Packers Roster: Locks and Bubble Players Going into the Preseason

We’re only one day away from the Green Bay Packers’ preseason opener against the New York Jets, so there’s no better time to go through the Packers’ roster with a fine-tooth comb. Based on everything I’ve seen, read and heard from Green Bay this year, I’m comfortable claiming that there are currently 41 roster locks on the team and 21 players who are, to varying degrees, on the roster bubble as we go into the preseason.

I apologize to the 25 healthy players who I don’t think have a chance of making the 53-man roster. You can yell at me about it in the comment section.

As we go through this position-by-position breakdown, remember that the Packers can only keep 12 of the 21 players on the roster bubble — depending on who returns from injury lists — while holding the line at 53 players. About half of those guys are going to have to go at some point, be it at the roster deadline or after waiver pickups.

Here’s how the roster is shaping up this summer.

There’s no big drama here. Last offseason, the Packers made the trade for quarterback Malik Willis at the cutdown deadline. Willis ended up leading Green Bay to a 2-0 record in his starts, while Sean Clifford went from a 53-man roster player in 2023 to a practice squad player in 2024. At this point, there hasn’t been a shake-up in the quarterback room, with Canadian rookie Taylor Elgersma being the team’s fourth quarterback.

If I were to bet today, I think Green Bay keeps four backs on its 53-man roster. With that being said, there’s still an opportunity for the team to only keep three backs, but it’s hard to imagine what that would look like. Last season, third-round rookie MarShawn Lloyd was injured four times — if you want to call appendicitis an injury. This summer, he’s been dealing with a groin injury. He’s going to make this team, but can you trust Lloyd to stay on the field? That’s the question the Packers are going to have to answer if they only keep three backs.

In 2024, Emanuel Wilson was the RB2 behind Josh Jacobs. Chris Brooks plays a pretty interesting role as a blocking back, both in split back looks and in obvious passing downs, as well as contributing on special teams in roles that are typically filled by tight ends. So if they need someone to run the ball besides Jacobs and Lloyd, it’ll probably be Wilson. If they want someone to bring a different aspect to their backfield and contribute in other facets of the game, it’ll be Brooks.

Until Lloyd can prove that he can stay healthy, it still makes more sense to me to keep both Wilson and Brooks on this team.

Romeo Doubs, Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks are all returning producers on this team, while Matthew Golden and Savion Williams are rookie top-100 selections. They will all make this roster, as long as they’re healthy. On top of that, converted cornerback Bo Melton can also contribute as a receiver if needed, and Christian Watson will recover from his ACL surgery at some point this regular season.

So what’s the value in keeping a player at receiver who might be the team’s eighth option at the position in the second half of the year? Well, he has to bring something different to the room.

The Packers’ two options here are Malik Heath and Mecole Hardman, who contribute on special teams in very different ways. Since Rich Bisaccia has taken over as the team’s special teams coordinator, he’s basically eliminated receivers from participating as non-returners on special teams, instead choosing to lean into defensive backs for those spots. The one exception is Heath, who is known for not only doing dirty work on special teams but also on offense, where he’s often motioned into the formation in an insert role like Allen Lazard used to play as a blocker.

Hardman, meanwhile, came to the Packers as a free-agent signing this offseason with bona fides as a returner. As a rookie in 2019, Hardman was named a Pro Bowler and second-team All-Pro in his role as both a kicker returner and punt returner for the Kansas City Chiefs. Since his rookie year, though, he’s only registered 18 kick returns (compared to 27 in 2019) while posting 89 career punt returns.

In short, the hope was that Hardman could be a complementary punt returner to Keisean Nixon as a kick returner. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like he’s running away with that job. The Packers’ initial depth chart of the season seems fairly accurate, based on what we’ve been able to see from the team this summer. On that depth chart, Hardman is ranked as the second-string kick returner behind Nixon, but he was a reserve punt returner behind Jayden Reed (first-string) and Nixon (second-string).

If Hardman doesn’t win the punt return job, it’s hard to imagine that he makes this team. That’s his win condition. To make matters even more complicated, Hardman is a vested veteran, meaning that his salary will fully guarantee if he’s on the team in Week 1. So if the Packers eventually want to turn this sixth receiver spot on the roster into the space they’ll eventually vacate for Watson, whenever he comes off the physically unable to perform list, they’d have to pay Hardman’s season in full but only have to pay Heath for the weeks that he was on the active roster.

The top two tight ends on this team have been solidified since they were both taken on Day 2 of the draft back in 2023: Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave. The question here is if the team will keep four tight ends on the 53-man roster, which the Packers have done in the past under head coach Matt LaFleur and special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia, or just three.

If it’s only three, that probably means that Ben Sims is going to be the odd man out. Last year, John FitzPatrick was plucked off the Atlanta Falcons’ practice squad and ended up out-snapping Sims, who had been with the team since 2023, toward the end of the season. In Week 16, FitzPatrick played a season-high 26 offensive snaps against the New Orleans Saints. In the season finale, he registered a season-high 12 special teams snaps.

