You’re going to be shocked, but quarterback Jordan Love made the Green Bay Packers’ first roster. I’m kidding, but a lot happened today, and some of it was way more important than others. In case you haven’t been updating Twitter/X to keep up with the minute-by-minute roster reveal via the Beat’s leaks, here are the five biggest surprises from the Packers’ first 53-man roster.
Injury descriptions
The Packers placed running back AJ Dillon (neck) and tight end Tyler Davis (shoulder) on the injured list during cutdowns, which is season-ending for them. That means they can’t return to the Green Bay Packers roster this season, even if they can play for someone else. The question now is whether the team will allow Dillon and Davis to receive checks on the injured list for the entire season, or whether the team will try to reach an injury settlement with the two. An injury settlement would remove a portion of their salary for the 2024 season from the Packers’ books and allow Dillon and/or Davis to sign with another club once they are healthy enough to return to the field.
No movement for a swing tackle
ESPN’s Rob Demovksy reported yesterday that the Packers didn’t believe their Week 1 swing tackle was on the roster. Swing tackles don’t just fall out of the sky, so it was always unlikely that the team could solve that problem through waivers, which led people to believe Green Bay might be a little more active on the transfer market for a tackle. That just never happened. Unless there is news in the next few days, the team’s backup tackles for the 2024 season will be Andre Dillard, Kadeem Telfort and rookie Travis Glover. Dillard’s 2024 salary will also be fully guaranteed if he’s on the Packers’ roster in Week 1 of the regular season, as he’s a seasoned veteran. The clock is ticking.
Six defensive ends remain
For most of last season, rookie Brenton Cox Jr. was the Packers’ fifth defensive end behind Rashan Gary, Preston Smith, Lukas Van Ness and Kingsley Enagbare. He played just four defensive snaps in 2024. For that reason alone, it was surprising that Green Bay kept not only Cox, who also played just nine special teams snaps as a rookie, but also preseason standout Arron Mosby. No one is complaining about keeping a fifth defensive end as an emergency, but very few – if any – expected the Packers to put six players on the roster at that position.
Keep Zayne Anderson instead of Anthony Johnson Jr.
Perhaps the biggest surprise in the cuts was that special teams player Zayne Anderson edged out 2023 draft pick Anthony Johnson Jr. for a spot on the roster. Anderson has played 237 special teams snaps in his NFL career, but hasn’t played a single defensive snap in a regular season game, despite playing in 17. It’s kind of unfair to consider him a true safety, but the special teams body types are similar. Johnson received first-team assignments on defense as a safety well into the summer before second-round rookie Javon Bullard got the job. I guess special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia just couldn’t live without Anderson, which will likely result in Johnson being signed by another franchise.
Keep Greg Joseph
When things get tight in training camp, the Packers typically go with the younger option. That didn’t happen today with the kicker. Both Greg Joseph and Anders Carlson weren’t exactly stellar in training camp, but Green Bay opted to keep Joseph – whose contract is fully guaranteed in Week 1 of the regular season – rather than Carlson – whose contract has three more seasons left and no guarantees left in his contract. Hopefully that bet pays off. Bisaccia needs a win in the kicking game column at some point.
