With the final preseason game around the corner, let\u2019s take a look at the roster bubble players who have the most to gain or lose for the Green Bay Packers before roster cutdowns on August 26th. While we\u2019re going to be pairing players positionally for this analysis, this doesn\u2019t necessarily mean it\u2019s an either\/or situation for the pairs. The team might end up keeping two extra defensive ends, or neither, for example.<\/p>\n
Considering that the Packers have 13 players who are too injured to practice right now<\/a>, the roster is still very fluid. The number of players who eventually go on the injured reserve, either on the day of cutdowns or the day after, will impact how the roster is shaped.<\/p>\n There\u2019s no reason for the Packers to keep more than a sixth receiver on the roster, especially with Christian Watson (ACL) likely to be called up from the physically unable to perform list by around midseason. The two candidates for this (possibly temporary) sixth receiver job are Malik Heath, who made the 53-man roster last year, and Mecole Hardman, who was signed as a free agent before the draft.<\/p>\n These two receivers couldn\u2019t be more different.<\/p>\n Heath does the dirty work, playing in an Allen Lazard-like role as an outside\/slot receiver who specializes in blocking. Beyond his contributions on the offensive side (head coach Matt LaFleur LOVES good blockers on the perimeter<\/a>), Heath is also one of the few receivers whom special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia has ever trusted on the kick return unit as a blocker.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Hardman signed with the Packers when they had real questions about where speed would come from at the receiver position following Watson\u2019s injury. Since then, Green Bay has added Matthew Golden (4.29-second 40-yard dash) and Savion Williams (4.48-second 40-yard dash) as top-100 picks in April\u2019s draft. Based on how the offense has deployed Hardman with the first- and second-team units this summer, the offense\u2019s plan for Hardman seems to be to use him as a reserve slot receiver, a role that Jayden Reed starts at and Golden, Dontayvion Wicks and Heath all receive snaps at.<\/p>\n So is Hardman\u2019s upside as a punt returner alone worth the nod over Heath? In three return attempts this preseason, Hardman has earned just 10 yards, which included a muffed ball. It\u2019s getting harder and harder to justify a roster spot for that type of production, rather than just having Reed handle punts again.<\/p>\n Prior to the injuries elsewhere on the roster, it was difficult to imagine that Ben Sims, who was slowly worked out of the lineup last year by mid-season pickup John FitzPatrick, could make this team as a fourth tight end. Depending on how many players get added to the injured reserve over the next week, though, he\u2019s got a chance to come back to the 53-man roster.<\/p>\n No one is expecting much from Sims on the offensive side of the ball, but he\u2019s been a contributor on the punt team and kick return team (as a starter) in the past. In the last preseason game, Sims received reps as a punt rusher on the punt return team, a sign that the team is trying to cross-train him for more special teams reps. That\u2019s one hint that Green Bay is seriously considering hanging onto him.<\/p>\n Sims wouldn\u2019t be a sexy keep, but the Packers are going to have to find 10 blockers on the kick return unit somewhere. Beyond Chris Brooks at running back, FitzPatrick at tight end and Malik Heath at receiver, the team is getting zero special teams reps at those positions without Sims. On top of that, 300-pound linemen hardly (if ever) contribute on kick returns. There are very limited options for Green Bay as it stands today, especially if the team doesn\u2019t keep extra linebackers or defensive ends.<\/p>\n For what it\u2019s worth, the kick return touchback rate this preseason is about one-third of the rate that we saw in the regular season last year, the first year of the dynamic kickoff. With touchbacks coming out to the 35-yard line now instead of the 30-yard line, the NFL has manufactured a lot more reps on special teams with their recent rule changes. In short, the league made special teams much more influential, for two years in a row, without expanding rosters in any way. It\u2019s a good time to be a tight end.<\/p>\n The Packers will keep nine offensive linemen, but there\u2019s no good answer for who that ninth player will be now that Travis Glover is on season-ending injured reserve. Rookie draft pick John Williams is still on the physically unable to perform list for a back injury, too. Donovan Jennings is getting looks with the second-team offense as a guard, but he hasn\u2019t been performing well this preseason. Kadeem Telfort is the next man up at tackle, but is still rough around the edges, despite his 6\u20197\u201d, 322-pound frame. Don\u2019t be surprised if Green Bay looks at the waiver wire following cutdowns if neither has a standout game against the Seattle Seahawks this week.<\/p>\n Brenton Cox Jr. is currently the Packers\u2019 fourth defensive end<\/a>, behind starters Rashan Gary and Lukas Van Ness and preferred backup Kingsley Enagbare. When Green Bay took Barryn Sorrell and Collin Oliver in the middle of this year\u2019s draft, I thought it would be certain that at least one of the Packers\u2019 veteran defensive ends, Cox, Enagbare or Arron Mosby, would end up getting cut. But with both Sorrell and Oliver now hurt<\/a>, there\u2019s a chance all three could make the 53-man roster.<\/p>\n