Green Bay Packers: Revised Final 53-Man Roster Prediction

Wide receiver (6): Davante Adams, Allen Lazard, Randall Cobb, Amari Rodgers, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Juwann Winfree

Previous prediction (6): Davante Adams, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Allen Lazard, Amari Rodgers, Malik Taylor, and Devin Funchess

With the addition of Randall Cobb, the first five receivers listed are all locks. It’s up for debate whether or not they’ll keep five or six receivers — they kept five in 2020 — but I choose to keep six for the added special teams help, specifically on the coverage units, which none of the other five receivers will provide.

Call me a prisoner of the moment, but Juwann Winfree has impressed since mini-camp and training camp, making a play or two nearly every practice. He also brings special teams upside, even though he has just 70 career snaps, according to PFF($$), but that is more so due to a lack of opportunities as a primary practice squad player over his career, rather than him being unable to contribute.

Rostering Winfree means no Devin Funchess, who up to this point in his career has not been a special teams contributor. While in a vacuum, he is the more talented receiver; he still has to shake off the rust from not playing over the last two seasons; we don’t know if he will jell with Aaron Rodgers or how quickly he can get comfortable with the offense. I haven’t seen enough practices to say that he has really out-performed his counterparts.

Malik Taylor has the most special teams experience, but Winfree has shown way more on offense. Then there is Equanimeous St. Brown, who like Funchess, has not been much of a special teams contributor during his career. When discussing back-end of the roster players who likely won’t see much playing time, special teams contributions can be the difference between making a roster and being cut.

Offensive line (9): David Bakhtiari, Elgton Jenkins, Jon Runyan, Josh Myers, Lucas Patrick, Billy Turner, Royce Newman, Ben Braden, Dennis Kelly

Previous Prediction: David Bakhtiari, Elgton Jenkins, Billy Turner, Josh Myers, Royce Newman, Ben Braden, Jon Runyan, Lucas Patrick, Yosh Nijman

The only difference from my last prediction is that I put Dennis Kelly on the roster and took Yosh Nijman off. As a true tackle — which the Green Bay Packers have very few of — with experience, Kelly is a roster lock.

Ben Braden and Royce Newman continue to get work with the 1s on occasions but have been steady presences with the 2s. And while I’m aware that the Green Bay Packers can save some cap space by moving on from Lucas Patrick, if 2020 taught us anything, it’s how important offensive line depth is. He’s also been a consistent starter during team drills.

The rest of the players listed are roster locks, and I think a year on the practice squad for Cole Van Lanen will serve him well as he gets stronger and refines his pass-blocking skill-set.

Tight end (4): Robert Tonyan, Josiah Deguara, Marcedes Lewis, Dominique Dafney

Previous prediction (4): Robert Tonyan, Josiah Deguara, Marcedes Lewis, Dominique Dafney

With Jace Sternberger suspended for the first two weeks, he does not have to be placed on the initial 53-man roster, which makes this decision a lot easier. The big question would have been whether or not Green Bay keeps five tight ends.

With that said, this time around, I did consider leaving Dominique Dafney off since he is yet to practice due to an injury, but I wasn’t comfortable entering the season with only three tight ends.