Packers could get Equanimeous St. Brown, Kamal Martin back soon
The Packers could get Equanimeous St. Brown and Kamal Martin back from injury soon.
As the injuries began to build, the bye week came at the perfect time for the Green Bay Packers. With a full week of additional rest, they will hopefully get some players back for this Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Two players who could be set to return soon are wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown and rookie inside linebacker Kamal Martin.
St. Brown was placed on injured reserve last month after suffering a knee injury. He has now missed three games and can return. Martin was expected to miss 6-8 weeks after knee surgery. This week would be the sixth.
According to Matt Schneidman of The Athletic, the Packers have designated both St. Brown and Martin to return off injured reserve, and they now have three weeks to activate them.
This is great news as it shows both players are either ready to return or are close. Even if Martin’s recovery is closer to eight weeks than six, it sure seems the Packers are expecting him to be healthy in the near future.
The Packers have proven they can win games even without their top wide receivers on the field. In last week’s win over the Atlanta Falcons, Green Bay didn’t have St. Brown, Davante Adams, and Allen Lazard (all injured), or free-agent addition Devin Funchess (opted-out), four receivers they expected to be among the top targets on offense this season. Despite that, the offense didn’t miss a beat.
Adams could be back this week against the Buccaneers, and if St. Brown is ready to return, he would also add some important depth. EQ hasn’t played a regular season game since 2018.
Rookie inside linebacker Krys Barnes has made an impressive start to the season, but it’s easy to forget the buzz there was about Martin over the summer. If Martin can get back to that form and reach that level in the regular season, the Packers may have found an excellent linebacker combination to play with Christian Kirksey and Ty Summers.
It’s unclear when either St. Brown or Martin will be able to return to regular-season action, but it appears both are close.