2026 Roster Thread - Semi-Live

[OldSchool101]

I'm curious as to what you think of the players the Packers have drafted for the OL. Do you view them as aggressive or pretty wimpy? Just a viewpoint I read on another forum.

Evening. Well the term drafted is loaded because thats encompassing the bulk of players. Possibly you are referring to GB in 2026?

I think anyone criticizing the Packers for not drafting more prospects at OL may not be considering all the players returning. GB has 2 Drafted OL adds returning from Injured Reserve.
2024 OT, Travis Glover (RD6)
2025 OT, John Williams (RD7)

Then added
2026 OG/C Jager Burton (RD5)

We’ve generally held 9 OL. Not to say we can’t go 10 etc, but that’s customary. We currently have our presumed starting 5 + Kinnard. We also have our 2024, RD5 Jacob Monk playing LG right now with Banks out. We also have 2024 Donovan Jennings who signed as a UDFA back in 2024 and started 2 games in 2025 and suffered a throat injury. So he’s going on 3 years invested.

This doesn’t even include several other OL players who we’ve invested time and $ into. So if you do the rough math? Start drafting a couple of OL and you’re literally cutting multiple OL Draft picks (not suggesting you said that but more in response to those that remarked that we “wimped out” at OL)
Erasing multiple recent draft picks or guys with Starting experience for more draft picks without starting experience doesn’t sound like a very wise GM move in a Win Now mode imo. You might might find someone in that Top 50 area who could get early starting time, but past that it’s highly speculative that a Rookie would be vying for a Starting role.

So if say Brian gambled at strengthening resources in areas of great need. CB was one of our top needs. So he 100% purposely diverted from OL unless it was going to be an absolute steal, because he’s literally flooded with resource at OL. Imo His goal shouldn’t be to overlap multiple draft picks with more multiple draft picks all at one position group.

I would love to know who these “experts” would’ve picked at OL over Cisse or McClellen or Dani Sutton. Who was so much better at OL that they would’ve negated those players?

 

[milani]

lol you inflate my belief in him a little more each time.

I did see that too.

9ers like the 2 TE sets especially when running or screening to CMC. Their O line has to improve this year. Seattle shut their running game down better than most teams I saw.

 

[Poppa San]

Zach Tom

Programming note: He's legally changing his last name.

On Sunday, Aug. 2, Tom let it be known that he is in the process of changing his last name to mirror that of his grandparents more closely, with his new nameplate reading Bako-Bewele.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...ew-last-name-packers-bako-bewele/91142233007/

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

lol you inflate my belief in him a little more each time.

I did see that too.

Oh come on, I saw your Jace Jammies!

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Programming note: He's legally changing his last name.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...ew-last-name-packers-bako-bewele/91142233007/

Damn, you took the fun out of posting that "Zach Tom" is no longer a Packer!.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Did they have any influence on Zach's name change?

You must be logged in to see this image or video!

 

[GreenBaySlacker]

Evening. Well the term drafted is loaded because thats encompassing the bulk of players. Possibly you are referring to GB in 2026?

I think anyone criticizing the Packers for not drafting more prospects at OL may not be considering all the players returning. GB has 2 Drafted OL adds returning from Injured Reserve.
2024 OT, Travis Glover (RD6)
2025 OT, John Williams (RD7)

Then added
2026 OG/C Jager Burton (RD5)

We’ve generally held 9 OL. Not to say we can’t go 10 etc, but that’s customary. We currently have our presumed starting 5 + Kinnard. We also have our 2024, RD5 Jacob Monk playing LG right now with Banks out. We also have 2024 Donovan Jennings who signed as a UDFA back in 2024 and started 2 games in 2025 and suffered a throat injury. So he’s going on 3 years invested.

This doesn’t even include several other OL players who we’ve invested time and $ into. So if you do the rough math? Start drafting a couple of OL and you’re literally cutting multiple OL Draft picks (not suggesting you said that but more in response to those that remarked that we “wimped out” at OL)
Erasing multiple recent draft picks or guys with Starting experience for more draft picks without starting experience doesn’t sound like a very wise GM move in a Win Now mode imo. You might might find someone in that Top 50 area who could get early starting time, but past that it’s highly speculative that a Rookie would be vying for a Starting role.

So if say Brian gambled at strengthening resources in areas of great need. CB was one of our top needs. So he 100% purposely diverted from OL unless it was going to be an absolute steal, because he’s literally flooded with resource at OL. Imo His goal shouldn’t be to overlap multiple draft picks with more multiple draft picks all at one position group.

I would love to know who these “experts” would’ve picked at OL over Cisse or McClellen or Dani Sutton. Who was so much better at OL that they would’ve negated those players?

Dang good points. I noticed the trend that the Offensive and defensive lines have a fairly high percentage of high quality starters who are drafted 4th, 5th rounds. But along with that, it does take most of their rookie contracts to develope into those high quality starters.

