Jaire Alexander, confronted with yet another significant health obstacle…
During his press conference on Thursday, Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur announced that punter Daniel Whelan (illness), running back AJ Dillon (thumb), inside linebacker Isaiah McDuffie (neck), cornerback Jaire Alexander (ankle), and inside linebacker Kingsley Enagbare (knee) would be out against the San Francisco 49ers.
The team believes that Enagbare has ruptured his ACL, according to rumors this week, therefore his condition shouldn’t come as a surprise. If that’s the case, it’s open for debate why the team hasn’t placed him on the injured list and removed him off the 53-man roster.
Similar to Enagbare, McDuffie, Alexander, and Whelan all played for the club against the Dallas Cowboys in the Wild Card round. McDuffie exited the match holding De’Vondre Campbell was employed as a rotational player for the first time in his Packer career, after being used as an early down starter. Campbell was a stinger. After suffering an injury during practice last week, Alexander was questionable for the game; nevertheless, against Dallas, his ailment worsened. Despite his lack of practice this week, the staff is optimistic that he will be able to play against the 49ers. Whelan was just sick.
Dillon is thought to have practiced with the squad as he was observed stretching with them today. Due to a thumb injury that kept him out of the last two games, he spent some time during media-accessible sessions with a wrapped club around his hand.
Regarding Alexander, According to defensive coordinator Joe Barry, the cornerback is in better form right now than he was at this time last week, when he was able to play. Alexander’s lack of action in practice, according to LaFleur today, is “just where he’s at, right now, and hopefully, he’ll be ready to go.” In addition, he said that Whelan would be replaced as the team’s backup punter by kicker Anders Carlson, but that he believed Whelan was “going to be alright, though.”
It’s unclear what the 49ers’ players’ status will be heading into Saturday’s game because, as of this writing, they haven’t released their injury report. The lone player not in action for San Francisco on Wednesday was Clelin Ferrell, their backup defensive end (knee), while their two limited participants were safety Logan Ryan (groin) and starter linebacker Dre Greenlaw (Achilles).