Sims might have a slight chance to bump FitzPatrick down the depth chart in the preseason, but all of the information we have establishes FitzPatrick as the team’s third tight end if push came to shove today. Sims probably needs to convince the Packers to keep four players at the position to make this team. If running back Chris Brooks can fill in for tight ends on special teams, a fourth tight end is tough to keep.

There’s a lot of moving parts here, so let’s go one layer at a time. Currently, the Packers’ starting offensive line is Rasheed Walker, Aaron Banks, Elgton Jenkins, Sean Rhyan and Zach Tom from left to right. The top backups are Jordan Morgan, who has been getting reps at both guard spots and left tackle, and Jacob Monk, who has been practicing at center and guard.

Rookie second-round pick Anthony Belton has been seeing the field as a second-team tackle, but isn’t really involved in the seven-man rotation with the first-team offense. Think of him as the eighth player on the offensive line, a position that is pretty much designed for him to take a redshirt year.

With that being said, the Packers will probably keep nine players on the offensive line. For perspective, it’s not been rare to see Green Bay hold onto 11 at the position in the past.

Before his injury, Travis Glover had the edge on the team for that ninth spot. Now, he’s having season-ending surgery on his lat. So who will step up in his place? Following Glover’s injury, the player who got emergency reps with the first-team offense has been Donovan Jennings, a college left tackle who has since converted to guard for the Packers. He was also listed as the 10th first- or second-team offensive lineman, aside from the nine we’ve already covered, on Green Bay’s depth chart earlier this week.

Other options, though, include rookie seventh-round pick John Williams, who has yet to practice with the team in training camp due to a back injury, and Kadeem Telfort, who was on the active roster last year as a tackle while Jennings was on the practice squad. Jennings has the lead for what will probably be the final roster spot at his position to start the season, but that door isn’t closed just yet, even after the Glover injury.

Former first-round draft choices Rashan Gary and Lukas Van Ness have been consistently “starting” in practice during training camp. On Family Night, Van Ness played 20 of the 22 snaps that the defense fielded with its first-team defense in team drills. This race is about over. Expect Van Ness to make his first start since high school in Week 1 against the Detroit Lions.

Beyond those two, though, the Packers’ defensive end room is very fluid. Fourth-round rookie Barryn Sorrell will make this team, and fifth-round rookie Collin Oliver probably will, too. Oliver’s issue is that he has yet to practice in training camp due to a hamstring issue. Head coach Matt LaFleur said in his opening press conference of camp that the only long-term injury issues the team had coming into the summer session were to receiver Christian Watson and offensive lineman John Williams. Aside from those two and Oliver, every other player who was placed on the injury list to start camp has either come off the list or been released from the team.

So far, there have been no updates on Oliver’s status. Hopefully, though, he’ll return to the field soon.

If Oliver were to make this team, that would bring us up to four defensive ends who are locks on the 53-man roster. At most, Green Bay can probably only keep six at the position. So that leaves Kingsley Enagbare, Brenton Cox Jr. and Arron Mosby as options for those final one to two slots.

Enagbare was the team’s starting defensive end last year after Preston Smith was traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers, but the Packers’ coaching staff always talks up the pass-rushing ability that Cox brings to the table. On Family Night, it was Enagbare, not Cox, who played on punt protection, though, a crucial role on special teams. Maybe that’s an edge in this race.

With that being said, Enagbare is making $3.4 million in salary this year, due to hitting the first-tier proven performance escalator, which gives rookie contract players a non-guaranteed pay bump in the final year of their deals if they hit certain playing time metrics in their first three seasons in the league. Cox is only due $1.03 million, less than a third of Enagbare’s cost. Maybe that’s an edge in this race.

If Green Bay is cool with the rotation of Gary, Van Ness, Sorrell and Oliver, though, they might only care about special teams production out of their break-in-case-of-emergency end. That’s where Mosby, who finished third on the team in special teams snaps behind only linebacker Eric Wilson and safety Zayne Anderson with 241 in 2024, comes into play. Maybe that’s an edge in this race.

As you can see, this position can go in a lot of different directions. It wouldn’t surprise me if any one or two of these three “roster bubble” players end up on the initial 53-man roster.

The Packers return four veterans on the team in Kenny Clark, Devonte Wyatt, Colby Wooden and Karl Brooks. Consistently, Clark is back playing his natural position of nose tackle while Wyatt is being given the space to “start” for the first time in his career at three-technique.

Green Bay will need to make up the loss of TJ Slaton, though, who left in free agency to sign a multi-year deal with the Cincinnati Bengals. Because the team’s veteran backup defensive tackles, Wooden and Brooks, are on the smaller side, the Packers are probably going to have to look at a rookie to be Clark’s backup at the nose tackle position.

