The Green Bay Packers signed defensive tackle Eric Johnson II to the practice squad Wednesday, adding a 6-foot-4, 320-pound veteran after a Tuesday workout and a hole on the interior of the practice-squad line, via the NFL transaction wire.
The official announcement paired Johnson with wide receiver Quincy Skinner Jr. Johnson, 28, is a former fifth-round pick (159th overall) by the Indianapolis Colts in 2022 out of Missouri State.
He visited Green Bay before that draft, then spent four NFL seasons as a rotational tackle.
Johnson has appeared in 51 regular-season games — 40 with the Colts and 11 with the New England Patriots — logging 700 defensive snaps and 132 on special teams, many on field-goal block units.
Career totals: 41 tackles, one sack, two tackles for loss, and one fumble recovery. He has never started a regular-season game.
The move fills a specific need. Green Bay kept seven defensive tackles on the 53-man roster but had none on the practice squad after Houston signed Jaden Crumedy off the unit and Tennessee claimed Nazir Stackhouse.
Johnson gives the staff a veteran body who can scout-team the run game and, if elevated, occupy space in a 3-4 front.
His 2026 path was typical of a journeyman interior lineman. He signed with Minnesota in April, was released in mid-August, then spent a week with Atlanta — Green Bay’s Week 3 Thursday night opponent — before becoming available again.
The Packers worked him out this week and moved quickly.
Johnson arrived in the NFL as an athletic projection. At the 2022 combine he measured about 300 pounds and ran a 4.88-second 40-yard dash, earning a 9.39 Relative Athletic Score. Teams have since listed him at 320.
At Missouri State he was the program’s first draft pick since 2011; as a senior he posted 6.5 tackles for loss and three blocked kicks and earned second-team All-Missouri Valley Football Conference honors. He also placed second in the Illinois Class 3A state wrestling tournament in high school.
Practice-squad deals are short-term by design. Johnson’s value is depth, familiarity with multiple schemes, and the ability to take scout-team reps against Green Bay’s offensive line.
If injuries hit Devonte Wyatt, Karl Brooks, Javon Hargrave, or Jonathan Ford, he is a known quantity who has already survived four NFL camps.
For a Packers team that opened 0-1, the signing is unspectacular insurance: a big, experienced tackle who already knows the building from a 2022 visit and now gets another look in green and gold.
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