The Green Bay Packers are eyeing a former Carolina Panthers edge rusher as a potential signing after losing Lukas Van Ness to injury in Week 6’s victory.
According to the NFL’s official transaction wire, the Packers hosted former Panthers third-round pick DJ Johnson on Tuesday as part of a four-man roster workout group that also included edge rushers Jeremiah Moon, Andrew Farmer and Jah Joyner.
Johnson — the No. 80 overall pick in 2023 — tallied 62 total tackles, four tackles for loss and a half-sack in 31 career games for the Panthers before they cut him loose in Week 5, but scouts had billed him as a “power merchant” with potential coming out of Oregon.
In his pre-draft profile of Johnson, NFL draft analyst Lance Zierlein wrote that the 6-foot-4, 260-pound edge rusher “uses his hands like sledgehammers” off the edge.
The Packers may want to sign another pass rusher to their roster in the coming days if they find that Van Ness will miss extended time. The 2023 first-round pick injured his foot while registering his first solo sack of the season in the third quarter of Sunday’s win over the Cincinnati Bengals, taking a cart into the locker room and remaining out.
Lukas Van Ness Avoided Serious Injury vs. Bengals
Packers head coach Matt LaFleur told reporters Monday that Van Ness had managed to avoid a serious injury with his foot coming out of the win over the Bengals, but the bad news is that the team is not sure how quickly their pass rusher will return to the field.
“I think we definitely avoided something serious, but how long he’ll be out remains to be seen,” LaFleur said Monday. “I think he was playing pretty well. He’s been impactful and playing physical. If he’s unable to go, that’s definitely going to be a loss.”
The Packers pushed Van Ness back into a rotational role before the start of the regular season after making their blockbuster trade for All-Pro pass rusher Micah Parsons, but he has thrived for them as their No. 3 pass rusher through the first five games of 2025.
According to ESPN Analytics, Van Ness has the 18th-best pass-rush win rate (18%) in the league among all pass rushers through the first six weeks of the season, ranking second on the Packers behind only Parsons (23%). He has also tallied 16 pressures.
Kingsley Enagbare and fourth-round rookie Barryn Sorrell are the top candidates to fill in for Van Ness in the lineup if his foot injury holds him out of upcoming games.
Packers Also Released Kicker in Week 7 Roster Move
The Packers changed gears with their kicking situation heading into Week 6’s game.
With starter Brandon McManus’ status up in the air due to a right quadricep injury, the Packers had been expected to elevate kicker Mark McNamee — their NFL International Player Pathway program player — from their practice squad to kick in his place.
Instead, the Packers signed 2025 UFL field-goal leader Lucas Havrisik to their 53-man roster and watched him boot through both of his field-goal tries and all three PATs.
Now, in the aftermath of the win, the Packers are moving on from the rookie McNamee, releasing him from their practice squad on Tuesday in their lone roster move of the day.
While McNamee’s departure signals the Packers are happy with Havrisik as their fill-in kicker, it remains unclear how they will proceed with him in the weeks ahead. They may try to move him to their practice squad once McManus is healthy, but they would need to waive him from the 53-man roster and hope he goes unclaimed to do so.
The Packers (3-1-1) will next face the Arizona Cardinals (2-4) at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday.
