Green Bay Packers: 53-Man Roster Prediction Before Final Preseason Game

Linebacker (4): De’Vondre Campbell, Krys Barnes, Oren Burks, and Ty Summers

After Burks turned heads with his preseason performance against Houston and then was only on the field for 12 snaps against New York, it became quite clear that he is going to make the final roster. So the real decision here was, do I keep Summers, Isaiah McDuffie, or both?

Again, and as has been the theme here, I like Summers’ experience, and we know that he is a solid special teams contributor–even if his defense has been suspect. For McDuffie, he spent the first part of training camp on the NFI list — which is less than ideal for a sixth-round rookie — and even though he could potentially contribute to special teams right away, I still couldn’t get myself to keep five linebackers, especially when Burks and Summers will be special teams contributors as well.

Cornerback (7): Jaire Alexander, Kevin King, Eric Stokes, Chandon Sullivan, Shemar Jean-Charles, Kabion Ento, and Isaac Yiadom

At this point, Kabion Ento has carved himself out a spot on the 53-man roster–and I really don’t think there’s much up for debate here. He’s a special teams contributor as a gunner and has made several big plays during training camp and the preseason in coverage. If Green Bay keeps just six cornerbacks, they will choose Ento over Yiadom.

However, special teams appear to be a much bigger area of emphasis for this 2021 Green Bay Packers team, so for that reason, I’m going to guess that the team keeps Isaac Yiadom. While Yiadom has taken his lumps in coverage over his career, he is an experienced special teams player with nearly 500 career snaps and was on the field for 14 special teams snaps against the Jets, the third-most on the team.

Safety (5): Adrian Amos, Darnell Savage, Henry Black, Vernon Scott, and Innis Gaines

During practice, when the Green Bay Packers have had six defensive backs on the field, Henry Black has consistently been that third safety, although we’ve seen Vernon Scott mixed in as well. Scott is injured currently, but he had an impressive showing against the Houston Texans.

When it comes to Innis Gaines or Christian Uphoff, honestly, this could be a coin flip as I could see either player making it. But with Gaines leading the team in special teams snaps this preseason with 32 and Uphoff at 18, I’m going to give him the edge for the time being. Gaines has also looked the part on the defensive side of the ball as well, making tackles all over the field and bringing versatility.

Special teams (3): Mason Crosby, JK Scott, and Hunter Bradley

There was suppose to be competition at punter and long-snapper, but Ryan Winslow and Joe Fortunato have already been cut, so this is pretty straight forward.