The Green Bay Packers have elevated defensive backs Erwin Swiney and Todd Franz to the 53-man active roster, GM/Head Coach Mike Sherman announced today.
To make room on the roster, cornerback Bhawoh Jue was placed on injured reserve and offensive lineman Barrett Brooks was released.
Swiney, a rookie free agent from the University of Nebraska was re-signed to the practice squad on Sept. 9. Signed initially by the Packers on April 26, 2002, he had been waived in the final mandated roster reduction to the regular season squad and then spent a short initial stint on Green Bay's practice squad (Sept. 2-4). The 6-foot, 192-pound Swiney closed out the preseason as the Packers' second-leading tackler with 19 stops, 18 solo, and posted one quarterback sack.
Franz, re-signed to the Packers' practice squad on Oct. 9, previously spent the 2002 training camp and preseason with the Packers, posting 4 solo tackles, 1 interception and 2 passes defensed. He was placed on waivers in the team's final roster reduction for the regular season and subsequently spent the first week of the season on the team's practice squad before being terminated. The 6-foot, 194-pound Franz, originally was a fifth-round draft choice of the Detroit Lions out of the University of Tulsa in 2000.
Released by in training camp by Detroit as a rookie in 2000, he signed on with New Orleans Aug. 28, 2000, and later played in five regular season games before being waived Oct. 10. He later joined the Cleveland Browns as a free agent (Nov. 14) and played in two games. Released by Cleveland during training camp in 2001 (Aug. 3), he was out of football until being signed to the Jets' practice squad on Jan. 9, 2002. Allocated to the Scottish Claymores of the NFL Europe League last spring, he played in all 10 games during the league's '02 season, with four starts, registering 36 tackles and 8 passes defensed, along with 1 interception which he returned 33 yards for a touchdown. During preseason, he recorded a 42-yard interception for a touchdown against Cleveland on Aug. 26.
Jue suffered a left hamstring injury during the first half of the Packers' 34-21 victory over the Chicago Bears Monday night.
Brooks re-signed with the Packers on Oct. 1 and was inactive against the Bears last Monday night. He originally had signed with Green Bay Sept. 26.
Swiney and Franz have been assigned jersey numbers, 26 and 49, respectively.
In another transaction, WR Devin Lewis was re-signed to the practice squad.
