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The Green Bay Packers have placed running back AJ Dillon on injured reserve. The Packers placed on him on IR without a designation to return, ending his 2024 season before it ever began.
Dillon is dealing with a neck injury, and will now miss the entire 2024 season. He was slated to be the backup running back to Josh Jacobs, whom the team signed this offseason. Now, there will be a competition to fill that role.
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Dillon, 26, was selected by the Packers in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft. He's spent the last four years with the Packers as a backup running back to Aaron Jones, but has emerged as a serious weapon out of the backfield, especially in short yardage and goal-to-go situations.
Dillon ran for 803 yards and five touchdowns in 2021, and followed that up with 613 rushing yards and seven touchdowns in 2022. Last year, across 15 games and a career-high six starts, he had 613 rushes and two touchdowns.
Jacobs joined the Packers this offseason on a four-year, $48 million deal. Jones then left to the division-rival Minnesota Vikings on a one-year, $7 million deal. Dillon was expected to play a key role behind Jacobs, but will instead miss what would have been his fifth NFL season.
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In addition to Dillon going on the IR, the Packers also released running backs Ellis Merriweather and Nate McCrary. That leaves Jacobs, Emanuel Wilson, and rookie MarShawn Lloyd as the only running backs currently on the active roster for Green Bay.
Wilson had 14 rush attempts for 85 yards and four receptions for 23 yards in his rookie season last year. He could see his role greatly increase with the latest round of cuts.
As for Lloyd, the Packers selected him in the third round of this year's draft. Last season at the University of Southern California, he had 116 rushes for 820 yards and nine touchdowns. He could emerge as the backup to Jacobs this season.
Lloyd missed the start of training camp with a hip injury. Then, in the preseason opener against the Cleveland Browns, he suffered a hamstring injury. There was talk about him potentially opening the season on injured reserve, but clearly, he's been working back nicely from the hamstring issue.
The Packers will hope Lloyd continues to heal in time to play Week 1 in the team's regular season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles in Brazil.
About the writer
Noah Camras is a Newsweek contributor based in Los Angeles. His focus is on sports content. Noah has been with Newsweek since March ... Read more