The Green Bay Packers’ latest roster wrinkle before the regular season arrived Friday, and it came from the interior of the defensive line.
The Houston Texans signed defensive tackle Jaden Crumedy off Green Bay’s practice squad, via the NFL transaction log. Because Crumedy was poached from another club’s practice squad, NFL rules require Houston to keep him on the 53-man roster for at least three weeks.
That is a loss Green Bay would have preferred to avoid. Crumedy, a 6-foot-4, 301-pound former sixth-round pick out of Mississippi State, had one of the better preseasons among the players who did not make the initial 53. In the finale he generated pressure and a quarterback hit that helped force an interception.
After final cuts on Aug. 30, he cleared waivers and returned to the Packers’ practice squad the next day.
The problem was never production. It was depth. Green Bay kept seven interior linemen on the active roster: Devonte Wyatt, Javon Hargrave, Karl Brooks, Warren Brinson, rookie Chris McClellan, Jonathan Ford and Anthony Campbell.
That group left no room for Crumedy despite a futures deal signed Jan. 20 and a camp that turned heads. The same numbers game that sent him to the practice squad left him exposed when Houston needed a body.
Crumedy’s path here was familiar. Carolina drafted him 200th overall in 2024. He appeared in eight games over two seasons with the Panthers, totaling 15 tackles and a half-sack, bouncing between the active roster and the practice squad.
Green Bay saw a big, experienced interior piece who could eat snaps if injuries hit. For two weeks that was the plan. Then the Texans called.
The timing stings. The Packers open Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings. Crumedy’s departure does open a practice-squad spot, but that is small consolation if the defensive line takes an early hit.
Practice-squad raiding is part of September. Teams that keep seven players at one position accept that someone on the 16-man taxi squad will look attractive to a club with an injury. Green Bay gambled that Crumedy would stay available. Houston, short a tackle, decided otherwise.
Crumedy now gets the opportunity he chased in Green Bay: a real chance on a 53-man roster.
The Packers are left hoping their crowded interior holds up without him — and that the next player they like on the practice squad does not get the same phone call two days before a game.
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