Packers Release RBs Dexter Williams, Patrick Taylor

Aaron Jones, AJ Dillon and rookie Kylin Hill had emerged as the clear-cut trio in the backfield.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers released running backs Dexter Williams and Patrick Taylor on Tuesday as they continued along the path to creating their initial 53-man roster.

A sixth-round pick in 2019, Williams got his big chance at San Francisco last season. With AJ Dillon sidelined with COVID and Jamaal Williams out after being deemed a high-risk contact, Dexter Williams was elevated from the practice squad. He carried twice for 8 yards before suffering an injury that ended his night. He never saw the ball the rest of the season.

In seven career games, he carried seven times for 18 yards. To push for a roster spot, he needed to be much better in the passing game – as a receiver and protector – than he was at camp last year.

That didn’t happen, though, as he battled inconsistent hands. He produced as a runner, though. He carried 17 times for 82 yards, his 4.8-yard average by far the best on the team during the preseason.

“I think for him, it probably just took him a little bit longer to process the offense in the beginning, and now that he has, he doesn’t make the same mistakes and errors he used to,” running backs coach Ben Sirmans said on Sunday. “So what that has done is allowed him to play a lot faster, not get out there and think about here’s what I need to do or what’s going on. Now his awareness is a lot better so now he can play at a faster speed and make good decisions. I thought he played pretty well.”

Taylor went undrafted and sat out his rookie season following foot surgery.

While not the ideal way to start an NFL career, he kept things in perspective.

“It can always be worse, right?” Taylor said during training camp.

It was an easy perspective for Taylor. When he was 7, Hurricane Katrina brought devastation to New Orleans. The Taylors had moved from the city years before the storm struck, but a lot of family members felt Katrina’s wrath. So, his parents had about 50 people living in their home in Humble, Texas.

“That’s mostly where I got my selflessness and servant [attitude] from my parents because when they were there, we had to feed them and stuff like that,” Taylor said. “It was fun being able to spend time with our family. It was tough times for our families during that time of Hurricane Katrina, them coming down and some losing their homes.”

At the University of Memphis, Taylor emerged as a star with 546 rushing yards as a freshman, 866 yards and 13 touchdowns as a sophomore and 1,122 yards and 16 touchdowns as a junior. He entered his senior season as one of the better running back prospects for the 2020 draft. Instead, he suffered a dreaded Lisfranc foot injury in the 2019 opener. While he returned from surgery to play that season, he needed a second round of surgery after the 2020 Combine. That surgery kept him on the sideline last year.

With Hill’s emergence, Williams and Taylor spent camp fighting for the fourth spot and a potential place on the practice squad.