It’s been a couple of weeks, so let’s take another stab at the Green Bay Packers’ 53-man roster. We’re now armed with information from the Packers’ first two preseason games, including the depth chart rotations and individual players’ performances.

This time, instead of treating everyone as if they’ll be healthy by Week 1, we’re going to be conservative on the injury front. We’ll be adding two players to the injured reserve with the designated to return label and keep all the players currently on the physically unable to perform list right where they’re at.

In that scenario, here’s what the Packers’ roster could look like.

I’m not going to justify this. The third-string quarterback against the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday was an undrafted rookie from Canada. Malik Willis’ job is safe.

  • Josh Jacobs
  • Emanuel Wilson
  • Chris Brooks
  • IR-DFR: MarShawn Lloyd (hamstring)

With MarShawn Lloyd dealing with a hamstring injury that will make him “miss some time,” he’s a prime injured reserve candidate. Under NFL rules, teams can place two players on the injured reserve at the cutdown deadline with the “designated to return” condition, which avoids those players being subject to waivers. For the year, teams are allowed to bring eight players off the injured reserve during a single season.

Before Lloyd’s injury, there was a real question whether or not the team would end up keeping three or four backs, and which backs would make up the three if they chose the former. Chris Brooks contributes significantly to special teams and is the Packers’ preferred choice on third downs on offense, which gives him an edge. Due to Lloyd’s draft status and the fact that he got into preseason looks much earlier than Emanuel Wilson, Wilson’s status was in danger.

In this scenario, Lloyd would have to miss the first four games of the season, but he would be allowed to practice with the team for 20 days before the squad had to promote him to the active roster, whenever the Packers want to start that clock. By that point, Green Bay should have a better feel for which one of Lloyd or Wilson the squad wants to keep long term.

  • Romeo Doubs
  • Matthew Golden
  • Jayden Reed
  • Dontayvion Wicks
  • Savion Williams
  • Malik Heath
  • PUP: Christian Watson (knee)

Romeo Doubs, Matthew Golden, Jayden Reed, Dontayvion Wicks and Savion Williams are essentially roster locks, as they all either contributed to the team last year or are top-100 rookie selections. The only real question at receiver is if Malik Heath or Mecole Hardman will be the team’s sixth receiver, a position that will probably be displaced from the 53-man roster whenever Christian Watson is activated off the physically unable to perform list later this season.

Right now, the Packers have leaned into playing Heath over Hardman with the first-team offense this summer. Heath is a contributor on the kick return unit as a blocker, and does the dirty work on the offensive side of the ball, while Hardman is mostly used as a punt returner in Green Bay and plays slot-only on offense. The Packers should probably keep Heath, rather than handing Hardman a gameday roster spot to essentially just return punts. That’s going to be harder to justify when players are removed from injury lists, and Hardman’s 2025 salary will fully guarantee if he makes the team in Week 1 due to his status as a vested veteran.

  • Tucker Kraft
  • Luke Musgrave
  • John FitzPatrick
  • Ben Sims

Before injuries started to pile up, I thought Ben Sims’ time in Green Bay was close to over. The Packers want John FitzPatrick to be their third tight end, as he provides them with their best blocking tight end on the roster and gives them snaps on several special teams units. If Green Bay can stack a couple of players on the IR and PUP lists, though, keeping Sims so that he can play kick return snaps as a blocker early on in the season, with the potential of rotating in on offense, field goal protection and punt protection, could be worth it over holding onto a sixth cornerback who will be a healthy scratch on gamedays.

  • Rasheed Walker (LT)
  • Aaron Banks (LG)
  • Elgton Jenkins (C)
  • Sean Rhyan (RG/C)
  • Zach Tom (RT)
  • Jordan Morgan (LT/G)
  • Anthony Belton (RT)
  • Jacob Monk (C/G)
  • Kadeem Telfort (T/G)
  • PUP: John Williams (back)
  • IR: Travis Glover (shoulder)

The top eight offensive linemen on this team have been written in ink since Travis Glover went on the injured reserve for his lat surgery earlier this month. While Jacob Monk hasn’t been impressive this preseason, it’s doubtful that the team will move on from him unless they can add a backup center to the team via waivers. The only real question on the offensive line is who the ninth lineman will be. With Donovan Jennings struggling, I’m going to lean Kadeem Telfort, who made the 53-man roster last year but has been spending time with the third-team offense as a tackle, in this spot. At this point, I just think that he’s a better player than Jennings and believe that the combination of Sean Rhyan, Jordan Morgan, Anthony Belton and Monk/waiver center can cover the Packers’ depth on gameday. Again, I would be surprised at a waiver move here the day after cutdowns.

  • Rashan Gary
  • Lukas Van Ness
  • Kingsley Enagbare
  • Brenton Cox Jr.
  • Arron Mosby
  • IR-DFR: Barryn Sorrell (knee)
  • PUP: Collin Oliver (hamstring)

Both of the Packers’ mid-round rookies being injured is a double-edged sword. Yes, it’s not a good start to the careers for Barryn Sorrell, who dropped out of Week 2 of the preseason with a knee injury that will keep him sidelined at least in the short term, or Collin Oliver, who has yet to practice with the team in training camp because of a hamstring injury, but this allows the Packers to control seven defensive ends before the practice squad is even formed.

