GREEN BAY — The dude wearing the white No. 17 jersey at the end of practice at Ray Nitschke Field on Sunday sure looked a lot like another guy who used to wear that same number for the Green Bay Packers.

Alas, it was not Davante Adams, the three-time All-Pro who now plays for the Los Angeles Rams after post-Packers stints with the Las Vegas Raiders and New York Jets over the past three seasons.

Rather, it was undrafted rookie free agent Sam Brown, who was on the receiving end of the final two passes of practice — an 11-yard gain on an out route to set up a 1-yard touchdown catch on the next snap, giving the Sean Clifford-led No. 3 offense a win over the No. 3 defense.

“You want to know what’s crazy? That’s my favorite receiver,” Brown said of Adams after practice. “And I just so happened to come to the same team as him and I got the same number.”

Brown’s two catches came during an end-of-game period where the offenses had the ball at the defenses’ 12-yard line with 9 seconds left on the clock and no timeouts — and allowed him to make a name for himself in camp that goes beyond being first-round draft pick Matthew Golden’s teammate at Houston.

The two wideouts were together with the Cougars in 2022 and 2023 after Brown spent his first two college seasons at West Virginia.

Over those two seasons in Houston, Brown caught 103 passes for 1,286 yards and seven touchdowns, while Golden had 76 catches for 988 yards and 13 TDs.

The two went their separate ways for their final college seasons, with Golden transferring to the University of Texas and catching 58 passes for 987 yards and nine TDs to become the first wide receiver taken in the first round by the Packers since 2002, and Brown landing at Miami (Fla.), where he had 36 catches for 509 yards and two TDs.

“That’s like my brother,” Brown said of Golden. “Even when he was at Texas, we stayed in contact.”

Even though Brown knew Golden (as well as third-round pick Savion Williams) had joined the Packers’ already overcrowded wide receiver room during the draft, he still chose to sign with them after getting a thanks-but-no-thanks from the Miami Dolphins after taking part in their post-draft rookie minicamp.

And while that means he faces very long odds for earning a roster spot, days like Sunday can only help his chances of landing on the 16-man practice squad.

“Ever since he’s gotten here, he’s gotten better and better and better,” Clifford said. “Sam has come on to the scene. Whenever guys make plays like that, I always tell them, ‘Hey, keep doing you and I’m going to feed you the ball.’”

That’s exactly what Brown intends to do, regardless of the long odds he’s facing.

“To be honest, the route of me going undrafted, I took that personal,” Brown said. “So I just come into the facility [with my] head down ready to work every day.

“People look at it as like, ‘Oh, you a step behind.’ I look at it as, ‘I just got more steps to get to.’ It’s not necessarily where you start. It’s how you end.”

​COPYRIGHT 2025 BY CHANNEL 3000. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.