The Green Bay Packers are adding a 2025 rookie draft pick to their backfield for the final game of the regular season with starter Josh Jacobs still on the mend.

Per the team’s official transaction wire, the Packers signed rookie running back Damien Martinez — a 2025 seventh-round selection for the Seattle Seahawks — to their practice squad in a series of more than a half-dozen roster moves on Tuesday, December 30.

Martinez had 24 carries for 84 yards and a touchdown in three preseason games for the Seahawks earlier this year, but the No. 223 overall pick did not make their initial roster and stuck around for less than a month on the practice squad before the team cut him.

Even still, the Packers might actually put Martinez to work against Minnesota.

The Packers have already locked into place as the No. 7 seed in the 2025 NFL playoffs and are mulling whether to rest some — or most — of their starters against the Vikings in Week 18 with nothing at stake in the game outside of divisional bragging rights.

Considering Jacobs has been nursing a knee injury since Week 12, it would make sense if the Packers decided to sit him against the Vikings. They may also do the same with their reliable No. 2 rusher, Emanuel Wilson, to preserve him for the postseason.

While the Packers would still have Chris Brooks available to handle reps if they rested Jacobs and Wilson, they would also likely promote at least one rusher to the roster against the Vikings to bolster their ranks. They can elevate Martinez, or they can sign practice-squad running back Pierre Strong Jr. (who is out of elevations) to the 53.

The Packers (9-6-1) will kick off against the Vikings (8-8) at 1 p.m. ET on January 4.

Damien Martinez Averaged 6.2 Yards Per Carry in College

Martinez isn’t joining the Packers’ practice squad with much of anything on his NFL resume, but he was a highly productive back in his three seasons at the college level.

Martinez hit the ground running as a freshman at Oregon State in 2022, snatching up the lead-back role and rushing for 982 yards and seven touchdowns on just 161 carries. The six-foot, 217-pound rusher followed it up with an even bigger campaign in 2023, scoring nine touchdowns and rushing for a career-high 1,185 yards for the Beavers.

While Martinez didn’t manage to outdo his production when he transferred to Miami for his final season in 2024, he still surpassed 1,000 rushing yards and scored a career-high 10 touchdowns, finishing with his most yards per carry (6.3) in a single season.

By the time he declared for the NFL, Martinez had amassed 3,169 rushing yards and 26 touchdowns over his three seasons with a career yards-per-carry average of 6.2 yards.

That’s potential the Packers can certainly invest in, even if they hold off until 2026.

Will Josh Jacobs Return to Full Strength for Playoffs?

The Packers have little reason to play Jacobs in their final regular-season game against the Vikings, but it is unclear at this point if resting him will return him to full strength in time for the team’s first matchup in the wild-card round of the 2025 NFL playoffs.

While Jacobs has only missed one game since first injuring his knee in Week 11’s win over the New York Giants, the Packers have started easing off the gas on his snap count ever since he picked up an additional ankle injury on the injury report in Week 16.

Jacobs played fewer than 30 offensive snaps for the first time this season in Week 16’s overtime loss to the Chicago Bears, carrying the ball 12 times for just 36 total yards. He then played just 13 snaps against the Baltimore Ravens — his lowest snap count since joining the Packers — spending less time on the field than both Wilson and Brooks.

While the presumption is that the Packers are trying to give Jacobs time to heal and get him ready for the playoffs, there are no guarantees that he will be clear of his two lower-body injuries when the Packers start practicing for the wild-card round next week.

All the more reason to rest Wilson — who has 452 yards on a career-high 107 carries in 2025 — against the Vikings and keep him on hand as a potential fill-in for Jacobs.