Green Bay Packers: 9 Returning Players on the Hot Seat
By Paul Bretl
Green Bay Packers LB: Oren Burks
Cap Savings: $945,000
Oren Burks is another 2018 draft pick who has struggled to put it together. During his first two seasons, early injuries would limit his playing time, but even when on the field, Burks has been swallowed up against the run, and we just haven’t seen that coverage ability that we all expected from a converted safety.
He’s taken just 165 defensive snaps over the last two seasons, and the team even tried moving him to edge rusher in 2020—which I can only imagine was a last-ditch effort to find something that works.
To Burks credit, he’s been a very good special teams player, but that alone likely isn’t enough to keep him around when you consider the cap savings and that rookie Isaiah McDuffie should make an impact in that area right away. With the addition of De’Vondre Campbell, along with Krys Barnes and Kamal Martin, three of the linebacker spots on this roster are already accounted for.
Green Bay Packers LB: Ty Summers
Cap Savings: $850,000
Summers finds himself in a somewhat similar boat as Burks. He’s been a special teams contributor but hasn’t proven that he’s someone that can be relied on defensively—especially in coverage.
Couple that with limited roster spots at the position as mentioned above, some cap savings if the Packers move on from him, and a rookie in McDuffie who could fill that special teams role, and you get a possible cut candidate.
Green Bay Packers OT: Yosh Nijman
Cap Savings: $850,000
As I wrote recently, we’ve heard a lot about Nijman’s upside as he possesses ideal size and athleticism for an NFL tackle. However, he was a very raw prospect coming out of Virginia Tech, and we have no idea where he’s at in his development.
Although he was on the 53 man roster last season, despite all of the injuries that occurred along the offensive line, Nijman was never truly an option for Green Bay off the bench. Offensive line coach Adam Stenavich would even say that Nijman has a ways to go before he’s ready.
Related Story. A Very Important Summer Ahead for Yosh Nijman. light
With a very deep and versatile offensive line room entering training camp, if Nijman is unable to take that big step forward that everyone is waiting for, the Green Bay Packers may simply choose to move on at this point since it is now his third NFL season—they’re going to need to see some level of progress.
All contract info courtesy of Over the Cap