So with those trends in mind. Here we have 5th rounder Monk entering his 3rd year. Burton 5th rounder coming in green, but showing early potential.

Belton the 2nd rounder starting year two. Rhyan 3rd rounder starting year 3 or 4 is it? And Morgan 1st rounder starting year 3.

You mention late round/undrafted guys like Glover, Williams, and Jennings , who are all again entering that 2nd or 3rd year where they grow into their NFL big boy shoes.

 

[OldSchool101]

Dang good points. I noticed the trend that the Offensive and defensive lines have a fairly high percentage of high quality starters who are drafted 4th, 5th rounds. But along with that, it does take most of their rookie contracts to develope into those high quality starters.

So with those trends in mind. Here we have 5th rounder Monk entering his 3rd year. Burton 5th rounder coming in green, but showing early potential.

Belton the 2nd rounder starting year two. Rhyan 3rd rounder starting year 3 or 4 is it? And Morgan 1st rounder starting year 3.

You mention late round/undrafted guys like Glover, Williams, and Jennings , who are all again entering that 2nd or 3rd year where they grow into their NFL big boy shoes.

Exactly. I think there’s probably many more students of the game of football than there are Professors of Pro Football. Often when I see criticism like she came across in another forum? it’s out of unplaced frustration over past losses, which I totally understand. We’re all let down at times and sometimes throwing our frustration around loosely.

I think most of us that follow our team closer than average would agree that had Jenkins and Tom not injured? that would’ve left Sean at his natural position, instead of injecting a Rookie at RG (Belton) who played mostly Tackle in College if I recall.
Injuries hurt us a little more than average because the guys behind the front 5 were banged up also. Heck we probably only had a handful of OL that didn’t miss time to injuries last season It happens.

Luckily we’ve got more fresh OL bodies in 2026 to withstand an injury or 2. Even if someone like Aaron Banks or Sean went down, I feel like our depth is somewhat better with Jennings, Monk, Glover or Jager etc. I just don’t see where another couple 2026 draft picks were going to come in and steal the show on OL.

 

[DoURant]

Damn, you took the fun out of posting that "Zach Tom" is no longer a Packer!.

So are we going to refer to Zach as ZBB... or the man formerly known as Zach Tom?

 

[Voyageur]

Evening. Well the term drafted is loaded because thats encompassing the bulk of players. Possibly you are referring to GB in 2026?

I think anyone criticizing the Packers for not drafting more prospects at OL may not be considering all the players returning. GB has 2 Drafted OL adds returning from Injured Reserve.
2024 OT, Travis Glover (RD6)
2025 OT, John Williams (RD7)

Then added
2026 OG/C Jager Burton (RD5)

We’ve generally held 9 OL. Not to say we can’t go 10 etc, but that’s customary. We currently have our presumed starting 5 + Kinnard. We also have our 2024, RD5 Jacob Monk playing LG right now with Banks out. We also have 2024 Donovan Jennings who signed as a UDFA back in 2024 and started 2 games in 2025 and suffered a throat injury. So he’s going on 3 years invested.

This doesn’t even include several other OL players who we’ve invested time and $ into. So if you do the rough math? Start drafting a couple of OL and you’re literally cutting multiple OL Draft picks (not suggesting you said that but more in response to those that remarked that we “wimped out” at OL)
Erasing multiple recent draft picks or guys with Starting experience for more draft picks without starting experience doesn’t sound like a very wise GM move in a Win Now mode imo. You might might find someone in that Top 50 area who could get early starting time, but past that it’s highly speculative that a Rookie would be vying for a Starting role.

So if say Brian gambled at strengthening resources in areas of great need. CB was one of our top needs. So he 100% purposely diverted from OL unless it was going to be an absolute steal, because he’s literally flooded with resource at OL. Imo His goal shouldn’t be to overlap multiple draft picks with more multiple draft picks all at one position group.

I would love to know who these “experts” would’ve picked at OL over Cisse or McClellen or Dani Sutton. Who was so much better at OL that they would’ve negated those players?

Interesting perspective. True on investment. You have the bodies on the OL, make it work, and if necessary, dump some and hit the FA market after cutdowns.

 

[OldSchool101]

Interesting perspective. True on investment. You have the bodies on the OL, make it work, and if necessary, dump some and hit the FA market after cutdowns.

Now that’s another aspect I was going to offer. I could see GB working a trade deal also. Like a RD7 2027 draft pick + a young player like John Williams in exchange for a better depth piece. On the level of another “Kinnard” or someone who would be competing as the primary next guy up at Guard etc.., but a guy we’d have a combined season worth of Starting experience and is in a cheaper, contract year. That I could see.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Packers sign 2 more TE's. McCallan Castles and Drew Biber.

Unless I missed something, including the international player, the Packers now have 10 tight ends on their 91-player roster. By the end of Monday, only three were available.

10 tight ends! But just one kicker?

