GREEN BAY – Grant DuBose sure hopes he's done playing the waiting game.
Back at Division II Miles College in Fairfield, Ala., DuBose had his second football season there cancelled due to Covid and had to wait until 2021, after he had transferred to Division I, to play again.
Then after two highly productive years at Charlotte, the 6-2, 201-pound receiver had to wait until the seventh round and the 256th selection – the last of the Packers' 13 choices and the fourth-to-last pick overall – to find an NFL home.
Upon arriving in Green Bay in the spring of 2023, he was sidelined by a back injury and had to wait all the way until the second week of August to practice as a pro for the first time.
And then after a two-game, 50-snap stint in his rookie preseason saw him catch three passes for 35 yards, he was relegated to the practice squad and had to wait another whole year, until last Saturday in Cleveland, to finally play a game again.
"It was a long time coming," DuBose said.
All the down time from his past has only added to the sense of urgency in DuBose's quest to make the Packers' 53-man roster this summer at perhaps the team's most crowded position, and he is stating as forceful a case as possible thus far.
Playing mostly with the reserve units in an ongoing battle with Bo Melton, Malik Heath, Samori Toure and others for the fifth and/or sixth receiver spots, DuBose has shown a steady presence on the practice field, making downfield receptions nearly every day.
He then carried that production over to the preseason opener in Cleveland, leading the offense with five catches (on six targets) for 66 yards. The performance was full of clutch moments.
One catch was good for 13 yards on fourth-and-3 to keep alive a drive that ended with a touchdown. Another featured a nifty toe-drag along the sideline for 23 yards to set up a field goal on the final play of the first half. In the second half, a 12-yarder converted on third-and-3, leading to another field goal. He also drew a defensive holding penalty on third down.
While he's focused, as expected, on taking advantage of any opportunity that comes his way, there's more to his mentality than just that.
"Honestly, I didn't want to be in the same spot I was last year," DuBose said. "I wanted to at least give myself a chance to make this squad. That's really just the mindset, don't be stuck in the same place.
"It's not the first time I've faced a little adversity. But it's an old saying, 'New levels, new devils.' Once you reach another level, there's always going to be something coming your way. You just gotta be headstrong."
Speaking of sayings, there's another one he's taking to heart that Head Coach Matt LaFleur mentioned earlier this week when discussing receivers doing dirty work: "No block, no rock."
DuBose is proving to be both a willing and effective blocker in the run game, which is the ticket to staying on the field and getting chances in the passing game. He did his share of blocking at Charlotte as well, and takes pride in it, so embracing it here hasn't been an issue.
In Cleveland, DuBose crashed down hard from the edge to throw a block in the middle of the pile to help running back Emanuel Wilson score on a 5-yard TD run.
"I think it's big-time," LaFleur said of such plays, which are shown to the entire team in the film room to highlight examples of what the coaches are looking for. "That's something we absolutely emphasize here. All those guys got to block."
DuBose also has no choice when receiving mates like Melton, Heath and Toure have done so to earn their chances. All three have been on the active roster at different times and made plays in games, the next threshold DuBose is pushing to reach.
"We don't use it a lot in the room," DuBose said of the mantra, "but we've heard it around. If you don't block, you don't get the rock. We get graded on those things in film, and you don't want to have a minus for that.
"You want to be the hammer and not the nail. You're either going to deliver it or you're going to take it."
DuBose's next task is to take what he did in Cleveland with him to Denver, and do it again. Consistency breeds reliability in the coaches' eyes, and between Friday's joint practice with the Broncos and Sunday night's game, DuBose will be out to prove he's set a standard that can be counted on.
"You've just got to go out there and do the things you've been taught, do the things you've been coached to do," he said, "(and) not let the moment get too big for you because that's when you play out of whack.
"The ball finds good energy. That's the mentality. Did it last week, now just got to do it again this week and the week after."
