Coming off a demoralizing loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 15, the Green Bay Packers needed three straight wins to have a shot at the playoffs. That was when they stumbled upon an unlikely player to help lift them to the postseason. That player was wide receiver Bo Melton.
Over the last three weeks, Melton has turned 15 receptions into 211 yards and a touchdown. Not to mention, 13 of those 15 catches have resulted in first downs. Green Bay, of course, ended up winning all three games and will now face the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC Wildcard Round. But it’s safe to say they couldn’t have done without Melton’s spark.
“It’s been pretty cool to see a guy like that, that probably most of you have never really heard of, to see him get an opportunity to go out there and perform at a high level,” head coach Matt LaFleur said after his team’s playoff-clinching win over the Chicago Bears. “And he continues to do it, and I think it goes back to his approach, his work ethic, mentality, attitude, all of that. The guy just works and gets better.”
A seventh-round pick in 2022, Melton faced a tough road before becoming a breakout player for the Packers. He spent most of that first year on the Seattle Seahawks practice squad before Green Bay signed him to their active roster at the tail end of the season.
Melton competed for a spot on this year’s 53-man roster but was released during final cutdowns. Fortunately, another team did not sign Melton, and he was brought back to the practice squad.
That’s where Melton stayed until he was called up to play in his first NFL game against the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving. Melton went on to play eight total snaps, but six of those were on special teams. A week later, he was back on the practice squad.
Rather than get discouraged, Melton stayed ready.
“I prepare myself during the week for the opportunity of playing on Sunday,” Melton told Larry McCarren of Packers.com in a one-on-one interview. “When the opportunity came, I treated it just like I was working in practice. So when I go out there, and my number is called, I already knew I was going to be ready for this because I already put in all the work in practice.”
He eventually got another opportunity when injuries became an issue in the receiver room. The Packers decided to elevate Melton against Tampa Bay, and he caught one pass for seven yards.
The following week, he did his part in Green Bay’s streak-starting win over the Carolina Panthers. Despite running just 14 routes, Melton offered a solid contribution, hauling in four catches for 44 yards.
Then, down to his final practice squad elevation, Melton provided an incredible performance on New Year’s Eve while visiting the Minnesota Vikings. He became the first Packers receiver to have 100 yards in a game this season, and he also scored his first career touchdown to make it an insurmountable lead. After that, Melton was here to stay.
Finally, to continue an impressive stretch, he added another five receptions for 62 yards in the finale against Chicago.
Over the past month, Melton has seemingly come out of nowhere. He has gone from being a practice squad player to propelling his team on a playoff push.
Green Bay likely wouldn’t be where they are without Melton, but he says it took a complete team buy-in to get to where they are now.
“We’re a whole team together,” he said. “These last three weeks were win and advance, and that’s what coach LaFleur was always saying to us. I think our team took that to heart. We wanted to win and advance to make it to the playoffs, and I think that our team bought in very well to that. We came out there and took that approach, so it was kind of like a team thing. I was just a part of it.”
Now, after proving himself, Melton will be a part of a potential playoff run.