Packers Adding Veteran WR Roberts to Practice Squad

Seth Roberts, who put up strong numbers in the slot for the Raiders from 2015 through 2018, was released by Carolina on Monday.

Bill Huber | Oct 26, 2020

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers have added an experienced slot receiver.

No, general manager Brian Gutekunst didn’t swing a trade with Houston for Randall Cobb.

As first reported by ESPN.com’s Rob Demovsky, the Packers are signing 29-year-old receiver Seth Roberts to a practice-squad deal. According to a source, Roberts will fly into Green Bay on Tuesday to begin Day 1 of six days of COVID-19 testing.

Roberts, who entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent out of West Alabama in 2014, was released by the Carolina Panthers earlier in the day.

It didn’t take long for him to find a landing spot.

In playing 63 of 64 games with the Oakland Raiders from 2015 through 2018 and 15 of 16 games with the Baltimore Ravens in 2019, Roberts caught 179 passes for 2,097 yards and 15 touchdowns. That’s a five-year average of 36 receptions, 419 yards and three touchdowns.

In free agency this past offseason, Roberts signed a one-year, $3.75 million deal with Carolina that included a $600,000 signing bonus. He played in all seven games but caught only four passes for 31 yards and averaged just 13.3 snaps. He played 19 snaps on Sunday against New Orleans but was not targeted.

In 2018 with the Raiders, he caught a career-high 45 passes for 494 yards. According to Pro Football Focus, the bulk of that production – 30 receptions, 346 yards and one touchdown – came from the slot. From 2015 through 2017, 103 of his 113 receptions came from the slot.

The Packers haven’t had a slot threat since Cobb departed following the 2018 season. Among the team’s receivers, Davante Adams has a team-high 14 receptions from the slot. Allen Lazard, who’s on injured reserve, is next with six. Marquez Valdes-Scantling has four. All told, the Packers’ receivers have caught 30 passes from the slot. Three individuals have more this season.

Assuming Roberts gets through the COVID testing without a hitch, he’ll be on the practice field during the short week leading up to the game at San Francisco on Thursday, Nov. 5. After an extended weekend off, the Packers presumably will have four practices for the Nov. 15 game against Jacksonville.

At a pro day before the 2014 draft, Roberts measured 6-foot-1 5/8 and ran his 40 in 4.44 seconds.

Published Oct 26, 2020

BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.