The Green Bay Packers got a little thinner on the defensive line today. Defensive end Jerel Worthy was ruled out for the rest of the season.
Worthy injured his knee in Sunday’s loss to the Minnesota Vikings. It hasn’t been announced what exactly happened, but Worthy had a full leg brace on and was using crutches after the game.
Will this loss hurt the Packers? So long as everyone else stays healthy, probably not.
Worthy hasn’t had much of an impact this season. At this point, he wasn’t going to displace starters Ryan Pickett or C.J. Wilson. Mike Neal has also emerged as a pass rusher, taking snaps away from the second-round pick.
The injury could mean more snaps for fourth-round pick Mike Daniels, who’s shown flashes as an inside pass rusher.
On the season, Worthy had 14 tackles, 2.5 sacks and one forced fumble in 14 games (four starts). As comparison, Wilson has 24 tackles and 2.5 sacks despite missing five games due to injury. Daniels had 12 tackles and two sacks in 14 games with no starts.
We need to draft better here. If that’s even possible.