Davante Adams, Kenny Clark again inactive; Packers promote WR Reggie Begelton

GREEN BAY – Almost 11 hours before the Green Bay Packers were scheduled to kick off against the Atlanta Falcons on Monday night at Lambeau Field, star wide receiver Davante Adams told the world via Twitter that he would not be playing because of a lingering hamstring injury:

“Sorry fans and friends I wont be on the field tonight. I’ve done everything I need to do and proved Im ready but I guess I don’t know my body as well as others. Good luck out there my boys”

Adams deleted the tweet about 35 minutes later.

Inactive players do not need to be announced until 90 minutes before kickoff, so when that list was announced by the Packers at 6:30 p.m., Adams was indeed on it.

But he wasn’t the only key player the Packers rendered inactive.

Adams was joined by defensive tackle Kenny Clark (groin), who missed his third straight game despite practicing for the full week. Clark, who was injured at the end of the first half against Minnesota in Week 1, has practiced on a limited basis the last week or so.

“It’s still like a real tough injury that kept me from practicing for a minute,” Clark said Saturday. “Took some time, took a lot of hard work for me to get back to running and all that stuff. Just trying to work at it and get back, and get better every day with it.”

Outside linebacker Rashan Gary, who injured an ankle late in Sunday’s game in New Orleans, was also out. They were joined by tight end Marcedes Lewis (knee), cornerback Parry Nickerson and quarterback Jordan Love.

To help mitigate the loss of Adams and fellow wide receiver Allen Lazard, who was placed on injured reserve after core-muscle surgery early in the week, the team signed Reggie Begelton to the 53-person active roster off the practice squad.

After the move, Begelton tweeted “Dreams do become a reality. Prayers continue to get answered. #blessed #MNF Let’s Go!!!!!!” along with the “face with look of triumph” emoji.

Begelton is an NFL rookie but spent 2017-19 playing professionally in Canada.

He did not make the team out of training camp and has been on the practice squad since.

Adams pulled a hamstring against Detroit on Sept. 20 and did not finish the game out of what the team called an abundance of caution, which Adams said was the right decision. Listed as doubtful last week prior to the game in New Orleans, Adams tested it pregame before ultimately sitting out.

“It was close,” he said of that workout. “I felt good, but I wanted to be as smart as possible so we decided to hold off on that.”

As he began practicing this week, Adams said he would not go unless he felt he was 100%. He was listed as questionable on the Packers’ final injury report.

“Yes. Correct,” he said Wednesday. “I will be making sure I feel normal – like before it happened – before I step out there.”

Clearly, Adams felt he had reached that level, but the team disagreed.

By replacing Lazard with Begelton, the Packers used their practice squad call-ups on inside linebacker De’Jon Harris and defensive lineman Billy Winn. Harris provides some insurance as Ty Summers and rookie Krys Barnes were the only two players manning the inside linebacker position with Christian Kirksey (pectoral) going on injured reserve.

Oren Burks had been working with outside linebackers of late.

Winn was called up to play against New Orleans, so after Monday night he either must be added to the 53-person active roster or be subject to waivers.

Anthem update

The Packers continued to demonstrate for changes in social justice and racial equality by remaining off the field for the national anthem Monday night. It was the fourth consecutive game the team did not participate during its playing. The Atlanta Falcons remained on the field and stood along the sideline.

In the background

A year ago, the Packers felt so good about defensive end Dean Lowry, they signed him to a contract extension.

This year, Lowry has not made an impact.

He has two tackles and no sacks. Defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery said his pass-rush numbers are going to be down because he is using others, such as Kingsley Keke, to rush the passer on third downs.

“Certain guys do certain things better than other guys,” Montgomery said. “Dean’s really not on the field a bunch for us on third down. He’s primarily on the field first and second and so he just has to take advantage of those opportunities when he gets them. But he does a good job for us, he pushes the pocket, he was solid in the run this last weekend. We just want to keep building off of that.”

Tom Silverstein contributed to this report.

Another time change

For the second time in as many days, the NFL pushed back the start of Monday night's Packers-Falcons game. The game now is scheduled to kick off at 8 p.m. CT, the Packers announced.

The game originally was moved back from 7:15 p.m. to 7:50 p.m. by the NFL after a game between the New England Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs was moved from Sunday to 6:05 p.m. CT on Monday.