GREEN BAY, Wis. – Among a bunch of roster moves needed to get down to the 53-man limit on Tuesday, the Green Bay Packers released kicker Ramiz Ahmed and activated Mason Crosby from the physically unable to perform list, according to sources.
Crosby spent all of camp on the physically unable to perform list following surgery on his right knee. Barring a change tomorrow, his snapper will be undrafted rookie Jack Coco, who made the 53-man roster, a source said.
If Coco was not the great underdog story of training camp, then it was safety Micah Abernathy. Signed after the position group had been decimated by injuries, Abernathy went from the USFL to emergency fill-in to a member of the 53-man roster.
At offensive tackle, the Packers kept seventh-round draft pick Rasheed Walker but released undrafted free agent Caleb Jones, sources said. The Packers would love to get Jones on the practice squad on Wednesday, but 6-foot-9 players who can play left tackle don’t grow on trees so there is a chance he is claimed on waivers.
The Packers also released La’Darius Hamilton and Kobe Jones, members of their talented but unaccomplished outside linebacker room. Jonathan Garvin, Tipa Galeai and rooking Kingsley Enagbare will provide the depth. Behind Rashan Gary and Preston Smith, it was a free-for-all throughout training camp. The only consistent part of the rotation was Garvin as a part of the second unit. Every day, it was a different player rotating in with Garvin with the 2s.
They all had their moments but none consistently had moments.
“We know what’s going on,” Hamilton, an undrafted free agent with Dallas in 2020 who the Packers grabbed off Tampa Bay’s practice squad early last season, said after one of his strong days. “You’ve got Rashan and Preston. Those are the dogs. And then behind that, you’ve got a bunch of guys in pretty much a similar position. We all understand and know that we’ve got to go just slug it out for a spot.”
Hamilton and Jones will be practice squad candidates.
On the offensive line, the Packers released Jones and center/guard Michal Menet. A three-year starting center at Penn State, Menet was drafted in the seventh round last year by Arizona.
In the big surprise of the day, the Packers released Jack Heflin from their loaded defensive line. The Packers also released quarterback Danny Etling along with receiver Juwann Winfree, cornerback Rico Gafford, running back Tyler Goodson and safety Shawn Davis.
The Heflin news was first reported by Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and confirmed by a source. Heflin made it last year as an undrafted free agent, and he had put himself in a strong position with three high-quality preseason performances even with the additions of veteran Jarran Reed, first-round pick Devonte Wyatt and seventh-round pick Jonathan Ford.
“I got nothing to lose,” Heflin said recently. “I just try to have faith in God and faith in my ability to prepare. Just listen to what the coach is telling you. They don’t ever steer you wrong. They’re going to give you a nugget. It’s on you to take it and use it. It’s going out there, getting the formation, getting the play call. When I’m lined up, I’m just going to go and use my tools to my advantage. That’s why you have all these tools in the toolbox just to compete and get better.”
The Packers also have released Chris Slayton, another productive member of the defensive line, according to a source. He had 13 tackles during the preseason, second on the team and 12 more than the first-rounder Wyatt.
“Chris has done a really nice job,” coach Matt LaFleur said on Monday. “And I think the first thing that stands out is the effort which he plays with and he’s making it really difficult on everybody in terms of what route we’re going to go.”
Gafford was an interesting story, going from cornerback to receiver and back to cornerback. The plan when he signed in January was to play receiver but the addition of three draft picks changed the plan. It was a move he embraced.
“Honestly, I was contemplating doing that, anyway,” he said. “I had a few teams call me before I signed with the Packers to see how I felt about going back to defense. It’s been a long road. I appreciate Jon Gruden for helping me make the transition to wide receiver and all the coaches with the Raiders that helped me along the way. But I’m going into Year 5 and I haven’t really made a splash or anything in the league. So, I’m like, ‘If I go back to corner, I can really showcase what I can do on the field and what I really am and who I really am at heart, and that’s a DB.”
The Packers would like to continue Gafford’s development by signing him to their practice squad, and Gafford wants to return.
