Green Bay Packers Add Another WR Signing Damon Hazelton

The Green Bay Packers may have a crowded wide receiver room, especially on the back-end, but that doesn’t mean that the team still isn’t looking for possible upgrades.

According to Aaron Wilson, the Green Bay Packers have signed Damon Hazelton, who was recently cut by the Houston Texans and was in for a workout earlier this week.

The 6’3” – 215 pound Hazelton is a rookie who went undrafted this past April out of Missouri. He was in college for five years and has four years of playing experience, spending 2016 at Ball State, 2017, 2018 and 2019 at Virginia Tech — he sat out the 2017 season due to transferring — and 2020 at Mizzou.

Over his career, Hazelton primarily lined up as a boundary receiver and had 293 targets, catching 56 percent of those passes and averaging 13.7 yards per catch — although he did average 15.7 yards per catch in 2018 and 17.0 in 2019 — with 21 touchdowns.

Hazelton’s best individual season came in 2018 with the Hokies, where he totaled 802 receiving yards on 51 receptions with eight touchdowns, according to PFF ($$).

It’s also worth noting that by PFF’s metrics, Hazelton was an above average run-blocker in three of his four collegiate seasons—an important aspect of the receiver position in the Matt LaFleur offense.

For more on Hazelton’s game, here is what Lance Zierlein of NFL.com had to say about him in his pre-draft scouting report:

"“Hazelton has the size and wingspan that will immediately garner attention from evaluators. His Missouri tape wasn’t necessarily bad, but he didn’t look like the same guy who played at Virginia Tech. He can win jump balls with his catch radius and leaping ability but also has the strength and length to help create separation in the red zone or in tight quarters. He’s not sudden or fast, so he’ll have to get used to wearing man coverage, but he has some skill in moving past press to get himself into the route with decent timing. He has a shot to make a team if he can improve his consistency.“"

As I mentioned above, this is a crowded receiver room, and the likely best-case scenario for Hazelton is that he can produce enough over these final practices, and what’s left of the preseason, to show that he is deserving of a spot on the practice squad.

However, in addition to showcasing what he can do on the offensive side of the ball, like any UDFA, he will have to contribute on special teams as well, which is something that he did not do in college.

With this signing, the Green Bay Packers roster sits at 86 players, one more than the allowed maximum of 85–so you can expect a cut to follow.

UPDATE: The Packers have released CB Dominique Martin as the corresponding roster move.