GREEN BAY — The Green Bay Packers rookies were set to arrive at Lambeau Field on Thursday for their first day of work as professional football players. 

And no matter who they were — one of the six draft picks who’d heard their names called last weekend, one of the 10 or so undrafted free agents signed earlier this week, or part of the group of tryout players looking to keep their NFL dreams alive — they all were feeling the same swirl of emotions that previous rookie classes felt heading into their post-draft rookie camps.

Excitement and nerves. Confidence and apprehension. Visions of having an immediate impact and wondering how much they’ll play — or if they’ll make the team at all.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity,” said Alabama cornerback Domani Jackson, one of the team’s two sixth-round picks. “I’m ready to go to work.”

Gushed fifth-round pick Jager Burton, the team’s fifth-round pick: “I’m just stoked. … Just to be able to put on that jersey and compete with that team and go out and win games, I’m super excited and stoked for the opportunity. As far as players, I’m excited to meet everybody. I’m super excited to call those guys teammates now.”

The Packers have one open-to-the-media rookie minicamp practice scheduled for Friday morning, but otherwise the minicamp is a lot like freshman orientation. In fact, head coach Matt LaFleur’s predecessor, Mike McCarthy, stopped calling the sessions minicamps and changed the name to rookie orientation camp.

How quickly guys get up to speed differs from player to player, and while the NFL meritocracy gives rookies an opportunity to see game action right away if they earn it, it’s hard to know which guys will be in the mix for playing time come September without injuries creating openings.

“When you’re looking at the draft, most seasons are determined by the guys that are coming back, not necessarily the guys you’re getting in the draft,” general manager Brian Gutekunst said. “These guys are just starting their NFL journey, and there’s so much in front of them.

“I feel really good about all of them, and I think they’re going to have a chance to have an opportunity to be very good players in this league. But you don’t win the Super Bowl during the draft.

“Over the course of the three days [of the draft], we did some did some good things to help our football team and help the group that’s coming back. But it remains to be seen how these guys’ NFL careers will go.”

Second-round pick Brandon Cisse, a cornerback from South Carolina, seemingly has a greater opportunity given the Packers’ lack of depth at his position — something Gutekunst acknowledged in the days leading up to the draft.

But he’d have to earn a job over veteran Keisean Nixon, fourth-year man Carrington Valentine and unrestricted free agent Benjamin St-Juste. The same goes for Jackson.

Third-round pick Chris McClellan, a defensive tackle from Missouri, and fourth-round pick Dani Dennis-Sutton, an edge rusher from Penn State, have a chance to be rotational players at positions where the defense shuttles guys in-and-out throughout games.

With the starting five across the offensive line set — something LaFleur acknowledged after the draft — Burton will aim to position himself as the top backup at all three interior line spots, having played them all in college.

Then there’s former Florida kicker Trey Smack, selected in the sixth round after Gutekunst gave up both his seventh-round picks to move up to take him.

While Gutekunst and LaFleur both emphasized that Smack will have to compete for the job with veteran incumbent Brandon McManus and Lucas Havrisik, it’s hard to imagine his draft status not at least subconsciously factoring in.

“One thing we’ve done a pretty good job of here — in some ways we’ve always had a little bit of an advantage because we don’t have an owner and we’re not trying to prove something to an owner — we can just let the best players win the job,” Gutekunst explained. “That’s kind of how we’ll approach it.”

And if none of the rookies are ready for significant immediate roles, LaFleur and Gutekunst both know the team has other player acquisition avenues available.

“I think the one thing that we’ve shown and Gutey’s shown is that by no means is our roster solidified at this moment,” LaFleur said. “Things happen in this league. There’s some veterans on the street that you could potentially pick up, and we’re certainly not out of the trade market — ever. So we’re always looking at different ways that we can add value to our football team.”

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