GREEN BAY – As General Manager Brian Gutekunst often has said, roster building is a 24/7/365 proposition. So the work never ends.
With that in mind, here are five takeaways from the roster decisions the Packers announced Tuesday.
- The Packers likely will need one of the quarterbacks they released back on the practice squad.
With the trade for Tennessee QB Malik Willis and the release of both Sean Clifford and Michael Pratt, the Packers have a new backup to QB Jordan Love. But it isn't realistic to assume Willis can be an effective backup right away with the regular season beginning in 10 days against the Eagles in Brazil.
So assuming Clifford or Pratt (or both) clears waivers, the Packers could bring one of them back on the practice squad and elevate him to the active roster to serve as a backup to Love until Willis is up to speed on the offense. How long that would need to continue isn't clear, but it's the simplest way to bridge the backup job to Willis.
- The Packers will have their third different kicker in three seasons.
With the release of Anders Carlson, the 2023 sixth-round draft pick's tenure as Green Bay's kicker is over after one season. The Packers kept veteran kicker Greg Joseph, effectively declaring him the winner of the offseason-long competition, but comments from Head Coach Matt LaFleur after Saturday's preseason finale suggested the Packers will continue reviewing any and all possibilities at the position.
With released players, including a handful of kickers who were cut, available on waivers until 11 a.m. CT Wednesday, it's possible the Packers aren't done exploring options at kicker. Whatever the case, the Packers will have gone from Mason Crosby in 2022 to Carlson in '23 to Joseph or someone else in '24. The last time they had three different kickers in a span of three seasons was 2005-07 (Ryan Longwell, Dave Rayner, Crosby).
- The season is over for two offensive veterans.
The Packers placed both running back AJ Dillon (stinger) and tight end Tyler Davis (shoulder) on injured reserve, and neither was given the designation to return, so their seasons are done.
Both players missed time over the last week or two of training camp with their injuries.
One player, defensive lineman Jonathan Ford, was placed on IR with the designation to return. With the new rule this season, teams are allowed to designate up to two players to return from IR at roster-reduction time. The Packers didn't use their second designation, so it was available for Dillon or Davis if desired or warranted.
This marks the second straight season Davis will miss on injured reserve. He tore an ACL in the preseason last August and rehabbed for nearly a full year, only to injure his shoulder in his initial return to game action in the second preseason contest in Denver.
Dillon, a 2020 second-round draft pick, unexpectedly missed the Denver game, and it was announced he had sustained a recurrence of the stinger injury that sidelined him for the regular-season finale and both playoff games last season. The last update provided was that medical scans were being dispersed in order to collect various opinions on the injury. Dillon had re-signed with the Packers on a one-year deal for a fifth season, so his football future remains uncertain at this point.
- The good news at running back would appear to be MarShawn Lloyd's health.
Lloyd, the rookie third-round draft pick, is on the 53 and it would appear he's close to returning to action from his hamstring injury, which he sustained in the preseason opener at Cleveland.
As mentioned, the Packers had another IR/DTR to use and didn't, which would seem to indicate nobody is going on IR on Wednesday either (another way to be eligible to return during the season).
That's a clue the Packers feel Lloyd will be back sooner than the four weeks he'd be forced to miss if placed on IR, whether he went on Tuesday or Wednesday, with the mandated down time the same.
Because Lloyd has missed so much time during the preseason, the No. 2 running back behind Josh Jacobs now is Emanuel Wilson. If Lloyd isn't quite ready for Week 1, perhaps Ellis Merriweather or Nate McCrary will be re-signed to the practice squad and elevated temporarily as a No. 3 if necessary.
The non-use of IR would also seem to bode well for the health of second-round rookie linebacker Edgerrin Cooper, too. Cooper missed all three preseason games due to a hip injury but is on the 53.
- The Packers' undrafted rookie streak has ended, but it's easy to understand why.
Green Bay had carried an undrafted rookie on its Week 1 roster every year since 2004, but that streak has come to an end, understandably.
For one, the Packers have drafted 35 players over the last three seasons, and 33 of them were on this offseason's 90-man roster. Of those 33, 25 of them made this year's initial 53 (plus Ford, seventh round 2022, on IR/DTR), meaning essentially half the team was drafted within the past three years. That's an extensive amount of young draft picks not in contract years on a roster, leaving less room than other years for undrafted prospects to rise up.
Also, two undrafted players did make the 53 for the first time, they just weren't rookies. Defensive lineman Arron Mosby and offensive lineman Kadeem Telfort spent their undrafted rookie seasons on the Packers' practice squad and have now made the team on their second try. On top of that, all four undrafted rookies on the Week 1 roster a year ago made it again.
