Christian Kirksey, who was brought in this past offseason to hopefully clean up all of the Green Bay Packers’ woes at linebacker, is injured and looks to be out for a few games to nurse a shoulder injury.

Where have we heard this before.

The injury history that came along with Kirksey was a certain turn-off for some teams, but apparently not enough of one for the Packers to not hand out a two-year deal to the former Cleveland Browns ‘backer. And now that it has finally reared its ugly head yet again, it looks like Ty Summers will be called upon to step up and fill that spot.

Rookie LB Kamal Martin was looking to be the guy for GB through training camps, but he suffered an injury and is currently on the injury list, but he should be able to return in a week or two, instilling a bit of depth and life into a position that has been a thorn in the side of this team for a long time.

Blake Martinez departed this offseason to the New York Giants, something that at the time was not seen as a big problem since they brought Kirksey in. But with his injuries popping up again, there seems to already be a hole in that needs to be filled.

After Kirksey went out after playing 17 first-half snaps against the New Orleans Saints, Summers came in and chipped in nine tackles (six solo) and was able to try his best at leading the defense.

While no one was able to stop NO RB Alvin Kamara, especially on that crazy catch and run that went from a catch in the flat out to a long touchdown, Summers helped control the middle of the field in his first game of the season. The combination of Summers, Oren Burks, and undrafted rookie Krys Barnes helped alleviate the loss of Kirksey in the SNF game and will need to control that group moving forward.

Summers looks to be the most plugged-in option for Mike Pettine to turn to moving forward, but both Barnes and Burks will hold important roles moving forward as well. Against the Atlanta Falcons, RB Todd Gurley is no Kamara when it comes to passing game involvement, but with how much of an offensively-dominated game that the Green Bay – Atlanta is projected to be, Summers will need to be on the top of his game to help slow down all of the offensive pieces that the Falcons will throw out there.

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Mike Johrendt has been an avid fan of the Packers ever since he can remember. He is now a writer at PackersTalk and you can follow him on Twitter at @MJohrendt23

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