Being a Late Draft Pick Doesn’t Guarantee a Roster Spot on Packers

OTAs for the Green Bay Packers are nearly complete, and minicamp is over. It won’t be too long before everyone returns for training camp, and then the preseason begins shortly after that.

This is the time of the year where we spend quite a bit of time pontificating about and examining the roster battles that are going to take place and which fringe roster players will end up on the final 53, and which ones will not.

So with that, it’s important to keep in mind that just because the Green Bay Packers spent a draft pick on a player back in late April doesn’t mean they are necessarily a lock to make this 2022 roster either.

Now, of course, with a statement like that, I need to clarify that I’m referring to late Day 3 selections from this past draft. If a top-100 pick were to struggle in their first training camp, they are going to be given more leniency than the 250th overall pick is, for example.

Since Matt LaFleur took over as head coach in 2019, there have been four Packers draft picks who spent all of or a majority of their first NFL season on the practice squad–thus missing out on the final roster.

In 2019, sixth-round picks Ka’dar Hollman and Dexter Williams were both initially cut before being signed to the practice squad. In 2020, the same thing happened to Jake Hanson, as well as Cole Van Lanen in 2021.

While ultimately, how a player performs over the summer is going to determine their fate–to some degree, it is safe to say that not every Day 3 pick is going to end up on the 53-man roster. In addition to performance, there also needs to be room on the roster for that player at their given position.

With the 234th pick, the Green Bay Packers selected interior defensive lineman Jonathan Ford out of Miami. Ford will join the best defensive front that the Packers have had in years, with Kenny Clark, Dean Lowry, Devonte Wyatt, TJ Slaton, and Jarran Reed making up their five-man rotation.

There is the very real possibility that Green Bay chooses to only keep these five players on the roster, which is how many interior defenders LaFleur kept in 2020, thus leaving Ford on the outside looking in. However, if the Packers do keep six as they did a season ago, Ford will be competing with Jack Heflin, who spent a majority of last season on the 53-man roster.

With pick 249, the Packers once again addressed the offensive line, taking Penn State’s Rasheed Walker, who will join a position group with a ton of competition.

In all three seasons under LaFleur, the Packers have kept nine offensive linemen, and once Elgton Jenkins is healthy, eight of those spots will be accounted for with David Bakhtiari, Yosh Nijman, Jon Runyan, Royce Newman, Josh Myers, Zach Tom, Sean Rhyan, and the aforementioned Jenkins.

So depending on when Jenkins is available, at most there will be two roster spots available, but eventually only one. Competing with Walker, most notably, will be Jake Hanson, who was on the 53-man roster last season, and Cole Van Lanen, who has a year of experience.

The Green Bay Packers’ final selection of the 2022 NFL Draft was wide receiver Samori Toure, who will be joining a crowded receiver room, despite all of the unknowns.

I know some aren’t so sure about Amari Rodgers’ future, but I do expect him to be on the team in 2022, along with Allen Lazard, Romeo Doubs, Christian Watson, Sammy Watkins, and Randall Cobb. That right there is six receivers, and during LaFleur’s tenure, he has never kept more than that amount.

With Green Bay likely leaning on their experienced pass-catchers early on, plus with the roles that the tight ends and running backs play in the passing game, the need for a rookie seventh receiver in LaFleur’s offense isn’t exactly there. Now with that said, Toure absolutely has a path to making this roster as a special teams contributor–but the point is that it is far from guaranteed.

As a late Day 3 pick, making the final roster is never going to be guaranteed. These selections are wildcards where they often have a specific trait or two that stands out, and the team wants to see if they can help develop those attributes into a contributing NFL player–whether that be now or down the road. After all, the draft is about selecting who you believe a player can become, not who they are in April.

So, with all of that said, as the roster battles unfold and the 53-man roster predictions are pumped out, keep in mind that for these Packers’ seventh-round picks, there is no certainty that they make the final cut.