B.J. Raji’s 2014 season is over before it started.
The Green Bay Packers nose tackle played just the first two series in Friday night’s preseason game against the Oakland Raiders before sitting out the rest of the game with an apparent bicep injury.
Packers coach Mike McCarthy said after the game that he believed the injury wasn’t too serious, but NFL.com reported Saturday that Raji had torn his biceps. The Packers eventually confirmed the MRI results showed that the injury was season-ending.
Raji has been a reliable force since entering the league as a first-round pick in 2009, as he has missed just four of the Packers’ 80 games in that five-year span. He had just signed a one-year, $4 million deal this offseason and hoped to improve upon a 2013 season during which he had 17 combined tackles and zero sacks.
To replace Raji, Green Bay can look to undrafted rookie Mike Pennel who had 36 total tackles and three sacks in his final season at Colorado State University-Pueblo.
Thirty-four year old Ryan Pickett is also an option the Packers could consider. Picket spent the last eight seasons with Green Bay and is a currently a free agent.
Photo via Brace Hemmelgarn/USA TODAY Sports Images
