Green Bay Packers: Revised Final 53-Man Roster Prediction
By Paul Bretl
I came out with my initial 53-man roster prediction for the Green Bay Packers during the quiet period between mini-camp and training camp. While that wasn’t very long ago, the roster has changed a bit, and there is a week of training camp practices that have taken place—some things have changed.
So with that in mind, I wanted to make another roster prediction for the Green Bay Packers with the information that we have now.
Quarterbacks (3): Aaron Rodgers, Jordan Love, Kurt Benkert
Previous prediction (2): Aaron Rodgers, Jordan Love
We know that Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Love are going to be on the roster—the big question is, do the Green Bay Packers keep two or three quarterbacks?
On my last prediction, I did not have Kurt Benkert on the roster but rather the practice squad. However, the difference this time is that it really looks like 2021 is Rodgers’ final year in Green Bay — especially after that press conference — and I believe there is value in having Benkert on the active roster this year, potentially preparing him for a backup role in 2022.
Running back (3): Aaron Jones, AJ Dillon, Kylin Hill
Previous prediction (4): Aaron Jones, AJ Dillon, Kylin Hill, Patrick Taylor
Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon are roster locks — duh — but the RB3 job is up for grabs. Dexter Williams has had a decent start to camp and appears to have improved his pass-catching abilities, which have been an issue for him in the past, but I believe the RB3 role will ultimately come down to Hill and Taylor.
Taylor is back at practice, but he missed the first handful of practices because of an injury. Meanwhile, Hill has looked really good over the first week—he’s explosive and has good wiggle. Both are good fits for this offense with their added abilities as pass-blockers and pass-catchers, but I’ll give Hill the nod based on what I’ve seen so far.
The reason I went from four running backs to three was that I allocated an extra roster spot to the quarterback position this time. With Jones and Dillon taking a bulk of the snaps, four running backs did seem unnecessary.