after the player’s criminal case ends, paid leave continues at least through the conclusion of the prosecution.
It doesn’t always work that way. In 2024, Patriots safety Jabrill Peppers missed seven games on paid leave. He was then reinstated before his case ended. In January 2025, a jury acquitted him of domestic assault charges.
So why did he return from paid leave before the case ended? That was never explained.
The fact that it happened for Peppers means that it could possibly happen for Packers running back Josh Jacobs, Broncos linebacker Jonathon Cooper, and/or Seahawks cornerback Terrion Arnold.
Some in league circles believe the Peppers case is an indication that the NFL will, in some cases, treat paid leave like an advance suspension, with the player (if later found responsible) getting credit for the games missed and returning the salary earned during the paid absence.
What that means for Jacobs, Cooper, and Arnold remains to be seen. Given that Jacobs is facing a misdemeanor battery charge, and in light of the fact that the baseline suspension for domestic violence is six games, it’s possible he’ll be reinstated after six games, even if his case is still pending.
It’s not a bad approach. Indefinite paid leave pending the resolution of the case puts extra pressure on the player to do a plea deal, and it incentivizes the prosecution to drag its feet. Yes, the player is getting paid. But he’s not playing. He wants to play.
Cooper’s situation is similar, although he’s facing a felony charge. Arnold’s case doesn’t involve domestic violence, but it includes eight serious felonies and a potential sentence of life in prison.
Regardless, the presumption that the player on paid leave won’t be back until his criminal case ends isn’t a hard-and-fast rule, as the Peppers case demonstrated. Any of the three players placed on paid leave could be back before their cases end.
To get to 53 players on the roster, the Packers continue to keep linebacker Micah Parsons off the roster. As expected, he has been moved from active/physically unable to perform to reserve/PUP.
Elsewhere, the Packers have released the following players: LS Cal Adomitis; T Brant Banks; G Dylan Barrett; CB Shemar Bartholomew; T Dalton Cooper; DT Jaden Crumedy; TE Drake Dabney; CB MJ Devonshire Jr.; G Josh Gesky; WR Chris Hilton Jr.; CB Domani Jackson; WR Kisean Johnson (KEY-shawn); EDGE Nyjalik Kelly; S Murvin Kenion III; T/G Darian Kinnard; RB Damien Martinez; EDGE Arron Mosby; WR Isaiah Neyor; RB Jaden Nixon; S Mark Perry; WR Kaden Prather; LB TJ Quinn; WR Will Sheppard; CB Jaylin Simpson; DT Nazir Stackhouse; RB Pierre Strong Jr.; TE Messiah Swinson; G Dillon Wade; EDGE Arden Walker; and LB Kristian Welch.
The Packers also waived/injured TE McCallan Castle, S Trey Dean III, and TE Thomas Yassmin, placed EDGE Collin Oliver and WR Savion Williams on injured reserve/designated for return, and placed TE Luke Musgrave, Parsons, and DT Jordon Riley on reserve/physically unable to perform.
The Packers have two quarterbacks on the roster — Jordan Love and Tyrod Taylor. Also, pending the physical that will finalize the trade with the Steelers for running back Kaleb Johnson, the Packers will have three tailbacks: Chris Brooks, MarShawn Lloyd, and Johnson.
We’ve known for some time that Packers defensive end Micah Parsons would not be ready to play at the start of the regular season and the team made it official on Sunday.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that they have moved Parsons to the regular season version of the physically unable to perform list. The move means Parsons will not be eligible to play until the team’s fifth game of the season.
Parsons’s return could take even longer than that, however. He said earlier this month that the team’s Week 6 game against the Cowboys would be the “most optimistic” date for him to return from last season’s torn ACL.
Whether that’s a realistic return date for Parsons or not will become clearer over the coming weeks and the Packers will have to count on others to pick up the defensive slack until he’s back in the lineup.
As various teams and players brace for the possibility of paid leave, one key player for the Packers has gotten clarity.
The NFL has announced that it has placed running back Josh Jacobs on the Commissioner Exempt list.
Jacobs was arrested in May on five different counts arising from a domestic incident. He was formally charged this week with a pair of misdemeanors, including battery.
The NFL has the ability to use paid leave in certain circumstances. The league regards the move as not punishment (even though it absolutely is).
In theory, the paid leave lasts until the criminal case is resolved. That puts extra pressure on the player to accept a plea deal, when he otherwise could be inclined to fight the case through its normal conclusion.
It’s also possible that he will be reinstated from paid leave before the prosecution ends. That happened two years ago with Patriots safety Jabrill Peppers, who missed seven games on paid leave. After the 2024 season, he was acquitted.
