Ranking Every Player on Packers’ Roster, Part 6: Rookie, Young, New DBs

Part 6 of our annual countdown of the Green Bay Packers’ roster includes three defensive backs in various stages of their development, a returning tight end and “Pops.”

Green Bay Packers defensiveback Johnathan Baldwin | Benny Sieu-Imagn Images

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers will take a 90-player roster to the field for their first practice of training camp on July 23.

In a Packers On SI tradition, we will rank every player on the roster. This isn’t just a list of the best players. Rather, we take talent, contract, draft history, importance of the position and depth at the position into consideration.

More than the ranking, we hope you learn a little something about every player on the roster.

No. 65: LB Jamon Johnson

The Packers lost an incredibly valuable backup in free agency when Eric Wilson opted to return to the Vikings. Organizationally, it made sense, as it allowed 2024 third-round pick Ty’Ron Hopper to move up the pecking order behind the returning trio of Quay Walker, Edgerrin Cooper and Isaiah McDuffie.

If Hopper will move up to No. 4, who will be No. 5? Perhaps Jamon Johnson, an undrafted free agent from Kentucky. The Packers like him; they gave him a $15,000 signing bonus and guaranteed $100,000 of his base salary.

At 6-foot 3/4, Johnson is not tall. With a 4.60 in the 40, he’s not particularly fast. However, at Georgia in 2022, he was a finalist for the Butkus Award, which goes to the nation’s top linebacker, and was a key part of the Bulldogs’ national championship defense.

He transferred to Kentucky for his final season. In 11 starts, he had 3.5 sacks and 7.5 TFLs among 67 tackles. The testing numbers were good, and scouts considered him one of the better run-stopping linebackers in the class.

His nickname from Georgia has carried over to the NFL team with the G on the helmet.

“My mom gave it to me,” he told Rivals. “I’ve seen some videos going around, people got their own saying what my nickname is, but my mom gave it to me. Mom said it was a commercial, and when it came on, I left. But I like ‘Pops’ now.”

No. 64: S Johnathan Baldwin

The Packers drafted cornerback Micah Robinson in the seventh round of this year’s draft. Johnathan Baldwin, a cornerback and safety from UNLV, got a total of $115,000 guaranteed – more than Robinson – as an undrafted free agent.

Baldwin started at safety at UNLV in 2022 and 2023 and moved into the slot in 2024. With the Packers, most, if not all, of his playing time during the offseason came at safety.

What did teams miss after Baldwin recorded three interceptions, 14 passes defensed and nine tackles for losses last season?

“I don’t know. But, I’ll tell you what, Green Bay got it right,” said UNLV cornerbacks coach Akeem Davis, a former NFL defensive back. “He’s going to go there and he’s going to make a splash. He’s going to be a four-core guy on special teams immediately. And then he’s going to work his way up somewhere on that depth chart. And he’s going to earn his keep every single day.”

The Packers are strong at safety with all of last year’s players back for 2025. However, Baldwin could become a factor if he can play a safety-slot combo player.  

“When you watch his tape, he’s another guy – he plays safety, he plays nickel, he’s physical, he’ll come up in the run game, he’s got really good ball skills, as Micah does,” defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley said.

No. 63: CB Gregory Junior

The Packers signed Gregory Junior just before the start of OTAs, and he got some first-team reps in the slot. Junior entered the NFL as a sixth-round pick by the Jaguars in 2022. He was the first player from Division II Ouachita Baptist to be drafted.

“Man, it’s a blessing just being the first person to represent Ouachita,” Junior said after being drafted. “I know we have three other people who went undrafted from Ouachita so just to be the first it means a lot. …

“Like I said, just being able to represent Ouachita Baptist and the football program. I’m glad I’m the first person. Hopefully, there’ll be many more to come.”

The Packers have no proven depth at cornerback. So, from that perspective, he is a grizzled veteran. He played in one game as a rookie and nine games in 2023. In those 10 games, he played 111 snaps on defense (and 111 more on special teams).

