Jamari Lattimore will be starting at inside linebacker for the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.
He’ll take the place of Brad Jones, who injured his hamstring against Detroit. Coach Mike McCarthy said Jones has already been ruled out, though he shouldn’t be gone too long.
“I have to believe it’s not going to be too long, but Brad Jones will not be available this week,” McCarthy said.
Next man up, right? Well, Lattimore is actually the third man up.
When Jones went down on Sunday, the Packers brought in Robert Francois. And of course, he tore his Achilles during the game and is now on season-ending injured reserve.
So, Lattimore. He has 15 career tackles in three seasons. He was pretty impressive during the preseason though, which is something McCarthy pointed out.
“Jamari has played some really good football for us. It’s just a product of the guys in front of him,” McCarthy said. “If you look at the tape, he’s been really good in the preseason the past couple years. He’s made some plays for us on special teams.”
This situation is almost reminiscent of 2010, when the Packers saw two inside linebackers go down. They lost both Nick Barnett and Brandon Chillar.
Both of those guys ended up on injured reserve and that allowed Desmond Bishop to step in and flourish. Bishop recorded 103 tackles, three sacks, two forced fumbles and an interception that season.
Now, we’re not suggesting Lattimore is going to do that and he’ll probably only be in the starting lineup for a short time. However, it wouldn’t be unprecedented for the third guy on the depth chart to play well.