Packers WR Savion Williams returns to practice Wednesday
· Yahoo Sports
One of the two players who the Green Bay Packers placed on injured reserve before the season with a return designation is officially on his way back. On cutdown day in August, the Packers put second-year wide receiver Savion Williams on injured reserve to open up a roster spot; on Wednesday ahead of week five, Williams has returned to practice.
Head coach Matt LaFleur announced Williams’ return during his morning press conference, confirming that his three-week practice window will begin immediately. Under the NFL’s roster rules, the Packers now must activate Williams and move him to the 53-man roster within the next 21 days or else he will revert to injured reserve and will be ineligible to return for the remainder of the season. LaFleur added that the Packers may consider activating Williams as soon as this week for Sunday’s game against the Chicago Bears.
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What role Williams will play if and when he returns is uncertain, however. The Packers have a firmly entrenched pair of boundary receivers in Christian Watson and Matthew Golden, while Skyy Moore has settled in as the primary slot receiver since Jayden Reed was lost for the season in Week 2. The team’s current depth chart lists J. Michael Sturdivant as Golden’s backup and Bo Melton as the backup behind both Watson and Moore. However, given Williams’ size-speed combination and his potential blocking ability, he may be in line to serve as Watson’s backup with Melton focusing on returning more to a slot receiver role.
Green Bay seems content to roll with their top three options at this point, however. Of the 120 total snaps given to wide receivers in Week 4, Melton and Sturdivant combined for just 12.
What is also unlikely is Williams getting the number one kick returner job back. Moore has done an admirable job on punt returns (8 attempts for 128 yards, a 16-yard average) and has been reasonably solid on kickoff returns with a 27.5-yard average. That kick return average ranks Moore 14th out of 50 qualifying players in the NFL, a number that certainly suggests that no change is imminent. Given Williams’ numbers from a year ago, Moore should have a firm handle on this job moving forward; as a rookie, Williams averaged 25.6 yards per kickoff return, nearly two yards fewer than Moore’s average.
The Packers may try to find ways to get Williams onto the field on offense as a different look. Last season, he caught 10 passes for 78 yards and one touchdown while rushing the football 11 times for 37 yards. But don’t expect his eventual return to shake up the depth chart or the distribution of snaps among the wide receivers very much.