Also released were cornerback Kiondre Thomas, tight ends Alize Mack, Sal Cannella and Nate Becker, and running back Dexter Williams.
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Thomas had a strong preseason to put himself in position to make the roster. According to Pro Football Focus, he allowed just 1-of-7 passing in the preseason and provided strong run support. It was a disappointing ending for a player who played in four games for the Chargers last season, though a source said the Packers want him on their practice squad.
“We’ll see,” Thomas said if his hard work had been paying off. “I can’t really tell you right now. If I don’t make the 53, then I don’t think it paid off.”
Williams, a sixth-round pick in 2019, he was re-signed midway through training camp to add to the competition alongside rookie Tyler Goodson and Patrick Taylor. He carried 11 times for 60 yards with a long of 25 in the preseason.
“Oh, it’s very awesome, just being back with the guys I started this with, that I came in with,” Williams said on Aug. 10. “It’s just a great feeling being around this high-level competition, going out and competing with the guys. I miss it here. I called this place home when I was first drafted, so I love it here.”
Mack suffered a hamstring injury, ruining his shot at a roster bid or at least a spot on the practice squad.
Mack, who signed with the Packers in February, was a seventh-round pick by the Saints in 2019 but has not played in a game. He caught 68 passes for 716 yards and four touchdowns at Notre Dame from 2015 through 2018.
Getting a shot to rekindle his career in the USFL, Cannella ranked sixth overall and first among tight ends with 34 receptions, which he turned into 368 yards and two touchdowns. Opportunities were fleeting with the Packers, though he had a nice catch and run vs. the Chiefs on Thursday night.
After a fourth training camp with the team, the Packers have released cornerback Kabion Ento. A receiver at Colorado, he showed his athletic gifts with several highlight-reel deflections during his time in Green Bay but never was consistent enough to get on the field. He will be looking for a new opportunity.
They also have released safety De’Vante Cross. With injuries hammering the safety corps, the Packers signed Cross on Aug. 19. He was a two-year starter at Virginia. He could have an opportunity on the practice squad, according to a source.
Along with Winfree, the Packers also released undrafted rookie receiver Ishmael Hyman.
The Packers are waiving defensive lineman Akial Byers with an injury settlement, according to a source. He had been out with a toe injury. An undrafted free agent from Missouri, he was a high school All-American.
The Packers have not released long snapper Jack Coco and probably will not after a strong training camp and preseason. The Bengals, however, are sticking with former Packers draft pick Clark Harris as their snapper and released Cal Adomitis, the top-ranked snapper in this year’s draft. The Bengals and Texans were the only teams with two snappers on their roster.
All players who are released are subject to waivers. For those who clear waivers, they are eligible to be signed to the 16-man practice squad on Wednesday.
Last year, only 27 players league-wide were claimed – none from the Packers. Green Bay hasn’t lost a player among its final cuts since 2017, when the Saints grabbed quarterback Taysom Hill and the Cowboys snared defensive lineman Brian Price.
Those facts suggest the Packers will likely keep who they want for what general manager Brian Gutekunst has deemed a 69-man roster. Each of those players can be elevated to the gameday roster three times before they must be outright signed to the 53.
“As you go through an NFL season, the amount of players you use and the team you’re playing with at the end of the season compared to the beginning of the season, it can be drastic,” Gutekunst said. “To me, certainly I think you have some minimums at each position that you kind of feel you have to have, but then after that with a 16-man practice squad, you’re trying to keep maybe the best 53 overall to start the season. That doesn’t mean that’s going to be the best 53 for Game 8, Game 12 and into the playoffs.”
For many players, Tuesday’s cuts will be the end of their dreams. For some, it will be the start of a new chapter.
“It just goes into the type of character you are,” tight end Robert Tonyan, released by the Lions at the end of camp in 2017, said. “Allen [Lazard, released by the Jaguars at the end of camp in 2018] is someone who didn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. He got pissed off and used it as fuel. Instead of getting discouraged and sad and ‘why me?’, he used it as fuel to come back and prove those people wrong.”
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