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Five Packers Who Helped Themselves vs. Broncos, Including Three on Bubble

The Green Bay Packers won their preseason game at the Broncos on Friday night, and these five players were big individual winners.
Bill Huber|
Green Bay Packers safety Mark Perry (41| celebrates his interception in the second quarter against the Denver Broncos.
Green Bay Packers safety Mark Perry (41| celebrates his interception in the second quarter against the Denver Broncos. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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Green Bay Packers

Life comes at you fast. In the NFL, it comes at a young player in the equivalent of a 4.4-second time in the 40.

So, a player like Green Bay Packers quarterback Kyle McCord can’t afford to look too far down the road. He’s got goals, though, and his performance at the Denver Broncos in Friday’s preseason game will help make them possible.

He’s one of five young players who really helped themselves in the 33-13 victory.

QB Kyle McCord

Kyle McCord is not going to make the 53-man roster. He could have thrown for 300 yards and five touchdowns against the Broncos and it probably wouldn’t have changed that reality.

Nonetheless, his second consecutive solid performance has all but ensured he will be the team’s No. 3 quarterback this season. That means a spot on the practice squad.

However, this year’s No. 2 quarterback, Tyrod Taylor, is 37 years old and on a one-year contract. It’s quite possible that being the No. 3 quarterback this season will jump McCord to the front of the line to be the No. 2 quarterback next season.

“Yeah, I would say that’s definitely the long-term goal,” McCord said this week. “But, at the same time, I feel like it’s so easy to get caught up in those long-term, down-the-line type of goals. I think the most important thing is being where your feet are and making the most out of every preseason game, every practice, every rep you get.”

McCord did that against the Broncos. He was 12-of-19 passing for 118 yards. Two of the seven incompletions were drops. Another came when it appeared the intended receiver missed the hot read as the Broncos sent an all-out blitz.

McCord played the final 32 minutes. The name of the game as a quarterback is to lead the offense to points. In five possessions, he led the Packers to three field goals and one touchdown.

WR Will Sheppard

Will Sheppard spent his final collegiate season at Colorado, making this game a homecoming of sorts.

He was the king of the receivers, catching all six targets for 47 yards and one touchdown. The touchdown was elite-level stuff as he got both feet down before being pushed out of bounds.

“At the catch point, it was kind of like slow motion almost,” he said. “I felt myself drag the toe, but I didn’t know exactly where I was on the field until the replay.”

The Packers’ top six receivers seem pretty well established. Could the Packers keep seven? Sheppard isn’t as flashy as Isaiah Neyor or J. Michael Sturdivant, but he’s been more consistently productive during camp.

Against Denver, Neyor was guilty of two penalties and one drop and Sturdivant didn’t return after a helmet-to-helmet tackle.

RB Pierre Strong

Pierre Strong has played well enough on the practice field to merit a spot on the roster, but the depth chart has made that an uphill climb. Josh Jacobs is the established starter, MarShawn Lloyd is healthy and ready to be the backup and Chris Brooks handles the intangibles such as pass protection and special teams.

Strong, however, had a 68-yard kickoff return and added eight carries for 37 yards.

“Not everybody can do special teams,” Strong said. “Some coaches say, ‘You have to be special players to be special teams.’ Just doing whatever coach asks me to do and get on special teams because not everybody’s good at special teams.”

Strong was a fourth-round pick by the Patriots in 2022. He boasted a 5.0-yard average during his first three seasons but was released by the Browns at the end of training camp last year. He spent all of last season on Green Bay’s practice squad without getting in a game.

With excellent vision and speed, Strong has produced several explosive cutback runs at practice. Now, with a strong game, he’s built some momentum headed into the final week of camp.

“I’m just doing my job, just bringing my best, being the best that I can be every single day,” he said. “So, you call it momentum, but I just call it consistency.”

S Mark Perry

The battle for the fifth spot at safety has been a spirited one between a pair of undrafted players, Mark Perry and Murvin Kenion.

To win the job, someone had to make a play.

Perry made that play.

Late in the first half, Perry read veteran quarterback Jarrett Stidham, made an explosive break on the ball and grabbed an interception.

“Yeah, it was a coverage we repped in practice,” Perry explained. “I had my eyes on the quarterback, and seeing the release of the tight end, I knew he was running that seam [route] because the release he had. Once I saw the quarterback let it go, it was just a matter of contorting my body to get inside, trying to get the ball. I knew it was coming and was able to come up with that play.”

Perry went undrafted in 2024. The Packers are his sixth team; he’s never been on a 53-man roster or played in a game. Before training camp, he said this opportunity “feels a little different” than the past couple seasons.

It was his first interception since the 2021 season, when he was a redshirt sophomore at Colorado.

Green Bay Packers safety Mark Perry (41) intercepts a pass intended for Denver Broncos tight end Lucas Krull.
Green Bay Packers safety Mark Perry (41) intercepts a pass intended for Denver Broncos tight end Lucas Krull. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

K Trey Smack

For rookie kicker Trey Smack, it’s all about consistency.

After kicking inconsistently in OTAs, minicamp and the start of training camp, Smack made all four field-goal attempts at Pittsburgh. Critically, he did it again against Denver.

Officially, Smack is 7-of-7 on field goals during the preseason. Unofficially, he is 8-of-8 with four makes beyond 50 yards.

“I don’t know if there’s certainly a message that I can give to them,” he said of the Packers. “I’m just kind of trying to do my job, trying to live up to the expectation that they want me to. I’m very grateful that I’m here. I’m very grateful that I’m a Green Bay Packer. That never wants to change for me. I always want to be a Green Bay Packer, so whatever I can do – I’m not sure what that is – just make my kicks and honor that.”

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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.