For Rodgers, Releasing Winfree Isn’t Kumerow 2.0

Aaron Rodgers was ticked when the Packers released Jake Kumerow in 2020. He wasn’t happy about the release of Juwann Winfree on Tuesday but was much more understanding.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Aaron Rodgers looked at the Green Bay Packers’ initial roster and thought there were some better players on the practice squad than on the 53.

Not that he was upset with general manager Brian Gutekunst for releasing Juwann Winfree and keeping Samori Toure. This was not Jake Kumerow 2.0.

“We know that, at times, it’s not a meritocracy,” Rodgers said after Wednesday’s practice. “There’s extra opportunity for drafted players; that’s the way we’ve done it in Green Bay for a long time, and I’m not knocking it because I wasn’t very good my first year, either.”

Rodgers’ feud with Gutekunst, which reached its boiling-over point at the end of camp in 2020 when the Packers released Kumerow, is ancient history.

As odd as it seems considering Kumerow at the time was a 28-year-old player with 20 career catches, it was one of the transactions that served as the straw that broke the camel’s back. Malik Taylor made the team’s roster as the fifth receiver, Kumerow joined the Buffalo Bills and undrafted free agent Darius Shepherd became the next-man-up on the practice squad.

During that training camp, Rodgers made it abundantly clear that he believed Kumerow was one of the team’s best receivers. During the 2022 preseason finale, Rodgers called himself a “big fan” on Winfree, but this wasn’t quite the same situation. Plus, with his improved relationship with Gutekunst, Rodgers was more understanding of the team’s thinking.

“I think there’s always conversations between Brian and I,” Rodgers said, “and it’s definitely not the same as the situation a couple years ago, when I felt like that player was our third-best receiver on the team based on his performance in training camp. I thought Juwann had a nice training camp.”

Draft picks like Toure, who finished the preseason with a bang, “get a little bit more opportunities usually,” Rodgers said, “and if you’re an older player, you’ve got to really cement your role on the team. As a fifth, sixth, seventh receiver, you’ve got to be showing off on special teams and be a core guy there.”

Picking the roster, whether it’s the seventh receiver or 10th offensive lineman, is one part talent evaluation and one part craps player. Throughout camp, Gutekunst said he viewed the roster as 69 players – the 53 plus 16 on the practice squad. That’s because players can be elevated from the practice squad for three games before they must be added to the 53. With Winfree re-signing to the practice squad on Wednesday evening, he could wind up being ahead of Toure on the depth chart for the Week 1 game at Minnesota.

“I feel for Juwann because he’s such a great kid,” Rodgers said. “He’s been here in our room for a long time. He’s one of those guys where you have three opportunities to bring a guy up and down on the p-squad now with the new rules and, if he was on the p-squad for us, there’s a good chance he’d be activated on the 48 in the first game. That’s just the way it goes for whatever reason.”