“Josh Jacobs has been placed on the Commissioner’s Exempt List, which is an administrative procedure used by the NFL while a matter is being reviewed,” Jacobs’s lawyers said in a statement. “It is not a final determination. Josh respects the NFL process, the Packers, and his Coaches and Teammates. He looks forward to his return to the team and the NFL.”
A first-round pick in 2019, Jacobs spent five years with the Raiders before signing with the Packers in 2024. He rushed for 1,329 yards during his first year in Green Bay and 929 in 2025. He scored 16 total touchdowns in 2024 and 14 last year.
Jacobs has a base salary of $10.2 million. He’ll receive that money while on paid leave. Whether Jacobs will receive $41,176 in per-game roster bonuses likely depends on the specific language of his contract.
Either way, the Packers won’t have Jacobs until further notice. His absence will create opportunities for other tailbacks on the team, including Chris Brooks and MarShawn Lloyd.
There’s apparently video of the incident that led to Jacobs’s charges. If/when it’s released, public opinion could turn sharply enough to make it hard for him to get back on the field. On Friday, coach Matt LaFleur said he expects Jacobs to be a member of the team.
The Rams are trading tight end Mark Redman to the Packers, according to Jordan Schultz of The Schultz Report.
Redman, who played at Louisville, went undrafted in 2025 and signed with the Rams as a rookie free agent.
He spent last season on the Rams’ practice squad but did not see any regular-season action.
In three preseason games this summer, Redman caught six passes for 63 yards.
Redman was not going to make the roster in Los Angeles, with the Rams having a stacked tight ends room. He also likely wouldn’t have cleared waivers to return to their practice squad.
Redman will provide the Packers with much-needed depth at the position.
Running back Kaleb Johnson announced his own trade to the Packers before multiple reports confirmed the Steelers had dealt him on Sunday afternoon.
“Appreciate it Steelers Nation. Let’s do it Packers,” Johnson wrote on social media.
The Packers have uncertainty at the position, with starter Josh Jacobs, who is charged with two misdemeanors related to his May arrest in Wisconsin. Jacobs could go on paid leave while the league investigates the domestic incident that prompted the charges.
Johnson, 23, provides the Packers with insurance.
He entered the NFL as a third-round pick of the Steelers in 2025 and totaled 29 touches for 78 yards in 10 games.
As all NFL franchises scramble to reduce their rosters to the maximum of 53 players as of 6:00 p.m. ET today, the possibility of paid leave lingers for several players and teams.
The Seahawks officially signed cornerback Terrion Arnold on Saturday, but he has yet to be officially placed on the Commissioner Exempt list. If that doesn’t happen before today’s deadline, they’ll have to devote to him a spot on the 53-man roster that could have been filled by another player.
Several other players are facing off-field issues that could result in paid leave, at some point. They include Rams receiver Puka Nacua, Rams offensive lineman Alaric Jackson, Packers running back Josh Jacobs, and Broncos linebacker Jonathon Cooper.
If they’re not placed on paid leave before 6:00 p.m. ET, they’ll occupy one of the 53-man roster spots. They’ll only move off the roster if/when the league exercises its prerogative to put them on the Commissioner Exempt list.
Under the Personal Conduct Policy, paid leave doesn’t happen until a player is formally charged with a felony or a crime of violence or the NFL concludes through its own investigation that a violation may have occurred or the NFL believes, as to an alleged crime of violence, that further investigation is warranted.
Will any players other than Arnold (who has been formally charged with eight felonies arising from an alleged armed robbery and kidnapping) be placed on paid leave? For now, it’s not known by the players or by the teams.
Free agent tight end Jonnu Smith agreed to a one-year deal with the Packers earlier this week. Smith signed his deal on Saturday, and the Packers needed to make room.
In a corresponding move, the Packers waived defensive back Travion Fluellen, the team announced.
Fluellen signed with the Packers on Aug. 11.
Fluellen played collegiately at Houston Baptist for one season before transferring to Middle Tennessee State.
In three seasons at Middle Tennessee State, he played 36 games and recorded 197 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, one sack, five interceptions and 16 pass breakups. As a senior in 2023, he ended the season ranked third on the team with 64 tackles, including 2.5 stops for loss, a team-high three interceptions and three pass breakups.
Fluellen went undrafted in 2024, signing with the Saints as a college free agent.
Fluellen spent the final five weeks of the 2024 season on the Saints’ practice squad, but he did not appear in a game. The Saints signed him to a futures contract after the season.
New Orleans waived him in June 2025, and he was not signed elsewhere last year.
