Paul Bretl | 8/27/2024
GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Packers initial 53-man roster is set. On Wednesday afternoon, we will hear from both Brian Gutekunst and Matt LaFleur about these decisions, but for now, here are my instant takeaways from the newly built 53-man roster.
The Packers move on from both Clifford and Pratt. Once the trade for Malik Willis took place, it’s not surprising that both Clifford and Pratt were released. According Packer Central’s Bill Huber, is that the Packers’ preference is to bring back Clifford over Pratt. Initially, this may come as a bit of a surprise.
As I discussed recently, the advantage Clifford had was his experience, resiliency, and game-like quality. However, those elements didn’t shine through consistently enough in the preseason, with Pratt being the more effective and efficient of the two.
However, taking a step back, it’s a move that does make sense. Willis is still going to be learning this new offense come Week 1. This means that in the first game and even further into the season, Clifford or Pratt will be elevated as the potential backup, and from an experience standpoint, Clifford has a deeper understanding of the offense.
Throughout the summer, whether it was LaFleur, Clements or Adam Stenavich being asked about Pratt, there is always this initial pause before they respond. The pause is not a negative or a knock on Pratt, who is doing all the right things and continuing to make plays on the practice field. The pause comes from him being a first year quarterback, who is learning a new offense, which LaFleur equates to drinking water out of a fire hose.
MarShawn Lloyd was not placed on IR. The good news at the running back position is that the Packers did not place Lloyd on injured reserve. He has missed the last two weeks with a hamstring injury, but not going on IR suggests he could be available for Week 1.
However, even if that’s the case, I would guess right now that Emanuel Wilson is the backup, given Lloyd is a rookie who has missed his share of time already. AJ Dillon was unfortunately placed on season-ending IR. He has been working through a stinger, and last we heard was that they were still gathering second opinions.
Tyler Davis also ends up on season-ending IR. Davis suffered a shoulder injury during the Packers’ second preseason game and did not practice this last week. That means the Packers will roster three tight ends and potentially could have Henry Pearson on the practice squad as someone to elevate on game days if needed. Ben Sims would come on strong at the end of training camp–making plays as both a blocker and in the passing game.
Malik Heath over Grant DuBose. DuBose would get off to a fast start in training camp, but Heath finished out the summer on a high note. However, more than just in that final preseason game, Heath has been playing some good, steady football throughout the summer. Against the Ravens starters in joint practice, he showed the ability to separate. The same thing was true in the preseason game against Denver. The production didn’t always show up, but from a process standpoint–route running, releases, creating space–I thought Heath was the more consistent of the two throughout the summer between him and DuBose.
Packers go heavy along the offensive line. I thought that this might be the case. Instead of having a true swing tackle, I wonder if it’s going to be a by-committee approach, with Andre Dillard handling left tackle duties if needed and Kadeem Telfort right tackle–or even moving Rasheed Walker to the right side if in a pinch.
Watching the rotations in practice, it became clear before the first preseason game that Dillard was ahead of Telfort and Travis Glover. Telfort. meanwhile, was the clear No. 2 option off the bench, seeing some time with the ones, but also being asked to play both tackle spots along with playing some guard during OTAs and minicamp. Glover didn’t start seeing steady snaps with the second offense until recently, but as we’ve seen in the past with Caleb Jones and Luke Tenuta, the Packers have no problem rostering developmental, high upside tackles. This will be a red-shirt-like year for Glover.
Packers go heavy along the defensive line. There’s a few reasons that I think the Packers went this route. For one, in Jeff Hafley’s attack front defense, the need for a heavy rotation becomes much greater. You can read more about that here. Secondly, I do wonder if trying to get Brenton Cox through waivers would have been a risky move. He’s a young, developmental player at a premier position who has shown he has the ability to get after the quarterback.
With that said, special teams is an area where Cox still has to improve if he’s going to see regular playing time. Mosby, however, is more equipped to come in and make an impact in that phase of the game. While both players flashed defensively this summer, seeing defensive snaps won’t come easy with the depth of this unit.
There’s only so many spots for special teams contributors. The Packers have had quite a few draft picks over the last two years, and in general, this is a very young team. That makes rostering veteran special teams-only players, like Kristian Welch, a lot more challenging. Especially for those back end roster players, being able to contribute in multiple ways is often a must.
Also a part of this decision-making process is whether or not the team believes a player can make it through waivers and back to the practice squad. Welch has a more clear path to contributing this season than Cox does, for example, but which player is more likely to get claimed? Welch was released by Baltimore last year, went unclaimed and was signed to Green Bay’s practice squad.
Now, having said that, this does set the stage for the Packers to have to rely heavily on rookies Ty’Ron Hopper and Edgerrin Cooper to help out on teams. Just like with offense and defense, there is a learning curve that can come with making the jump from college to the NFL in this phase of the game as well.
Kalen King gets left off the initial roster. Ultimately, if you’re going to go heavy at one position, or in the Packers’ case two positions on the offensive and defensive lines, you have to go light elsewhere and one of those decisions came at cornerback. Realistically, King would have been the fourth option at the nickel, behind Keisean Nixon, Javon Bullard, and Corey Ballentine. He also played just 38 special teams snaps during his final year at Penn State.
There was a lot to like about what King showed this summer, both from a physical play-style, along with making some splash plays, but his path to seeing the field was limited and as a seventh-round rookie, he likely makes it back to the practice squad. Whereas with Ballentine, he’s shown he can contribute on teams and be relied upon heavily on defense if needed.
Zayne Anderson in and Anthony Johnson out. I mentioned before cutdowns that it felt like one of Welch or Anderson was going to make the team to provide that special teams presence on the roster. However, I did not expect Johnson to be left off because of it. For what it’s worth, I thought Johnson had put together a solid summer, playing both strong and free safety.
My guess is that with three safeties ahead of him for playing time on defense and another rookie in Kitan Oladapo also on the roster, this decision came down to who was the better special teams player–although, if that’s the case, I’m still a bit surprised that took precedent with Johnson only in Year 2.
Greg Joseph is the Packers kicker–for now. The Packers had to keep one of their kickers on the roster. Hoping to land someone on the waiver wire without a backup plan is a highly risky move. So we will see if another move is made. On my roster prediction, I did have Carlson over Joseph, not only because he did make more kicks during camp, but I thought if the production was relatively equal, the Packers would choose his upside over knowing who Joseph is as a kicker at this point in his career.
I guess I should have reversed my thinking and thought of that as an advantage for Joseph because while Carlson may still have more upside, the Packers need stability, and right now, Joseph seems to provide more of that given his larger body of work.