Five under-the-radar players vying for spots on Packers roster

These guys haven't been talked about much; that should change based on their strong training camps.

The Green Bay Packers will kick off the preseason tonight against the Houston Texans. While the regular season doesn’t start for four weeks, 11 of the 20 practices have been conducted. In other words, for the players battling for roster spots, time is running out.

These five players, who haven’t been talked about enough through the first two weeks of camp, have made a strong case.

QB Manny Wilkins

DeShone Kizer and Tim Boyle have been treading water in the race to be Aaron Rodgers’ backup. Wilkins, an undrafted rookie from Arizona State, maybe hasn’t done well enough to be the No. 2, but he’s done well enough to be the No. 3. He had one of the plays of Family Night with his deep completion to receiver Trevor Davis.

Remember, Kizer and Boyle weren’t picked for coach Matt LaFleur’s scheme. Wilkins, on the other hand, came to Green Bay on a predraft visit and hit it off with the new coach. A three-year starter at Arizona State, Wilkins completed 63.2 percent of his passes and rushed for 1,035 yards. During his final two seasons, he had an outstanding 40 touchdowns vs. 14 interceptions.

“What makes a quarterback great is simply just delivering the ball to dudes and letting them run after the catch,” he said. “That is the biggest thing. Putting the ball in your playmakers’ hands and giving them an opportunity to make something happen after the catch. The big plays are when you run a frickin’ drive concept and you throw a shallow on your seventh step and it’s man-to-man and he’s running away from a guy and he takes off for 60 yards. Being accurate with the football and making smart decisions is the biggest thing.”

RB Tra Carson

Obviously, Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams are the top dogs in the backfield and the team used a sixth-round pick on Dexter Williams. This is Carson’s fourth training camp; in his three years in the NFL, he’s had three stints on injured reserve and never touched the ball in a regular-season game. But at 5-foot-11 and 226 pounds, his size would provide a different element in the backfield.

“I’m a one-cut guy. I’m not trying to do too much wiggling and all that. I’m not into all that,” Carson said. But he wants to show that he’s more than just a big guy. “I just try to be every down and I can do a little bit of everything. I don’t want to limit myself to being a power guy. I try to do everything they ask me – run routes and catch the ball and show them that I’m a complete back.”

Carson missed Tuesday’s practice with back spasms, putting his availability for tonight in jeopardy. When he’s had the ball in camp, he’s shown an impressive ability to explode through the hole.

“I think he’s really stepping up,” Rodgers said. “I think he put himself in a good position this offseason. Whatever his training regimen was, he came back and looked maybe a little leaner, a little quicker. He has just such a great pace when he’s running the ball that allows him to one cut and get downhill. And then he does a good job out of the backfield. He catches the ball well. He ran a really nice option route (Monday) against man coverage. I think he’s really stepping up the last couple of days and getting noticed by everybody.”

WR Darrius Shepherd

After the draft, the Packers had nine receivers on their roster. Shepherd was not among them. An undrafted, unsigned free agent out of North Dakota State, Shepherd’s opportunity came as a tryout player at the rookie camp.

“Going into that tryout, I just wanted to make a first impression and be consistent and show my skill-set, and hope for the best,” he said. “I was lucky enough to get signed here and am thankful for the opportunity.”

Getting an opportunity is one thing. Taking advantage is another. Other than Davante Adams and Jake Kumerow, Shepherd might be the most productive receiver through the first couple weeks of camp. That’s merited him some first-team reps and opportunities to catch passes from Rodgers.

“I really like Shep,” Rodgers said. “I think he’s done a great job. We’ve been featuring him mostly in the slot. He’s got some really good short-area quickness, he can separate, he can double-up on guys, run some of those choice routes, and you don’t see a lot of mental mistakes from him. For such a young player, I think that’s pretty impressive. He comes in each and every day ready to work, he’s attentive in the meetings and he’s got the answers. I think he’s done a nice job.”