Two Georgia Bulldogs, Nazir Stackhouse and Warren Brinson, are the players to watch at this position in the preseason. Stackhouse has built up some steam, even receiving first-team burn, despite being an undrafted rookie. Brinson, meanwhile, was drafted in the sixth round of the draft. Both were valued as borderline draft picks by analysts in April, and it’s worth noting that Stackhouse got $165,000 guaranteed to sign with the Packers in free agency, compared to Brinson’s $226,384 guaranteed as a draft pick.

I’d be surprised if the Packers had the roster space to spend two spots on the 53 on rookie nose tackles who won’t be contributing much on special teams. This really is an either-or situation.

One of the few open starting competitions in camp right now is over the third linebacker spot, where both Isaiah Simmons and Isaiah McDuffie are getting looks. Simmons is a former first-round pick who was projected as a hybrid safety-linebacker-nickel coming out of Clemson. McDuffie, meanwhile, is a smaller run stuffer who struggles with athleticism in the open space. To say the least, they’re very different players.

In two-linebacker looks, Quay Walker and Edgerrin Cooper have been the team’s nickel linebackers when healthy. The fifth player at this position is 2024 third-round pick Ty’Ron Hopper, who will probably play more on special teams this year than defense, again.

Earlier this offseason, general manager Brian Gutekunst said he was surprised at how much base defense the Packers played under defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley last year and that he might have kept six linebackers on the team in 2024 had he known Hafley’s playing style better. That linebacker who just missed the roster at cutdowns last season was Kristian Welch, who went on to play regular-season games with both the Baltimore Ravens and Denver Broncos before re-signing with Green Bay in free agency.

The question now is how badly the team feels like they need to keep six at the position with defensive end Collin Oliver able to play a hybrid off-ball linebacker role. Does Oliver’s roster spot count as that sixth linebacker? Is Oliver gonna have enough time in training camp post-injury to even get looks at linebacker? If the Packers are confident in their top five linebackers, do they even need to get to six?

This really is about whether or not Welch will make the team, as Jamon Johnson, who was one of three undrafted rookies who received significant guarantees from Green Bay, has yet to make a dent on the depth chart.

The depth spots at cornerback are the most wide-open camp battles going on in Green Bay right now. The three outside cornerbacks who have gotten consistent playing time with the first-team unit are Keisean Nixon, Nate Hobbs and Carrington Valentine. In base defense looks, with only two cornerbacks on the field, the expectation is that Nixon and Hobbs will both start at the position. In nickel situations, the question is whether Hobbs will kick inside to the slot, which would allow Valentine to come off the bench, or if safety Javon Bullard will play the slot, like he did for much of 2024, which would keep Hobbs at outside cornerback.

Hobbs, the Packers’ top free-agent signing on the defensive side of the ball, already had his meniscus cleaned up in training camp, though. The hope is that he can return by Week 1 of the regular season, but if he doesn’t, then their only option is Valentine on the outside.

At a minimum, Green Bay is going to need to roster five cornerbacks, which means at least two more roster spots are up for grabs behind that trio. Current contenders for those jobs are receiver-turned-cornerback Bo Melton, 2024 sixth-round pick Kamal Hadden, the recently re-signed Corey Ballentine, 2024 seventh-round pick Kalen King and 2025 seventh-round pick Micah Robinson.

When both Nixon and Hobbs were out with injury for Thursday’s practice, it was Valentine and Melton at outside cornerback with the first-team unit. With that being said, Hadden was out with an injury, too, so there is still the possibility that he’s higher up on the depth chart than Melton. Ballentine, who played in 37 games for the Packers and made seven starts at outside cornerback, just got back to Green Bay this week after a stint with the Indianapolis Colts, only further complicating the situation.

This battle isn’t done by any means, but I think that the trio of Melton, Hadden and Ballentine probably edge out King and Robinson for the two or three roster spots still available at cornerback.

The Packers return their five safeties who made the 53-man roster last year: Xavier McKinney, Evan Williams, Javon Bullard, Zayne Anderson and Kitan Oladapo. I thought it was a pretty open and shut case that all would make the roster again in 2025, until Omar Brown recorded three interceptions in the Family Night practice last weekend. Out of respect for that performance, I’m going to consider Brown here, even though I don’t think the team can manage to keep six safeties on the team. That’s why I’m categorizing Oladapo as a roster bubble player, even if he has a significant edge over Brown, who spent last season on Green Bay’s practice squad.

FYI: The Packers’ official roster claims that undrafted rookie Johnathan Baldwin is a cornerback, but he’s been working with the safeties and slots in camp.

This is an absolute no-brainer. The only backup specialist even on the roster for the Packers is Irish kicker Mark McNamee, who has a visa issue and has yet to practice with the team. Brandon McManus is your kicker. Daniel Whelan is your punter. Matt Orzech is your long snapper. The battery will probably be well above the NFL average this year, too. So far, McManus is 47 of 51 (92 percent) on field goal attempts this summer.