Winn Hoping to Make Comeback with Packers

The Packers added offensive tackle Ryan Pope and defensive lineman Billy Winn to their practice squad.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers tinkered with their practice squad before Wednesday’s practice. They added offensive tackle Ryan Pope and defensive lineman Billy Winn and released defensive lineman Daylon Mack.

Winn (6-4, 305) is in his eighth season and is trying to make a major comeback after missing the last three seasons. He missed all of 2017 with a torn ACL, MCL and meniscus sustained in the preseason opener.

“I felt all three pops,” he told the Denver Post of the knee injury. “It was one of those moments where it’s, ‘Oh, (bleep).’ I just knew something wasn’t right.”

The injury kept Winn out of a camp in 2018 and he re-signed with Denver in April 2019 in hopes of restarting his career.

“It’s definitely going to be tough, but anybody who knows me knows I’m a competitor and will do anything and everything to get where I want to be,” Winn told the Denver Post. “If it doesn’t happen, there are 31 other teams I’m building a resume for.”

Instead, he suffered a torn triceps during the preseason opener and wound up back on injured reserve. The Broncos released him in March.

A sixth-round pick by Cleveland in 2012 out of Boise State, Winn has played in 68 games with 23 starts, including two starts with Denver when he last played in 2016. At 6-foot-4 and 305 pounds, he has three sacks, two forced fumbles and two interceptions in his career.

Pope, a first-year player out of San Diego State, went undrafted in 2019 and signed with the Detroit Lions as a college free agent. He spent his first training camp with the Lions and parts of the regular season on the practice squads of the San Francisco 49ers and Jacksonville Jaguars. Pope spent training camp with the Jaguars this summer but failed to make the roster.

Pope (6-7, 320) was the only Aztec to start all 13 games on a battered offensive line in 2018. He started the first 10 at right tackle before moving to left tackle for the final three games of the campaign. He was a second-team all-Mountain West performer. He also started at right tackle as a junior. Pope started his career at Long Beach City College in 2014. He went the juco route because he played only one year of high school football.