Packers release safety Jermaine Whitehead after ejection, put WR Geronimo Allison on IR

GREEN BAY - On Oct. 31, Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst took to the podium and was asked – relative to the trades of Ty Montgomery and Ha Ha Clinton Dix – about fit in the locker room and on the field.

Gutekunst stated several times the trades weren’t about sending messages, but how performance comes first and how everything is taken into account.

“The decisions that we make are always in the best interest of our team, not only in the short term but the long term, as well,” Gutekunst said less than a week ago.

To date, safety Jermaine Whitehead seemed to be performing for the Packers.

Defensive coordinator Mike Pettine was utilizing him as a dime linebacker and he filled in at slot corner as needed. Whitehead played 96 percent of the snaps against the Los Angeles Rams two weeks ago but was ejected Sunday in New England for slapping Patriots center David Andrews.

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“Whatever your feeling is, the severity of the penalty is a whole other topic. But that’s definitely, you can’t have that,” Packers head coach Mike McCarthy said Monday. “You can’t react to those types of things. Yeah. We need to be better there.”

Now, Whitehead will have to be better at that elsewhere as the club announced Tuesday it released him.

Widely called one of the smartest players in the safety room by his teammates, Whitehead finished his season with the Packers with 17 tackles, one sack and two tackles for loss.

The team signed free-agent safety Ibraheim Campbell on Monday and promoted cornerback Will Redmond to the 53-man roster Tuesday. Campbell played in 15 games and started once for Pettine in Cleveland in his rookie year in 2015.

Allison to IR

A day afte McCarthy said Geronimo Allison was going to have surgery to repair a groin injury, the team placed the third-year wide receiver on injured reserve.

Allison began the year as a starter and caught 13 passes for 209 yards and two scores the first three weeks of the season, but he suffered a concussion against Buffalo on Sept. 30 that caused him to leave after six catches for 80 yards. He was dealing with a hamstring injury after that and played in just one game since, catching one pass for 14 yards against the Rams.

If the Packers choose not to activate both Trevor Davis and Jake Kumerow off IR in the coming weeks, they could save one of those designations for Allison at the end of the season. He must miss a minimum of eight weeks.

Packers Hall of Fame to induct Thompson

Former Packers general manager Ted Thompson will be inducted next May into the Packers Hall of Fame, hall officials announced Tuesday. 

“I think it’s one of those things that’s too big to think about, really, for one person," Thompson told the hall. " You just don’t think in those large of terms. I had trouble believing it was true. You think about all the great players that have come through here and done great things, and you’re not one of those people. These are great idols, and I’m just a scout. But anyway, I was very fired up about it though. I mean it surprised me, but I was very, very excited."

The induction ceremony will be moved from July to May 4 to better accommodate football and summer schedules, hall officials said.