Yesterday was the final cutdown day for NFL teams to decide who would make each initial 53-man roster, and there were a few surprising outcomes for the Green Bay Packers 53-man roster.
The larger details are certainly interesting — such as Malik Willis winning the backup quarterback competition in Green Bay by way of being traded for a seventh round draft pick, or the fact that Anders Carlson was released in favor of journeyman kicker Greg Joseph — but we’re going to cover some of the interesting details that fans may have overlooked.
Packers ended a nearly two decade long streak of retaining an undrafted rookie on their roster
The only rookies on the Packers initial 53-man roster were players who were drafted by the team. Players like Krys Barnes, Raven Greene, and LaDarius Gunter all made impacts, for better or worse, on the field field for the Packers, and they all have one thing in common, they were all undrafted free agents that ended up on the 53-man roster for the team as rookies.
There’s still technically a caveat to this streak, we’re talking more about players who made it to the 53-man roster by the team’s week one game each year, and we technically still have about nine days for some things to be shifted around, nonetheless, a quirky little streak that encapsulates the ideals of home-growing your talent that’s been held by the Packers for 19 years may be coming to an end.
Cornerback Kalen King Did Not Make the 53-Man Roster
King is a promising candidate for the Packers’ practice squad if he’s not scooped up by some other team, but some fans have been left wondering why he didn’t make the initial roster. King was a seventh round draft pick in this year’s draft, but he was touted as a top cornerback after his 2022 collegiate season with Penn State when he earned All-American honors after deflecting over 20 passes and picking off three more. He ultimately had a disappointing enough season in2023 that his draft stock completely plummeted, leaving the Packers to take him in the final round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
The reality is this; the Packers have a lot of talent in the cornerback room, and each player who made the initial roster has had to play in real NFL games at one point or another. Even Corey Ballentine, who will likely find himself at the bottom of the depth chart, played 43% of the Packers defensive snaps last season. That kind of experience is invaluable, and its likely that some combination of General Manager Brian Gutekunst, Head Coach Matt Lafleur, or Defensive Coordinator Jeff Hafley believed that King still had some work to do despite showing some promise during his first few months as a professional football player.
MarShawn Lloyd is RB2, A.J. DIllon is out
A.J. Dillon was placed on season ending I.R. yesterday, meaning MarShawn Lloyd and Emmanuel Wilson will serve as the primary backups to Josh Jacobs in the run game. Dillon might have been the best pass protector out of the group, but his prowess for running the football has been inconsistent at best, and that likely played a role in the Packers willingness to just end his season due to an injury that otherwise may have only seen him sidelined for a month or two.
There is still hope for the former second round pick out of Boston College to return next season and prove himself, but it seems like that would require one of either Lloyd or Wilson to be terrible this season.
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Zack is a college student and cheesehead from California. When he’s not in class or writing, you can find him talking about the Packers on Twitter at @Zack_Upchurch.
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