Packers Add DL Eric Johnson II to Practice Squad After Roster Churn
Green Bay signed the 2022 fifth-rounder after losing two D-linemen off its practice squad. He's played 51 career games with 700 defensive snaps.
Depth signing with no fantasy relevance in any format right now.
- 51 career regular-season games played
- 700 defensive snaps, 132 on special teams
- Fourth NFL team since 2022 fifth-round pick
- Signed after two D-linemen left practice squad
- One of 8 players who tried out this week
The Packers circled back to a familiar name this week, signing defensive lineman Eric Johnson II after their practice squad depth up front got gutted. The Colts drafted Johnson in the fifth round back in 2022, and Green Bay had actually hosted him as a pre-draft visitor that same year — so this is less a surprise and more a loop finally closing.
The move was reactive, not planned. Green Bay had no reason to grab Johnson at the cutdown deadline, but that changed fast when the Titans claimed Nazir Stackhouse off waivers and the Texans poached Jaden Crumedy off the Packers' practice squad. That left Green Bay with zero defensive line bodies on the practice squad — a hole they needed to plug immediately.
Johnson brings real NFL mileage for a depth piece. Across his career he's played 51 regular-season games — 40 with the Colts and 11 with the Patriots — while logging 700 defensive snaps and 132 special teams snaps, most of those on field goal block. Green Bay is his fourth NFL stop, with training-camp stints in Minnesota and Atlanta along the way.
There's a small twist to the Falcons connection: Atlanta is Green Bay's Week 3 Thursday Night Football opponent. Johnson spent camp there before landing here, though nobody should read anything schematic into a practice-squad signing.
The Bigger Picture
Johnson was one of eight players the Packers worked out this week — three interior defensive linemen, three wide receivers, a quarterback and an international edge rusher. That's a lot of churn, and the expectation is Green Bay fills the rest of the practice squad with a couple more signings before Wednesday's practice. This is roster housekeeping, plain and simple.
For fantasy managers, there's nothing to do here. Practice-squad defensive linemen don't move the needle in any format, and Johnson's career snap count screams rotational depth, not production. If you roster the Packers DST, this doesn't change your outlook one bit — Green Bay's front seven identity isn't being reshaped by a body signed to patch a hole. File the name away, keep your waiver claims for actual usage, and move on.
