1 player at each Packers position group to watch against 49ers
By Paul Bretl
Green Bay Packers CB: Rico Gafford
Gafford hasn’t played cornerback since 2018, during his final collegiate season at Wyoming. However, the wide receiver convert appears to be the favorite for the sixth and final roster spot at cornerback.
Gafford has experience on special teams under Bisaccia from his time in Las Vegas. He also ran a 4.22-second 40-yard dash at the NFL combine and has served in a number of roles on special teams already this summer, including on the field goal block team, along with as a jammer, gunner, and return man.
Special teams are where he will make his contributions this season — if Gafford does, in fact, make the 53-man roster — but he’s also come away with several pass-breakups as a defender as well, which, of course, doesn’t hurt.
Green Bay Packers Safety: Vernon Scott
Behind Adrian Amos and Darnell Savage, this is a crowded and competitive safety room with two or three roster spots available. With Shawn Davis as the front-runner coming out of minicamp for the third safety role, Innis Gaines impressing a year ago, Dallin Leavitt’s special teams experience, and Tariq Carpenter being a draft pick, Vernon Scott may have been forgotten about.
But over the last week, he has been flying up the depth chart. Scott came away with an interception in a two-minute drill against Jordan Love, and with Savage injured, he has largely been the safety lined up next to Amos.
The role of the third safety will be diminished this season, but the Packers still need someone who can play deep, in the box, and on special teams, which are all roles Scott filled while at TCU.
Green Bay Packers Long-Snapper: Jack Coco
It has been a rough few days for the Packers long-snappers Jack Coco and Steven Wirtel, so much so that Green Bay brought in two long-snappers for tryouts on Tuesday. It’s very possible that the Packers long-snapper for the 2022 season is not yet on the roster.
Coco has consistently been taking the first team reps with the field goal unit ahead of Wirtel. But it’s important to point out that he was never the long-snapper on the punt team during his time at Georgia Tech–so that specific duty could come with a learning curve.
If Coco wants to have any chance of being the Packers long-snapper this season, he has to perform well against the 49ers.