1 Big Question Facing Each Packers Player: Wide Receivers Part I

Can either Samori Toure or Juwann Winfree earn a roster spot on the Packers through special teams?

During Matt LaFleur’s three years as head coach of the Packers, Green Bay has never rostered more than six receivers on their initial 53-man. While that, of course, doesn’t mean that things won’t be different this season, I tend to think that Green Bay will keep six receivers once again–that is unless Juwann Winfree or Samori Toure can really stand out on special teams.

Despite all of the uncertainty surrounding the receiver position, I don’t see a seventh receiver seeing a whole lot of playing time. As I alluded to in the previous section, I expect the Packers’ veteran receivers — Lazard, Cobb, and Sammy Watkins — see the bulk of the targets early on. And as I wrote recently, when discussing the passing game, we can’t forget about AJ Dillon, Aaron Jones, or Robert Tonyan–all of whom will see their share of targets as well.

I just simply don’t believe that there are enough targets to go around.

But for a special teams unit that is really trying to turn things around, if either Winfree or Toure proves valuable in that phase of the game, it will be quite difficult to keep them off this roster.

Toure was a gunner during his only season with Nebraska and has already been a special teams standout in that role during OTAs and minicamp. Winfree has also made some plays of his own as a gunner. He was on the field for only 50 special teams snaps in 2021 but covered a variety of roles, according to PFF ($$).

While Green Bay could entertain the idea of keeping seven receivers, I promise you they won’t keep eight. So it’ll be a battle between these two players for that possible seventh spot, and how they perform on offense will only be one piece of the equation.