Most Important Packers – 60-64: Veteran Starter on Chopping Block?

Part 4 of our 90-to-1 countdown of the Green Bay Packers’ roster includes a pair of former draft picks and the latest kicking combatant.

Green Bay Packers guard Royce Newman (70) blocks Seattle Seahawks defensive end Jordan Ferguson (42) during their preseason game last year. / Wm. Glasheen/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers will take a 90-man roster to the field for the first practice of training camp on July 22.

Here is Part 4 of our ranking of the most important players on the Packers’ roster. This isn’t just a listing of the team’s best players. These rankings consider talent, importance of the position, depth at the position, salary and draft history. More than anything, we hope you learn something about each player.

No. 64: G Royce Newman

A fourth-round pick in 2021, Newman has played a lot of football for the Packers. However, he’ll be fighting for his job during training camp.

As a rookie, he started the first 16 games but found himself on the bench for the playoffs. In 2022, he started the first six games before he was benched. In 2023, he started two games in place of injured Elgton Jenkins but eventually fell behind Sean Rhyan on the depth chart. 

Why? In 120 pass-protecting snaps, Pro Football Focus charged Newman with one sack and 10 total pressures. In 102 pass-protecting snaps, Rhyan was charged with zero sacks and five pressures.

In three seasons, Newman has started 24 games and played 1,718 offensive snaps. However, after three years of not-good-enough performance and with the addition of three rookies in this year’s draft, it might be the end of the line.

No. 63: WR Samori Toure

Speaking of former draft picks who will be fighting for his job, Toure will be facing a do-or-die training camp.

A seventh-round pick in 2022, Toure didn’t make much of an impact as a rookie with five catches in 11 games. Called “Captain Casual” by Aaron Rodgers as a rookie, Toure was one of the most-hyped players last offseason. “He looks unbelievable right now,” assistant coach Jason Vrable said at the time.

Those turned into little more than empty words. While Toure made the 53-man roster ahead of Bo Melton, he wound up 12th on the team with eight receptions. He was a healthy scratch for five games and ended the season on injured reserve. After playing 77 snaps in the first three games, Toure played 62 the rest of the season.

The Packers have one of the deepest receiver corps in the NFL. The late-season emergence of Melton and the physicality of Malik Heath seemingly would give them a firm grip of the fifth and sixth spots on the depth chart.

No. 62: RB Emanuel Wilson

Wilson was one of the great stories of training camp last year. Now, he’ll have to do it again.

Wilson went undrafted in 2023. After a short stint with the Denver Broncos, he joined the Packers and wound up leading the NFL in rushing yards to run away with a spot on the 53-man roster.

Pun intended.

Stuck behind Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon, Wilson had nine carries in the first nine games. When Jones suffered a knee injury against the Chargers on Nov. 19, the door was open for Wilson to grab a bigger role. Instead, a couple plays later, he suffered a shoulder injury and wound up on injured reserve.

Wilson wound up with 14 carries for 85 yards, highlighted by a 31-yarder against the Rams. He broke one tackle. In 12 playoff carries, he broke a tackle against the Cowboys and another against the 49ers.

To break through on a depth chart headlined by former rushing leader Josh Jacobs, Dillon and third-round pick MarShawn Lloyd, Wilson will have to run with that type of physicality again.

No. 61: TE Tyler Davis

The Packers last year used a second-round pick on Luke Musgrave and a third-round pick on Tucker Kraft. Nonetheless, losing Davis to a torn ACL during the preseason was a big loss.

“I feel like to some degree we lost our right hand, you know?” special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia said at the time.

It’s simplistic but worth noting that the Packers went from 22nd in Rick Gosselin’s special teams rankings with Davis in 2022 to 29th without him in 2023. In 2022, Davis was a key blocker for All-Pro returner Keisean Nixon and ranked fourth on the team with 10 special-teams tackles.

The Packers re-signed him to a one-year contract. He’ll be ready to roll for the start of training camp. 

Musgrave and Kraft are perhaps the best young tight end duo in the NFL. Without Davis, another rookie, Ben Sims, emerged as a key role player. So, while the door might be closed for him to be a regular contributor on offense, Bisaccia is thrilled to get back a core member of his group.

“We’re just excited, not only for Tyler but organizationally, to get him back, what he brings spirit-wise, what he brings energy-wise, his ability to play multiple positions for us in the kicking game,” Bisaccia said before the start of OTAs. “I know they’re excited about getting him back on offense, as well.”

No. 60: K James Turner

At the start of the offseason, the Packers kicked off a three-man kicking battle featuring incumbent Anders Carlson, veteran Greg Joseph and rookie Jack Podlesny.

Would that continue into training camp?

“I don’t know the answer to that,” Bisaccia said before OTAs. “It might be those three. It might be three other ones. I don’t know. It might be six.”

It’s still a three-man battle, but the Packers swapped out Podlesny for Turner, who made 18-of-21 field-goal attempts in 2023 to help Michigan win the national championship.

“He’s cool as a cucumber, stoic,” Wolverines special teams coordinator Jay Harbaugh said before the playoff win against Alabama.

Turner went undrafted and spent most of the offseason for the Lions; he was released when they signed UFL star Jake Bates.

Turner will be given every opportunity to win the kicking battle. After all, had Carlson or Joseph crushed the offseason, the Packers might not have felt the need to add another kicker.

As LaFleur said during OTAs: “I think all those guys have had their own moments where they’ve kind of won the day and it’s a tight battle.”

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