“Greg Junior has really stepped up a little bit. He’s kind of caught the attention,” then-Jaguars coach Doug Pederson said during training camp in 2023. “I think just seeing his maturity. I think you’re seeing a second year understanding the defense, the terminology. Those are the things I see with him and those second-year players having the understanding of even how we practice. That goes a long way.”

Last year, he was released during the preseason and stayed in the AFC South with practice-squad stints with the Texans and Colts.

No. 62: WR/CB Bo Melton

Bo Melton was a fun story during minicamp when he worked at receiver and cornerback. But, let’s face it: Position changes in the NFL rarely go well. It’s often the last resort in trying to get something out of a talented, athletic player.

Melton certainly is talented and athletic. He was one of the fastest players in the 2022 draft, when he was drafted by the Seahawks in the seventh round. Melton joined the Packers late in 2022 and, highlighted by his six catches for 105 yards and one touchdown at Minnesota in Week 17 of 2023, has 24 catches for 308 yards in 22 career games.

However, he was a rarely used role player for the Packers even before they drafted Matthew Golden and Savion Williams in this year’s draft.

So, maybe Melton can be a two-position player. He played cornerback in college and his brother, Max Melton, was a standout cornerback at Rutgers and a second-round draft pick last year by the Cardinals.

“It feels great,” Melton said. “If you go back to high school and college, I played both sides of the ball. Growing up in Egg Harbor (N.J.), you played both sides growing up. You weren’t playing straight receiver. So, I know how to backpedal. I know how to do certain things on the defensive side that I’m comfortable doing. 

“It’s definitely different because now it’s at the NFL level, but still the same movements. It’s nothing different when it has to do with backpedaling and stuff like that.”

Few teams covet versatility more than the Packers. Melton’s speed, background on special teams – as a jammer on punt return, specifically – and his attitude will give him a chance to perhaps fill two roster spots.

“We’ve talked about this for a couple of years, just his skill-set and how versatile he is,” GM Brian Gutekunst said. “You watch him on (special) teams and you’re like, ‘Wow, he can probably do some of that.’ It was one of those things, the coaching staff had kicked it around a little bit, too. I think it’s just something we’re going to look at and see if it’s a possibility.

“There are very few guys who have done it in our league, there have been a few, and when a guy’s able to do that, it certainly helps your football team. Bo is everything we want in a football player out there as far as his ability as a receiver, certainly on (special) teams. If he’s able to add to his arsenal, that makes him really, really valuable to us.”

During minicamp, Melton sometimes played receiver and cornerback in the same sequence of plays. Melton said he’s “still a receiver” but was open to taking up the challenge.

“I’m a team-first guy,” he said. “I’m going to help my team win any way I can and let’s see how it falls.”

No. 61: TE John FitzPatrick

With Luke Musgrave out with an ankle injury, the Packers plucked John FitzPatrick off the Falcons’ practice squad. A sixth-round pick by Atlanta in 2022, he wound up playing 73 snaps for his new team, with 40 of those coming in blowout wins over the 49ers and Saints. He caught one pass for 2 yards.

Interestingly, for the playoff game at Philadelphia, FitzPatrick was active and Ben Sims was inactive.

At 6-foot-7 and 262 pounds, FitzPatrick’s big body could give him a big edge in the battle for a roster spot.

“I think (at) Georgia, a big thing is if you’re willing to block, you’re going to find your way onto the field, and that’s what I learned early from some older guys in the room,” he said. “From there, just really honed in on that and wanted to get on the field, obviously, so I honed in on that and it created some opportunities for me.”

FitzPatrick had Jones fractures in both feet during his final season. Rather than shutting it down, having surgery and turning his attention to the NFL, he played through the injuries and helped the Bulldogs win the national title. The injuries ultimately landed FitzPatrick on injured reserve for his rookie season.

“At that point, all I wanted to do was win,” he said. “We had a great team and, thankfully, we won it all, we won the natty. It was worth it to wait and get it fixed after the season.”