Packers Release QB-Turned-TE John Lovett

John Lovett, who had emerged as a key figure on special teams, suffered a torn ACL in November.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Tight end/fullback John Lovett, who suffered a torn ACL at practice in mid-November, was released by the Green Bay Packers on Friday.

Officially, he was waived with a failed-physical designation.

At the time of the injury, he was fourth on the team with 112 snaps on special teams and tied for first with four tackles on special teams while playing in all eight games. He received more playing time on offense after third-round pick Josiah Deguara suffered his own season-ending knee injury.

“It’s really unfortunate because you talk about a guy that will do anything for the football team,” coach Matt LaFleur said at the time. “The intensity that he brings, the effort, the energy, he is all about the team. I feel just sick about it. Certainly, you start to question yourself in terms of what you’re asking guys to do when something like this happens but also realize that it is part of the game. I don’t think it’s anybody’s fault. It’s just really unfortunate, because his impact was really coming along on special teams and on offense. You’re talking about a four-core starter on special teams. And those types of players are really tough to replace.”

It was the injury to Deguara that opened the door to more snaps for Lovett. In fact, he played a season-high 11 snaps at San Francisco. He even ended the game at running back, carrying three times for 6 yards.

Lovett, who was claimed off waivers from Kansas City just before the start of training camp, was a do-it-all quarterback at Princeton who quickly impressed as an H-back with the Chiefs last summer before a season-ending injury in training camp. Lovett was listed as a fullback by the Packers but spent drills with the tight ends. The Packers reclassified him upon adding him to the practice squad.

“Coming into my pro day, I actually did everything,” Lovett said during training camp. “I threw at my pro day. I also ran routes from the tight end position, from the backfield. So, I was going in with an open mind. My coach from college was telling me that a lot of teams expressed interest as that H-back position. My goal from when I was a little kid was to have a good NFL career. So, whatever the coaches were asking me to do, I was ready to go full-bore.”

The Packers replaced him with Dominique Dafney, who showed a lot of potential in late-season playing time.