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Breakout Player at Start of Packers Training Camp? That’s Easy

The Green Bay Packers have had at least one undrafted rookie make the opening roster for 21 consecutive seasons. Here’s an early candidate to extend the streak.
Bill Huber|
Green Bay Packers rookie receiver J. Michael Sturdivant catches a pass during the first day of training camp.
Green Bay Packers rookie receiver J. Michael Sturdivant catches a pass during the first day of training camp. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Who’s the best receiver on the field?

One way to answer that question is to see who gets the most targets.

On Friday at Green Bay Packers training camp, No. 2 quarterback Tyrod Taylor was up first in a series of 2-minute drills that featured many of the top backups. Starting at the 35-yard line with 1:00 on the clock, Taylor on third-and-1 went to undrafted rookie J. Michael Studivant, who made the catch at the sideline for a gain of 8.

The drive quickly went in reverse. After an incomplete pass, a false start and a sack, Taylor faced a third-and-22 with 24 seconds remaining. Sturdivant ran a post and got between cornerback Jaylin Simpson and safety Murvin Kenion III for a big catch at the first-down marker.

Sturdivant kept running for what might have been a 58-yard touchdown, but a whistle blew the play dead, presumably for the good of the drill because it didn't appear he was touched, and the clock kept running.

“Every time I touch the ball, I’m trying to score, so I was trying to score right there,” Sturdivant said. “I didn’t think I was down, but Coach made the final say. He said I was down. So, we had to work the drill, get the ball back to the ref for the center and then move on.”

Touchdown or not, that the veteran quarterback went twice to Sturdivant in key moments in a competitive drill probably speaks volumes about Sturdivant’s talent, knowledge of the offense and potential.

“Yeah, this playbook, it’s a lot but, thankfully, I was in an NFL system in college,” Sturdivant said. “So, a lot of the words, it’s stuff that I’ve seen before.

“Here, everybody in the room has been in the system before. The vets have been in the system for a long time, so they know all the small details. So, really, it’s just me asking questions, me getting extra meeting time and learning to speak the same language as everybody in the offense.”

J. Michael Sturdivant Has Big Opportunity

If Sturdivant masters those small details, he’s got a real chance to earn a spot on the 53 at the end of camp. This offseason, the Packers parted ways with Romeo Doubs in free agency and Dontayvion Wicks in a trade. The only other noteworthy addition was Skyy Moore, who was signed in free agency to fix the return game.

The reality is, beyond Green Bay’s top three of Christian Watson, Matthew Golden and Jayden Reed, the team is in an odd place at the position. The Packers drafted Savion Williams in the third round last year, so he’s locked into a roster spot. They love Bo Melton, who has some production at receiver and is a key player on special teams and in the locker room. They signed Moore to fill an obvious need.

However, there are questions about all three. Williams has to show he can be a weapon in something other than screens and end-arounds. This is Melton’s fifth training camp. After not being a key receiver in his first four seasons, is it really reasonable to expect the 2022 seventh-round pick to become a consistent weapon this year? Moore had five catches in 17 games last season.

So, Sturdivant is aware of the opportunity.

“Yeah, but those guys are great vets,” he said. “I’ve asked them a lot of questions. I talk to them in the locker room, on the field, all the time. Those guys are great, and they’re great to me. They answer all my questions. They help make sure I’m going in the right direction.

“So, coming here, I just know the Packers are a great receiver organization. Obviously, we got a lot of great vets in the room that’ve been here for a long time and they know what they’re doing. The system is great, we’ve got a quarterback room, so this is just a great spot that I can see myself flourishing.”

Sturdivant has done a lot of good things in the first three days. Catching the ball consistently, however, has not always been among them. Late in practice, on third-and-6, Kyron Drones spotted Sturdivant breaking open over the middle. He dropped the ball, just like he did on a third-and-9 pass from Taylor on Thursday.

That he dropped only one pass at Florida perhaps is a sign that Sturdivant’s issues to start camp will be a blip on his career radar.

“You got to treat every play the same,” Sturdivant said. “You’ve got to attack it with the same level of intensity and then you’ve got to have a short-term memory when it comes to the drops. Everybody’s going to drop a ball. Obviously, you don’t want to drop one, but it happens and you have to be able to move on to the next play as fast as possible.

“So I just have to work on focusing on, like, when those drops happen, I got to focus more. But continue to think the next play, have a next-play mentality every time, and just continue to go out there and make plays when the ball comes your way.”

Sturdivant Has Elite Physical Talent

The former Under Armour All-American started his college career as a redshirt at California in 2021 before a breakout season in 2022. From there, he spent the 2023 and 2024 seasons at UCLA and finished up last season at Florida. He caught 27 passes for 406 yards and three touchdowns for the Gators, giving himself a four-year total of 150 receptions for 2,073 yards and 16 touchdowns.

From a size-speed perspective, Studivant is truly an elite prospect. Only Watson is a better physical talent among Green Bay’s receivers.

It wasn’t enough to get him drafted, but the Packers have a long history with their undrafted free agents with a 21-year streak of at least one making the opening roster. Sturdivant has a chance to be that player to make it 22 years.

“I’m never going to forget that feeling for the rest of my life so, obviously, every time I step in the building, I have that drive,” he said. “But, at the end of the day, I’m playing football the same way I would have if I came here first overall.

“It’s the same mentality every play. You’re trying to go make a play, and you can’t really think about too much. What happens after the preseason, you have to continue to focus on the next day. So, I’m not really too focused on what happens after the preseason. I focus on making it every day better than it does.”

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.