A Packers safety, has been activated from the inactive list.

Packers Activate S Darnell Savage Off IR

The Packers’ secondary is getting some much-needed reinforcement with the activation of starting safety Darnell Savage from injured reserve. Savage returns after missing the team’s previous five games.

Green Bay has played the last two games with two backups at safety because starting strong safety Rudy Ford has been out with biceps and groin injuries. The team was forced to rely on Jonathan Owens and Anthony Johnson in both games.

Owens has been filling in for Savage since his injury and has mostly struggled as a starter, ranking 75th in the league according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). Owens struggled in his lone season as a starter for the Texans last year, finishing as the 86th safety out of 88 ranked players at the position. Johnson, a seventh-round rookie, hasn’t fared much better, ranking 72nd in PFF’s safety rankings, but he did record an interception in one of his three starts this season.

Savage will now have a chance to return and make a case for himself in what’s left of his contract year. The Packers pick up his fifth year back in the 2022 offseason, but it doesn’t seem like there has been much in the way of extension talks. In fact, it was seeming like Green Bay may have regretted their decision to opt-in for the additional year of Savage’s rookie contract after benching him for a four-game stretch last year. The Packers don’t have much of a choice but to start Savage for now, allowing him an additional few games to show what he’s worth in free agency.

Green Bay also announced two standard gameday practice squad elevations for tomorrow’s Sunday night game against the Chiefs, in addition to Savage’s activation. Tomorrow night, fullback Henry Pearson and running back James Robinson will be on the active roster. Robinson spent the offseason with both the Patriots and the Giants. Robinson signed to the Packers’ practice squad in mid-October after failing to make the 53-man roster and has been on and off with both the p-squad and active roster ever since. He has yet to appear in a game this season.