The Green Bay Packers are officially back to 53 players.
The team activated defensive back Raven Greene from injured reserve on Saturday, filling the roster in the hours before Sunday’s NFC Championship Game against the San Francisco’s 49ers.
It’s unclear how much Greene will play Sunday. He hasn’t been on a field in a game since Week 2. Early in the second half of the Packers’ win over the Minnesota Vikings, Greene suffered a significant ankle injury and required a cart to exit the field.
However, Greene has been with the team practicing for the last two weeks, and it’s probably unlikely that the Packers would activate him now to simply make him inactive Sunday.
Greene could play special teams and give the Packers defense another option at dime linebacker, a pivotal position for Mike Pettine’s subpackage-heavy defense.
Greene opened the season as the starter there, and he was a big part of Pettine’s plan to stop the Chicago Bears in the Week 1 road win.
Pettine may want as many versatile defensive backs on the field as possible against the 49ers offense Sunday.
Another potential ripple effect of the Greene move: The Packers clearly feel fine at punter.
JK Scott was listed as questionable with an illness on Saturday. If the Packers felt Scott was in danger of missing the game, they likely would have kept the roster spot open and had their top available punting option on standby.