Castles and Biber join these 8 TE's

• Tucker Kraft

• Luke Musgrave (PUP list)

• Josh Whyle

• Drake Dabney

• Luke Lachey

• Messiah Swinson

• RJ Maryland

• Thomas Yassmin

 

[Voyageur]

Packers sign 2 more TE's. McCallan Castles and Drew Biber.

Unless I missed something, including the international player, the Packers now have 10 tight ends on their 91-player roster. By the end of Monday, only three were available.

10 tight ends! But just one kicker?

Castles and Biber join these 8 TE's

• Tucker Kraft
• Luke Musgrave (PUP list)
• Josh Whyle
• Drake Dabney
• Luke Lachey
• Messiah Swinson
• RJ Maryland
• Thomas Yassmin

I'm getting the impression that Musgrave's neck injury is either more severe than the Packers want to admit, or they've decided he's probably not going to be on the roster this year and they'll let him go via free agency when the season is over. Why else would you have such open auditions at a position? Just guessing on my part but we do know that neck injuries have ended a lot of football careers early.

 

[Voyageur]

Just ended a phone call with a friend who has info inside the Packers camp. It looks like we have a solid LT. Morgan is playing lights out. On another note, Kraft looks stronger than he did at this time last year. Also mentioned that there does seem to be some concern within the Packers brain trust about Smack's lack of consistency.

Another point he made was that they're tight lipped on what's happening with Musgrave. He took it to mean that they honestly don't know how severe his neck injury is, and if it's career ending, short term, or would keep him from playing all year.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

I'm getting the impression that Musgrave's neck injury is either more severe than the Packers want to admit, or they've decided he's probably not going to be on the roster this year and they'll let him go via free agency when the season is over. Why else would you have such open auditions at a position? Just guessing on my part but we do know that neck injuries have ended a lot of football careers early.

Agree on Musgrave.

I also heard that RJ Maryland and Luke Lachey are probably being waived with injuries.

Might be time for Gute to sign a FA TE like Jonnu Smith.

 

[Pkrjones]

Agree on Musgrave.

I also heard that RJ Maryland and Luke Lachey are probably being waived with injuries.

Might be time for Gute to sign a FA TE like Jonnu Smith.

No thanks on Jonnu Smith. Kraft & Whyle will get the bulk of TE snaps in '26. Need camp bodies, right now, not an expensive 1-trick pony.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

No thanks on Jonnu Smith. Kraft & Whyle will get the bulk of TE snaps in '26. Need camp bodies, right now, not an expensive 1-trick pony.

What are the odds that both Kraft and Whyle stay healthy all 17+ games?

Whyle is an ok 3rd TE, not a #2 IMO.

In other news, according to Andy Herman, DT Anthony Campbell has been turning a lot of heads and is one of the biggest surprises in practices thus far. Just practice, but it's a position we need improvement at!

​

 

[GreenBaySlacker]

Agree on Musgrave.

I also heard that RJ Maryland and Luke Lachey are probably being waived with injuries.

Might be time for Gute to sign a FA TE like Jonnu Smith.

Yea I seen a couple hit IR released.

 

[milani]

Packers sign 2 more TE's. McCallan Castles and Drew Biber.

Unless I missed something, including the international player, the Packers now have 10 tight ends on their 91-player roster. By the end of Monday, only three were available.

10 tight ends! But just one kicker?

Castles and Biber join these 8 TE's

• Tucker Kraft
• Luke Musgrave (PUP list)
• Josh Whyle
• Drake Dabney
• Luke Lachey
• Messiah Swinson
• RJ Maryland
• Thomas Yassmin

Just dawned on me that Gute may have signed several of these to convert to place kickers. Why not?

 

[OldSchool101]

Just dawned on me that Gute may have signed several of these to convert to place kickers. Why not?

Right now I’d trade 5 TE’s for 1 good Kicker! As long as it’s not Tucker

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

I think it is telling that MLF has told that whomever is monitoring FG/XP attempts, that they should not signal whether the attempt was successful or not. Reporters, many who don't have a great angle to determine the results, weren't really impressed with Matt's decision on this.

Might be minor, but this is a pet peeve of mine with Matt. He does these little passive aggressive things, because he wants to control the narrative. I get it Matt, this is your team, but if you want to **** off fans, I guess that is your call too.

 

[tynimiller]

I think it is telling that MLF has told that whomever is monitoring FG/XP attempts, that they should not signal whether the attempt was successful or not. Reporters, many who don't have a great angle to determine the results, weren't really impressed with Matt's decision on this.

Might be minor, but this is a pet peeve of mine with Matt. He does these little passive aggressive things, because he wants to control the narrative. I get it Matt, this is your team, but if you want to **** off fans, I guess that is your call too.

It's also extermeley ignorant the way many write however centering the issue on Smack...I mean shoot if yesterday's demonstration on just the holder's responsibility of angle and hold specifics doesn't help people understand it is VASTLY more complex of a process than just "make the kicks Smack" I don't think they ever will. I believe we have a different long snapper right now too someone said.