Rashan Gary and Lukas Van Ness will start in 2025, allowing Kingsley Enagbare and Brenton Cox Jr. to back them up and Arron Mosby to play a role as a special teams ace. Enagbare, Van Ness and Mosby are all significant special teams contributors, ranking among the top seven most-played Packers in the third phase of football last year. Meanwhile, Cox hardly played any special teams in 2024, used primarily as a rotational punt rusher, and that hasn’t changed this preseason. Before the injuries to Sorrell and Oliver, Green Bay was going to have to pick one of Cox or Mosby (if that) to roster. Now, they’re able to hold onto all seven and play it by ear as the season develops.

  • Kenny Clark
  • Devonte Wyatt
  • Colby Wooden
  • Karl Brooks
  • Warren Brinson

As far as I see it, there are four roster locks at this position. Kenny Clark will start at the nose. Devonte Wyatt will start at three-technique. Colby Wooden is the primary backup at nose tackle, with his newly added weight, and he can still play three-technique. Karl Brooks is the primary backup at three-technique.

I highly doubt that the Packers will keep six defensive tackles on the 53-man roster. It’s just too hard to keep that many players who don’t contribute at all on special teams.

Out of Warren Brinson and Nazir Stackhouse, the Georgia rookies who are next in line for snaps, I lean toward Brinson. He’s a little more versatile, able to play nose and three-technique. Stackhouse is a run-first inside run stuffer who lacks some athleticism and is probably going to contribute most against the pass by batting down balls.

Against the Colts, Stackhouse was reached and pushed off the ball a couple of times, creating issues for his teammates to scrape over and make a play. There’s something to Stackhouse, and the Packers should try to keep him on the practice squad to develop, but he’s just too easy to run around right now.

  • Quay Walker
  • Edgerrin Cooper
  • Isaiah McDuffie
  • Ty’Ron Hopper
  • Kristian Welch
  • Isaiah Simmons

With the added roster spots from players headed to injury lists, I think Green Bay has the room to keep six linebackers, which should make special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia very happy. Quay Walker, Edgerrin Cooper and Isaiah McDuffie will be the team’s starters in three-linebacker sets, but Ty’Ron Hopper looks much improved this summer and could eventually unseat McDuffie.

Kristian Welch’s hips aren’t getting any less stiff, which doesn’t help him on the defensive side of the ball, but he’s a hell of a special teams player. Personally, I think he’s playing better on defense than Isaiah Simmons, who was competing with McDuffie for the third-linebacker job until about two weeks ago. Welch, like Hopper and McDuffie, should be able to help the Packers on basically all core-four special teams units, as long as he’s active.

Honestly, I think Simmons is struggling on defense and is not contributing as much on special teams as you would think. Simmons plays defensive back roles on special teams, which only helps if they want to go low on numbers there. The Packers are going to keep five safeties, the usual since Bisaccia has taken over, and I don’t think the value add of Simmons is worth turning down a sixth cornerback. With that being said, I do think Green Bay wants to hold onto Simmons, considering how many premium looks they’ve given him and how they’ve talked about him as a positional convert.

  • Keisean Nixon
  • Nate Hobbs
  • Carrington Valentine
  • Bo Melton
  • Corey Ballentine

Keisean Nixon, Nate Hobbs and Carrington Valentine are the team’s top three outside cornerbacks, with the potential of Hobbs kicking into the slot, too. Behind them, it really does seem like the Packers want receiver-turned cornerback Bo Melton to be the next man up at the position.

After that, though, it’s an absolute competition. As I mentioned before, the five safeties that Green Bay is expected to keep, along with linebacker Isaiah Simmons and receiver Malik Heath playing defensive back positions on special teams, are going to make it hard for the Packers to keep more than five at the position.

That means that Corey Ballentine, Kalen King, Micah Robinson and Kamal Hadden could just be fighting over one roster spot. I lean Ballentine here, because he has starter experience at outside cornerback and has contributed on special teams at a high level for years.

With that being said, the Packers haven’t given him as many snaps in the preseason as the others, possibly because they know what they have in him. King has played 79 snaps of defense, Robinson 60, Hadden 40 (in one game) but Ballentine has only played 27. Even with the starters mostly sitting out in these games, Ballentine has been Green Bay’s ninth-most-played cornerback in the preseason.

You’d think that this would mean that they’re falling out of favor with Ballentine, but the Packers are also starting him in key roles on special teams, like the lead blocker on the kick return unit. Truly, I believe that Green Bay is just letting their younger guys soak up defensive reps because of their familiarity with Ballentine.

  • Xavier McKinney
  • Evan Williams
  • Javon Bullard
  • Zayne Anderson
  • Kitan Oladapo

This is pretty boilerplate. All five players made the 53-man roster last year. They’ll do it again this year, barring injury.

  • K: Brandon McManus
  • P: Daniel Whelan
  • LS: Matt Orzech

Ditto here. The only other specialist on the roster is Irish kicker Mark McNamee, who will probably be the team’s international exemption on the practice squad this season.

Notable players released:

  • WR Mecole Hardman
  • OL Donovan Jennings
  • DT Nazir Stackhouse
  • CB Kamal Hadden
  • CB Kalen King
  • CB Micah Robinson

The list above is made up of the true roster bubble players whom I ended up letting go. As you can see, cornerback is probably the most wide-open battle left on the roster. If injuries continue to pile up, I wouldn’t be shocked if Green Bay ended up keeping a sixth player at the position.