The Green Bay Packers are sitting pretty this weekend with a bye week. They earned the bye as the top team in the NFC, and the Tennessee Titans earned the bye for the AFC. Meanwhile, 12 other teams will battle it out during Wild Card Weekend to advance to the divisional round of the NFL playoffs.
Despite not having a game to play this weekend, Matt LaFleur's team is out and practicing in the brisk Wisconsin winter. In fact, one member of the team showed up to practice on Thursday that nobody saw coming.
Packers beat writer Ryan Wood tweeted the news that defensive end Whitney Mercilus was an active participant in Green Bay's practice on Thursday.
Here’s a surprise: #Packers OLB Whitney Mercilus practiced today. Mercilus was thought to be potentially out for season after tearing biceps vs. Seattle, but an edge rush that consists is Rashan Gary and Preston Smith could add Za’Darius Smith and Whitney Mercilus for playoffs.
— Ryan Wood (@ByRyanWood) January 13, 2022
This is quite a shock for Packers fans, who, as Wood mentions, expected Mercilus to be out for the rest of the season. He tore his biceps muscle in the Packers' Week 10 win over the Seattle Seahawks. Mercilus had only played a few games for Green Bay after being released from the Houston Texans and signed by the Packers in mid-October.
If Mercilus is healthy enough to suit up for next weekend, it will be a huge boost for the Packers' defensive line. In his short season with both the Texans and the Packers, Mercilus recorded 17 tackles and four sacks.
The Packers will play the winner of this weekend's matchup between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in their NFC divisional game.
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