Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Packer Plus
ANALYSIS
Packers still have unresolved issues
Green Bay — The Green Bay Packers had a big hole in their roster at backup left tackle going into training camp, and it’s still there now that they’ve cut their roster to 53.
They’d hoped third-year pro Alex Light might have improved enough to win the role as David Bakhtiari’s backup, but it didn’t happen. Light was among their cuts Saturday, and even if he returns on the practice squad, the Packers never would have exposed him to the waiver wire if he was their No. 2.
Instead, general manager Brian Gutekunst kept a younger and far more interesting left-tackle prospect in Yosh Nijman, an undrafted rookie from 2019. On paper, Nijman (6-7, 314 pounds) is the top backup left tackle, but he’s still very much on the raw side after spending most of camp on the physically unable to perform list.
He really is an intriguing prospect for a guy who entered the league undrafted and again showed on his return from PUP last week that he has quick feet for a player with his great height and length. But with his limited time in camp, you have to question whether he’d be ready to play if Bakhtiari were injured, especially early in the season.
So what will Gutekunst and coach Matt LaFleur do if Bakhtiari can’t finish a game, or worse has to miss multiple games because of an injury, like he did in 2017 (four games, ankle injury)? What if they don’t think Nijman is ready?
Billy Turner, a right tackle and guard, has one career start at left tackle and could bump out there. Right guard Lane Taylor put in a credible performance at left tackle in the last of the four games Bakhtiari missed in ’17, so he too could be an option.
But outside looking in, it’s hard not to wonder if the best choice would be Elgton Jenkins, the starting left guard who appears to be under consideration to start at right tackle with Turner’s status for this week in doubt.
The 2019 second-round pick has proven to be an excellent athlete and very good player from his first day in camp last year. He brings to mind former Packers lineman Mike Flanagan, who despite being a center by trade bumped out to left tackle for the second half of the 2002 season and held up just fine at the offensive line’s toughest position.
At Mississippi State, Jenkins made five of his 34 starts at left tackle (he also had 26 starts at center, two at left guard and one at right tackle). In a pinch, he might be the Packers’ best option at a position they did not fill in training camp.
Here are a few other observations after the Packers’ cuts:
● Jake Kumerow’s release was surprising based solely on the way Aaron Rodgers and LaFleur praised him late in camp. After Rodgers described Kumerow as essentially the No. 4 receiver in a recent interview on SiriusXM NFL Radio, it seemed almost a given Kumerow was on the team.
But Gutekunst’s decision to cut Kumerow is hardly a stunner. The GM needed to get more dynamic at receiver, and keeping Malik Taylor over Kumerow was a small attempt at doing that, even if it was at the bottom of the playing rotation.
Taylor, who spent last season on the Packers’ practice squad after going undrafted out of Ferris State, has decent size (6-11⁄8, 211) and according to NFL Draft Scout ran the 40 in 4.46 seconds twice at his pro day workout in ’19. Kumerow, while taller (6-41⁄2), ran 4.54 at his pro day and wasn’t as explosive in the vertical jump (31 inches to Taylor’s 36). Taylor is just a little more dynamic a player as part of a receiver corps that has several players with Kumerow’s size.
Same goes for Gutekunst cutting second-year receiver Darrius Shepherd. There was plenty to like about Shepherd, who ended up on their practice squad. Just like last year in camp, he looked smart and instinctive, got open regularly and usually caught the ball over the past three weeks.
But Shepherd is short (5-101⁄2 at is pro day), and for a small receiver isn’t explosive (4.61 40, 361⁄2 vertical). His limited catch radius showed up a couple times in camp practices. Gutekunst went with Taylor’s potential.
● Plenty of teams kept only two quarterbacks on their 53, but for the Packers it was a no-brainer to keep three.
Though Jordan Love is a first-round pick, the Packers have made clear in word and deed that Tim Boyle is their No. 2 this season, and rightfully so. The third-year pro has shown he belongs in the big leagues. He has prototypical size (6-4, 232), a major-league arm and is a good athlete (4.77 40, 351⁄2-inch vertical). In camp the last three weeks he displayed command of the offense, and while he’s mainly a pocket passer, does have enough speed and athleticism to break the pocket.
Boyle’s undistinguished college career did little to suggest he could make it in this league, and you never know if a guy can play that position fast enough to win real games until he actually has to do it week after week. But based on this year’s camp Boyle looks like a legit No. 2 quarterback in the NFL and is way ahead of Love at this point.
● For most of camp Tim Williams looked like the top candidate for the Packers’ No. 4 spot at outside linebacker, but Gutekunst cut the fourth-year pro Saturday.
Williams had pedigree (281⁄2 sacks in his final two seasons at Alabama, thirdround pick for Baltimore) but ended up with the Packers the second half of last season after flaming out with the Ravens (two sacks in 19 games). He had his moments in camp, but two younger players flashed similar pass-rush ability, seventh-round pick Jonathan Garvin and first-year pro Randy Ramsey.
By going with the two younger players — Garvin is 21 and Ramsey 24, whereas Williams is probably as good as he’s going to get at 26 — Gutekunst saved about $250,000 in salary-cap room.
That doesn’t sound like much, but every dollar saved on this year’s cap carries over to next year, when the cap could plummet to as low as $175 million (from $198 million this year) because of revenue lost to the pandemic.