As a senior, Shepherd caught 62 passes for 1,065 yards and nine touchdowns. All of that production came from the slot, a position manned the past several seasons by Randall Cobb. According to Pro Football Focus, he ranked third in the entire draft class with 4.02 yards per slot route. Plus, he averaged 13.1 yards per punt return for his career. Sure, that comes with the obvious asterisk of the Bison’s FCS competition, but Shepherd has shown he can beat NFL defensive backs – like he did Jaire Alexander for a touchdown at practice this week.

“There’s a lot of great receivers in our room and I’m trying to take pieces and bits of their game and add it to mine,” he said. “It’s really cool to be around elite receivers. For me, it’s coming in each day, knowing the playbook and making a big play every day. Like I said, I keep using the same word, but it’s being consistent and taking it one rep at a time and trying to win every time I’m out there on the field.”

OT Alex Light

Light, of course, is under the radar no more. With Jason Spriggs waived/injured, Light is the clear front-runner to be the team’s No. 3 offensive tackle.

Light was a three-year starter at Richmond who went undrafted in 2018. Almost universally, NFL teams viewed him as a guard or center. The Packers, however, liked Light at tackle. The potential to play on the edge kept him on the roster all season. Light played 26 snaps in three games. Of those, 25 came at right guard – including 23 in the finale, a week after serving a one-game suspension for violating the NFL’s substance-abuse policy.

“Probably just because I was a bigger guy,” Light said of what teams missed. “I think I was around 320 so I couldn’t move my feet as well. Now, I’m lighter and feel more athletic, so I can get out there and set, be in space. I just feel comfortable, having one year underneath my belt and getting used to the competition.”

Light says he’s down to about 298 pounds. He’s eating four or five times a day and snacks frequently but has eliminated sweets from his diet. “No cheat days,” he said. Without 20 excess pounds, Light feels natural in LaFleur’s outside zone game, a scheme that favors athletic blockers.

If Light plays well in these preseason games, the No. 3 job is probably his. If not, the Packers almost certainly will be shopping for tackle help.

“Right now, I feel the best I’ve ever felt in my life,” he said. “Joint-wise, health-wise, muscles – I feel strong, flexible, athletic.”

LB Curtis Bolton

The Packers used a seventh-round pick on Ty Summers but it’s been Bolton, not Summers, who’s spent training camp paired with James Crawford on the second team.

In three seasons at Oklahoma, Bolton played in 20 games, started zero and recorded 16 tackles. As a senior, he won a starting job and piled up 139 tackles, including 4.5 sacks and 12 tackles for losses. At 6-foot and 228 pounds, Bolton ran his 40 in 4.59 seconds at OU’s pro day. He took a predraft visit to Green Bay, went undrafted and signed with the Packers with a $7,000 bonus. Using that athleticism, whether’s it as a coverage linebacker or on special teams, will determine whether he makes the 53-man roster.

“I think I’ve shown how rangy I am,” Bolton said after Family Night. “I’m able to man cover out of the backfield and I feel like I’m an excellent blitzer from off the edge or the interior. I think I’ve got a good combination of speed and power. I know this is a team that likes playing a lot of DBs and a lot of DBs in the box. If I can show I can run like a DB and hit like a linebacker, I think I can make a home for myself here. That’s the mentality I had coming in. That’s what I think the coaching staff is starting to see, with how rangy I am and how athletic I am. It’s led to me getting more reps in practice.”

Bolton, who missed Tuesday’s practice with a groin injury, has done his best to tune out the depth chart and his standing ahead of a draft pick.

“I try not to look at the media and the depth charts,” he said. “At the end of the day, I try to put my cleats on, put my pads on and go out there and put the best practice I can put up and the best film I can put out there. When you start getting caught up in that stuff, I feel like it just engulfs you. I try to keep the main thing the main thing, put my blinders on and play the best football I can.”