Five Takeaways Following Packers’ 53-Man Roster Cuts

Here are five things you need to know about the Green Bay Packers' initial 53-man roster, including a return to being very, very young.

Author:
Bill Huber
Updated:
Aug 29, 2023 6:01 PM EDT
Original:
Aug 29, 2023

In this story:

Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The 53-man roster that Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst selected on Tuesday consists of 11 offensive linemen, 15 players who’ve never suited up for a regular-season game and a couple curious decisions.

Here are five takeaways.

Safety

In the only real head-scratcher, the Packers opted to keep Jonathan Owens over Tarvarius Moore at safety.

Owens ran with the No. 1 defense for most of training camp before getting passed up by Rudy Ford. A 17-game starter for the Texans last year, he looked like a liability in coverage during his three preseason games.

Moore missed Saturday’s preseason finale vs. Seattle due to a minor knee injury. He played a lot less than Owens but was the better player when on the field. He’s got legit speed and had two textbook tackles in the preseason opener at Cincinnati.

Going with the healthy player over the injured player is logical. But it’s hard to believe the Packers kept the better player. We’ll see how that works out if Owens is pressed into duty.

Running Back

Undrafted free agent Emanuel Wilson, who led the NFL in preseason rushing yards, ran away with a roster spot. He beat out Patrick Taylor, the better all-around player, and Tyler Goodson, who had been sidelined by a shoulder injury.

Picking Wilson flies in the face of what the Packers had said they were looking for in a third running back. Taylor, for instance, was a No. 1 on three of the four special-teams units on Thursday.

“Certainly, there’s got to be a certain prerequisite in terms of your ability to run the football,” Gutekunst said early in camp, “but what are you doing in pass protection? What are you doing on teams? How are you catching the ball out of the backfield? All that plays into it in determining who’s going to be that third back. When you think about that third back, they usually bring some sort of value to teams.”

We’ll see if Wilson can bring that additional value. Regardless, his running ability, including his tackle-breaking acumen, was impossible to overlook. With neither Aaron Jones nor AJ Dillon guaranteed to be under contract for 2024, going with the better runner makes sense.

Receiver

Malik Heath and Grant DuBose (Photo by Dan Powers/USA Today Sports Images)

Undrafted rookie Malik Heath earned his spot on the roster. He got open. He caught the ball. He blocked. The Packers have kept at least one rookie free agent for 19 consecutive years. In talking to a longtime member of the personnel department recently, none – none! – were as consistently impressive as Heath. Not even Sam Shields, who wound up playing about half the defensive snaps for a Super Bowl-winning defense, was so good during his rookie training camp.

The interesting decision was taking Samori Toure, a seventh-round pick in 2022, over Grant DuBose, a seventh-round pick in 2023, for the sixth and final spot at receiver. DuBose had the better training camp, with the asterisk that his playing time came mostly with the 2s while Toure played mostly with the 1s.

With Romeo Doubs and Dontayvion Wicks nursing hamstring injuries, Heath and Toure might be on the field for Week 1.

Offensive Line

The Packers kept a whopping 11 offensive linemen. By Wednesday, Luke Tenuta will go on injured reserve to trim that number to 10. Still, that’s tied for the most blockers over the last decade.

The depth is tackle-heavy. That’s the domain of Rasheed Walker, Yosh Nijman and Caleb Jones. Only Sean Rhyan and Royce Newman are interior players. Nijman is due a $4.3 million base salary. Based on the last two weeks of training camp, he’s slated to be the No. 4 tackle. Could a trade be made? You’d think some tackle-needy team would pick up the phone and call Gutekunst.

Young. Really Young

Under Ted Thompson, the Packers were, to quote the Rod Stewart classic, forever young. However, in trying to put together a championship contender, Gutekunst started trending older.

The roster the team carried into Week 1 last year ranked 16th in average age. As it embarks on a new era at quarterback, this team won’t be anywhere near as old.

Of the 13 draft picks, 11 made the team, as did undrafted rookies Wilson, Heath and Brenton Cox. Plus, punter Daniel Whelan, who officially is a rookie but entered the league in 2022, hasn’t played in a regular-season game. That’s 15 players, or 28.3 percent of the roster. Seven players are 21 or 22 years old compared to just three who are 30-plus.

By contrast, the Bears have 10 rookies and first-year players and five who are 30-plus.

“The goal here is to win a championship,” Gutekunst said a couple weeks ago. “We’re not here to just win some games. We’re here to win a championship. Sometimes you have to create room to get better, and you can’t get better without playing. So that’s part of it. It’s not easy. Growing pains are never easy. But if we’re going to win a championship, we have to get better. We weren’t good enough last year. We have to get better and sometimes you have to create opportunities for that to happen.”