The injury suffered by Green Bay Packers linebacker Oren Burks during Thursday night’s preseason opener against the Houston Texans is believed to be a torn pectoral muscle, according to Rob Demovsky of ESPN.
Burks was injured while attempting to tackle Texans quarterback Joe Webb in the first quarter. His left arm absorbed the majority of the contact from Webb as Burks came flying into the play.
Burks, a third-round pick of the Packers last season, was in a position to start next to Blake Martinez in Mike Pettine’s base defense. While unclear how long Burks will be out, a torn muscle suggests he’ll miss a significant amount of time. In fact, it’s certainly possible Burks will miss the entire 2019 season.
The Packers are already thin at inside linebacker behind Martinez. Rookies Ty Summers and Curtis Bolton impressed during the preseason opener and may have to take on bigger roles. The Packers have also used safeties Raven Greene and Josh Jones at inside linebacker in subpackages.
Depending on the full diagnosis of Burks’ injury, GM Brian Gutekunst will likely need to add a player with some experience at the position in the coming days or weeks. Last year, Gutekunst traded for Antonio Morrison after Burks went down with a shoulder injury.
