Ranking Every Player on Packers Roster, Part 6: Big-Play Potential

Russell Maryland’s excellent NFL career ended with the Green Bay Packers. His son’s career will start with the Packers.

RJ Maryland is an undrafted rookie tight end who will have a real shot of making the final roster.

“He played defense probably for a couple weeks [early in his football life], and then he found out that he’d rather try to avoid the tackle than actually come in and make some tackles,” Russell told Packers On SI. “So, he turned out to be really good at catching the ball and be really fast, to boot. So, I figured, ‘Hey, Dad was pretty fast, but he couldn’t catch worth a damn.’ There was only two places to go for me: the defense or the bench.

“When I figured out he was really good at catching the ball, I said, ‘Hey, offense is for you, Son.’”

RJ Maryland leads off Part 6 of our annual ranking of every player on Green Bay’s roster. Our rankings aren’t based only on talent and production but importance of the position, depth of the position, draft status and salary.

No. 70: TE RJ Maryland

The Packers are a man down at tight end with John FitzPatrick not re-signed following last year’s torn Achilles. Maryland is the antithesis of FitzPatrick as a player. FitzPatrick was a bully blocker; Maryland is a sleek, athletic playmaker.

“I just need to get in that playbook, keep learning,” he said at the end of minicamp. “Once I get all that stuff down and I can start playing fast, I feel really good about what I can do here.”

Maryland in four seasons at SMU caught 113 passes for 1,495 yards and 19 touchdowns. He’s not an old-school, traditional tight end. Rather, he’s a new-school matchup problem. At the Scouting Combine, he measured 6-foot-3 5/8 and ran his 40 in 4.51 seconds.

There’s a path to the roster for Maryland at a position group led by Tucker Kraft, Luke Musgrave and Josh Whyle. Musgrave, who was drafted in the second round in 2023 because of his field-stretching ability in the passing game, is coming off a pair of disappointing seasons. Maryland lacks Musgrave’s height but could be a fresh start in trying to find another impact player in the passing game.

The Packers gave Maryland a $15,000 signing bonus.

“The coaches and the GM, it’s up to them to do all the drafting, but it’s really up to me to just go out and play,” he said. “So, that’s all I do is just go out and show what I can do. And you know, I’m so glad to be here.”

No. 69: OT Dalton Cooper

In a way, the Packers are looking to replace Jordan Morgan.

A first-round pick in 2024, Morgan spent his first two seasons in the NFL as the backup to Rasheed Walker at left tackle. Now that Morgan has replaced Walker in the starting lineup, who’s going to replace Morgan as the next man up as Jordan Love’s blindside protector?

The Packers could go the musical-chairs route and pull Anthony Belton from right guard to left tackle. Or, maybe, one of their young linemen will rise to the challenge.

One of those players is Cooper, who went undrafted last year. Cooper started a total of 57 games at Texas State and Oklahoma State. Almost all of those games were spent at left tackle. In nine games as a sixth-year senior in 2024, he did not allow a sack. Along with the experience, he’s got most of the desired measurables at 6-foot-5 1/2 and 326 pounds with 33-inch arms and a Relative Athletic Score of 9.08.

Cooper, who had a predraft visit with the Packers, spent his rookie training camp with the Chiefs. Upon his release, he signed to Green Bay’s practice squad.

Cooper took the No. 2 reps at left tackle during the final day of minicamp.

No. 68: OT Brant Banks

Green Bay Packers offensive tackle Brant Banks (72) is shown during the preseason game against Seattle. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

The other option for having a pure backup left tackle is Banks, who went undrafted last year and spent the entire season on the practice squad aside from one week on the Titans’ 53-man roster. He played in two games for the Packers with six snaps on special teams.

Before the 2025 draft, Banks measured 6-foot-7 1/8 and 306 pounds. He’s got 33 5/8-inch arms.

Banks has had an interesting football path. He barely played in four seasons at Nebraska before finishing his career at Rice. In 2023, he played mostly left guard. In 2024, he played exclusively right tackle.

Since signing with Packers as an undrafted free agent in 2025, he’s been locked in at left tackle, a position he played 55 snaps in during his six college seasons. Despite the lack of resume as the blind-side protector, he had a strong preseason last year.

Until Cooper took the No. 2 reps during the last day of minicamp, Banks had taken almost all of the second-team snaps.

No. 67: Kristian Welch

A native of Iola, Wis., Welch re-signed with the Packers in free agency on a one-year deal worth $1.215 million and including a $10,000 signing bonus.

This will be Welch’s third shot at making the roster. Even with strong preseasons in 2024 and 2025, he fell short both times.

“It hurts,” Welch said at the beginning of camp last year. “I’d been in it long enough that I’d been cut before, so I knew how the process goes. You just try to step into the next thing. I knew it wasn’t over. Some guys don’t really know, but I knew I’d put myself in position after playing well in preseason to step into another opportunity and that’s what happened. You’ve just got to roll with the punches. That’s really all you can do.”

Last year, he wound up rolling onto Green Bay’s practice squad and, finally, the 53. In eight games, he had three tackles. Of his 89 total snaps, 87 came on special teams.

That’s been the story of his career. According to Pro Football Reference, Welch since entering the NFL has played 1,473 snaps on special teams and 99 on defense. As new coordinator Cam Achord tries to build a winning special teams, Welch should be in the mix to be one of his core players.

Green Bay Packers linebacker Kristian Welch rides a bike to training camp. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

No. 66: Kamal Hadden

During a late-season loss to the Ravens, the Packers came out at halftime with a change in the secondary. Out was Carrington Valentine. In was Hadden.

He wasn’t in for long, though. On his sixth defensive snap, he suffered a broken tibia and fibula which, obviously, ended his season.

Hadden’s opportunity was foreshadowed a month earlier by coach Matt LaFleur after Hadden played 31 snaps in a midseason win against the Vikings.

“I would say this about Kamal: Kamal has made as much progress as any player that we’ve had here,” LaFleur said. “Just to see where he’s come from to where he is now, and I think it’s totally reflective in terms of how’s he approached coming in the building on a daily basis. He practices the right way, he approaches it the right way. Really proud of him.”

Hadden appreciated his coach’s words.

“Coach LaFleur, he be tough love a little bit, so that’s big hearing that right now,” Hadden said a couple days later. “I appreciate it. I just thank the organization for believing in me and teaching me. I had to learn a lot coming into the league. Not really about the skill-set, not really about my play but just how to be a pro and how to prepare and get ready for stuff like that.

“Coach, me and him, we had 1 on 1s where he helped me. He taught me a lot and the whole staff had my back and kind of pushed me because they seen a lot in me. I appreciate that from this whole organization and the whole team.”

While Hadden didn’t play at all on defense in the four games between the Minnesota and Baltimore games, his talent is undeniable. His injury history, however, dates back to his days at Tennessee. After missing the offseason practices while rehabbing his injury, can Hadden make the long climb past Keisean Nixon, Valentine, Benjamin St-Juste and rookies Brandon Cisse and Domani Jackson?

Here's our 25 most important Packers for the upcoming season, with quick-hitting looks at each player and links to full feature stories on those players, along with the start of the annual 91-to-1 series. ⬇️https://t.co/ezDAkl7vmd
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) July 17, 2026

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