GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Packers claimed former Jets nose tackle Howard Green off waivers to play in this week’s game.
Green, cut this week by the Jets, will take the roster spot of linebacker Brad Jones, who is out for the season following a right shoulder injury that will need surgery.
The Packers put Jones on injured reserve on Wednesday, hours after Packers coach Mike McCarthy said Jones hurt the same shoulder that has bothered him since training camp.
Green Bay has picked up linebacker Diyral Briggs off waivers and signed linebackers Matt Wilhelm and Erik Walden in the past two days.
Jones, a seventh-round draft pick in 2009, was injured Sunday night against Minnesota. He made the tackle of Vikings quarterback Brett Favre that left the Minnesota quarterback limping. Favre has two fractures in his left ankle.
Jones declined to answer questions about the injury in the locker room.
Jones had made five starts this season and 12 starts in his 20 career games, including a career-high 10 tackles in a 28-24 win over the Vikings on Sunday night. Frank Zombo is expected to take Jones’ place in the starting lineup.
“I definitely feel like I played well. When you’re out there, you’ve got to go, you know? The team needs you, you go,” Jones said. “Yeah, I thought I played well.”
Fellow linebacker Clay Matthews said the group will have to deal with another injury after also losing Brady Poppinga to a knee injury.
“It’s tough. You’d like to have someone in there who you’re going into battle with each and every week and you become comfortable with,” said Matthews, who has battled a hamstring issue of his own. “But it seems like we’re switching people in and out, myself included. It’s tough, but it’s part of the game. It’s what we sign up for.”
Green Bay has 10 players on injured reserve at this point in the season, and still has been without starting cornerback Al Harris and safety Atari Bigby. Those two remain on the physically unable to perform list.