Earlier today, the Green Bay Packers signed pass-rusher Jeremiah Martin to their practice, begging the question: Who were the Packers going to release to make room for his addition?
As it turns out, Green Bay didn’t need to make a cut on their practice squad, because the Chicago Bears poached one of the Packers’ practice squadders for their own 53-man roster. Pour one out for the Jonathan Ford era.
Ford, a defensive tackle, was originally drafted in the seventh round of the 2022 draft, mostly off of the strength of his massive size at 6’5” and 333 pounds. As a rookie, the Packers stashed Ford on the 53-man roster, where he was regularly a healthy scratch for games. Over the last two years, though, he was a member of the practice squad. Two months ago, Ford was actually elevated for game action in the regular season, but he has still yet to play a meaningful snap for Green Bay.
Now, the three-year project is a Bear. This hardly seems like a justified use of time and effort on the Packers’ end of things.
Luckily for Green Bay, they have five healthy defensive tackles on their 53-man roster in Kenny Clark, Devonte Wyatt, Karl Brooks, T.J. Slaton and Colby Wooden, so there shouldn’t be much need for a sixth defensive tackle on gameday. Without Ford, the Packers’ lone practice squad defensive tackle right now is James Ester, an undrafted rookie free agent from Northern Illinois who signed with the team back in April and has been on the practice squad since cutdowns in August.