Mandatory minicamp begins for the Green Bay Packers on Tuesday, and at the moment, they still have an open roster spot.
With a roster exemption for defensive end Kenneth Odumegwu, the Packers are permitted to have 91 players on their offseason roster. However, over the last few weeks they’ve been carrying just 90 players after releasing defensive tackle Rodney Mathews.
This is a roster spot that will inevitably get filled prior to training camp, which begins July 22nd.
As GM Brian Gutekunst has said in the past, roster building in the NFL is a 365 day a year job. With $30.07 million in available cap space – a portion of which will go towards Jordan Love’s eventual extension – the Packers have the means to explore what’s left of the free agent market.
However, the bulk of the best remaining free agent options are either cornerbacks or safeties, which aren’t needs for the Packers. There also isn’t a glaring weakness on the roster that has to be filled either.
So my guess is that Gutekunst, as he often does, will continue to churn the back end of the roster by building the depth of a particular position group with an under the radar and not talked about addition.
With minicamp taking place this week, the Packers could opt to have a few players in for tryouts during those two days to see if anyone stands out.
When dealing with the final spot on the roster, positional need can often take a back seat. Instead, teams are simply looking for the best player, someone who has a standout trait that’s worth taking a swing on and someone who can hopefully help elevate the competition. Also, as I’ve alluded to, even from a numbers perspective there isn’t a glaring positional need on the Packers’ roster.
But if I were to make a guess at which positions the Packers could be looking to target, a few that come to mind include punter, center, and linebacker.
Daniel Whelan has looked excellent through OTAs and if the Packers bring in another punter it’s not because they feel they need to find an upgrade. This move would be made to give Whelan some rest during training camp, so that he doesn’t have to handle every rep over the summer.
Center is another position where the Packers could potentially search for depth. Josh Myers has been handling center reps with the first team offense during OTAs and Jacob Monk with the second team, but having another true center on the roster to work with the third team could be valuable come camp.
Lastly, with the Packers switching to a 4-3 defense under Jeff Hafley, Gutekunst mentioned over the offseason that the need for added numbers at the linebacker position could be a side effect of this shift.
Time will tell when it comes to which direction the Packers will go but I would expect a move to be made sooner than later, and most certainly before training camp, so they have their full roster intact and ready to go by July 22nd.