GREEN BAY – The Packers wrap up their 2024 preseason by hosting the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday at Lambeau Field.
Here's what to watch for.
Roster battles: There's never any set number of how many players at each position will make the 53-man roster. Often it comes down to players who have done what it takes to be on the team as a depth piece, not so much the position they play.
So with that in mind, Kristian Welch is trying to make the squad as a sixth linebacker, while the group of Bo Melton, Malik Heath, Grant DuBose and Samori Toure appear to be, in whatever order, sitting in the 5th-6th-7th-8th receiver spots, not knowing exactly how many receivers the Packers will keep.
The same goes for Green Bay's cornerbacks beyond the top four, where the depth includes Robert Rochell, Corey Ballentine and rookie Kalen King, or at safety, where after the top three it's rookie Kitan Oladapo, Anthony Johnson Jr., Zayne Anderson and Benny Sapp III all fighting to stick around.
Some of those players listed above will make the team, but there likely isn't room for all of them.
Special-teams contributions will factor heavily into the roster decisions, so plays made on punt and kickoff coverage are worth monitoring. The roster gets reduced to 53 players on Tuesday afternoon, and then by Wednesday afternoon players who clear waivers can be re-signed to the practice squad.
Bounce-back candidates: Backup QBs Sean Clifford and Michael Pratt did not follow up their strong preseason openers in Cleveland the way they wanted to in Denver. Both appeared to get back on track this week in practice against the Ravens, and they'll look to continue their rebound and finish the preseason strong.
Again, it's not certain whether the Packers will keep two or three QBs on the 53, and the competition to be Jordan Love's top backup hasn't been decided.
Just for kicks: This is the final leg (pun intended) of the kicking competition between Anders Carlson and Greg Joseph. Early on in camp, Joseph was on a hot streak and appeared to be leading. Then he hit a rough patch and Carlson statistically has the better overall numbers now.
This is it, the last chance for both kickers, and anyone else for that matter, to state their case.
