Packers: Five players key to victory in Week 9 vs. 49ers

1. Dexter Williams

As of right now, Dexter Williams is still on the practice squad but that may just be a formality as the Packers currently have only one active, healthy running back on the current roster in Tyler Ervin.

And being a traditional running back isn’t Ervin’s strong suit. Ervin is very much a gadget receiver meant to be used on jet swaps and in the passing game.

Williams is fully expected to be elevated to the active roster by game time as the Packers will be without AJ Dillon and Jamaal Williams (Covid), and Aaron Jones (calf).

The Packers offense has run through the ground game. Bootlegs and play-action has been the calling card for the Packers in 2020 and the defense will have to respect the run game for those to work.

Williams had a decent preseason in 2019 and gave fans something to get excited about. Since then we haven’t seen much of him. Williams has a total of five carries in the regular season.

That’s not a lot of experience.

One of the reasons Williams was kept off the field was because of his pass blocking. If you want to share the field with Aaron Rodgers, you better be able to pick up the blitz. We haven’t gotten a chance to see Williams in any kind of live action so we have no clue how he will fare there.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Packers use tight ends as pass protectors back there as they have more experience in the offense this year.

But how Williams runs will go a long way to how the offense performs Thursday night.