NFL teams
Rob Demovsky, ESPN Staff Writer 7y

Packers to sign Ulrick John with top three offensive tackles banged up

NFL, Green Bay Packers, Arizona Cardinals

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- With their top three offensive tackles on the injury list -- and two others already on injured reserve -- the Packers will sign Ulrick John off the Arizona Cardinals' practice squad, his agent told ESPN.

The move is a sign the Packers have serious concerns about the availability of Bryan Bulaga (ankle), David Bakhtiari (hamstring) and Kyle Murphy (foot).

All three were on Monday's injury report, leaving their status for Thursday night's game against the Chicago Bears at Lambeau Field up in the air.

"It's a tough situation for them," said John's agent, Leonard Roth. "They might even have him active for the game."

Bulaga, who missed the first two weeks, could not finish Sunday's game against the Cincinnati Bengals. He dropped out after 47 of the 70 snaps and was replaced by Justin McCray, who started the Week 2 game at Atlanta. Bakhtiari was inactive for the second straight week. Murphy, who started Week 1 in place of Bulaga and the past two games at left tackle, showed up on the injury report Monday even though he finished Sunday's game.

The Packers did not practice on Monday but were required to submit an estimated participation level because they're playing on Thursday. Of the three tackles, only Bakhtiari would have practiced, and it would have been on a limited basis. Two other tackles, Jason Spriggs (hamstring) and Don Barclay (ankle), are on injured reserve.

"When you have one position that gets hit by it, maybe it has something to do with playing Chicago on Thursday night," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. "Last year it was the running backs. This year it's the tackles. So, you just work through it. Frankly, we're still working through it. ... There's still some testing that's being done. But yeah, it's a work in progress."

John started three games for the Cardinals last season at right tackle. He appeared in two games in 2015 for Miami but has no ties to the Packers or their offensive system.

The Packers will have to clear a roster spot on Tuesday for John. They made one move on Monday, when they placed veteran long-snapper Brett Goode on injured reserve and signed Taybor Pepper, who was with the team during the offseason program.

Goode finished Sunday's game against the Bengals, snapping a perfect ball on Mason Crosby's 27-yard game-winning field goal in overtime despite suffering a hamstring injury earlier in the game. A source said Goode could return in four weeks, but the Packers had so many injuries that they couldn't afford to keep him on the roster. Green Bay was preparing tight end Richard Rodgers to snap on Sunday if Goode couldn't go.

"I can't say enough about him pushing through," McCarthy said. "This is part of being on a short week and this is one thing we were hoping wasn't going to be as bad as we thought it was going to be after the game, but after the examination today this was the direction we had to go."

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