Green Bay Packers Cut Jon Dietzen & Ryan Winslow, More Cuts to Come
By Paul Bretl
The Green Bay Packers, along with the rest of the NFL, have to trim their roster from 90 players to 85 by the 4:00 EST deadline on Tuesday the 17th.
Following this round of roster cuts, there will be another on August 24th that takes rosters down to 80 players and then the final cuts on August 29th when the 53-man roster is set.
Although the deadline is about 24 hours away, the Green Bay Packers have already made two cuts, releasing offensive linemen Jon Dietzen and punter Ryan Winslow.
Dietzen was signed earlier this spring as an undrafted rookie out of Wisconsin. He played four years for the Badgers, starting at both guard and tackle, and stepped away from the game in 2019 to get healthy before returning to the program in 2020.
During his career, he allowed two sacks and 25 pressures over 1,873 pass-blocking snaps, according to PFF ($$). Dietzen also graded out as an above-average run blocker as well.
With the Green Bay Packers, Dietzen was a guard and was one of a few offensive linemen who didn’t take any snaps in the first preseason game.
Below is a snippet of what Lance Zierlein of NFL.com had to say about Dietzen in his pre-draft report:
"“He plays with good strength at the point of attack, but his success rate drops when he’s asked to play too far outside his phone booth. He’s not athletic enough for wide zone or to consistently get to cut-off blocks on the second level. His footwork and overall balance are too erratic in pass protection to trust that he can match with NFL rushers.“"
Punter Ryan Winslow was signed to the practice squad late December of last season. He has only six career punts in the NFL, all of which came in 2019, and he’s averaged 48.5 yards per kick with a long to 55.
During the Packers preseason game with Houston, Winslow alternated snaps with JK Scott. Winslow averaged 49.0 yards per punt on those attempts; however, the issue, as Zach Kruse of Packers Wire pointed out, was that the Texans totaled 70 return yards, dropping Winslow’s net average to only 25.7 yards.
With these two moves made, the Green Bay Packers roster sits at 88 players, meaning that they have three more cuts to make before Tuesday’s deadline.
There may also be a fourth cut made if the Packers do intend to sign another quarterback with Jordan Love sidelined due to a shoulder. Although the MRI came back clean, Green Bay is being cautious and held him out of Monday’s practice.
With only Aaron Rodgers and Kurt Benkert healthy, Matt LaFleur told reporters that the team would hold quarterback tryouts on Tuesday.