New Packers Receiver Marches to Beat of Own Drums

Get to know Bo Melton, the new Green Bay Packers receiver with a background in athletics and music.

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
Dec 29, 2022 11:01 AM EST

In this story:

GREEN BAY, Wis. – New Green Bay Packers receiver Bo Melton is a talented man who comes from a talented family.

At Rutgers, he caught 164 passes and earned all-Big Ten honors as a team captain during his senior season. After training with Christian Watson, Melton ran his 40-yard dash in 4.34 seconds at the Scouting Combine, making him the eighth-fastest player at the event.

He’s got skills off the field, too.

“My dad put a snare drum in front of me when I was a kid when I was 2 years old,” Melton said after his first practice with the Packers on Wednesday. “That snare drum turned into a drum set when I was 4. Ever since then, I’m playing on electric drums sets and stuff like that, playing in church. My dad was a pastor, so I played in the church a lot. Just like in football, you learn from somebody else, and I learned from somebody else and then I taught myself that. And YouTube videos helped get me better.”

Melton was drafted in the seventh round of this year’s NFL Draft by the Seattle Seahawks. He failed to make their roster and spent the first 16 weeks of the regular season on their practice squad. The Packers signed him to their 53-man roster on Tuesday, giving him a belated Christmas present.

Drums have taken a backseat to football for the last several years. With Rutgers located about 2 hours from his hometown of Mays Landing, N.J., Melton stopped playing at his dad’s church. During a recent trip to Seattle’s MoPop Museum and its Sound Lab exhibit, Melton found out that playing the drums is a bit like riding a bike.

“I’ve still got it,” he said.

Melton comes from a family of Rutgers athletes. His father, Gary, was a receiver and running back who had almost 1,000 total yards in three seasons. His mom was a standout guard on the basketball team. His brother recently earned all-Big Ten honors as a sophomore cornerback with two interceptions and 10 passes defensed.

Those brother-on-brother battles helped get Bo to the NFL and likely will get Max into the league, as well.

“Always went against each other” as kids, Bo Melton said. “It was very fun. We were in the backyard with it. When he got to Rutgers, we were going against each other every single day. He’s one of the top-rated corners in college football and he’s already on the map and he’s going to do great things. Going after him at practice, he would get me, I would get him, he would get me, I would get him. It was such a good-on battle. I think it made us better and got me to this point and it’s going to get him to that point next.”

Disagreements between brothers – especially competitive, athletic brothers – can sometimes get over-the-top heated. Just ask Josh Myers and his mom.

The Meltons’ brotherly battles mostly were about bringing out the best in each other.

“I wouldn’t say we were butting heads,” he said. “Me and my brother have a great relationship. He would get me one time and I’d do little stuff to make him mad because I knew what’d tick him off, or he’d do little stuff to get me mad. If he sees that I’m not in the mood, he’ll get me mad so I can play better, and I’d do the same with him. That’s the only butt-heads thing we’d do. We just went to work. When we got on the field, we knew it was work. No matter if I caught the ball on him or he had a PBU, it was all love at the end of the day.”

Through pre-draft conversations, Melton thought he might get drafted by the Packers. Instead, Melton was the 229th overall selection by Seattle – one pick after Green Bay selected safety Tariq Carpenter and 29 picks before Green Bay selected receiver Samori Toure.

While Melton didn’t make Seattle’s roster, he soaked up as much knowledge as possible from its star receivers, DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett, and kept working on the practice squad in hoping that his chance would come.

Two days after Christmas, he got that chance with the Packers.

“It’s a grind,” he said. “I was at practice going hard every day, just waiting for an opportunity that I knew was going to come soon. When the opportunity comes, seize it and rely on your talents.”