Packers Sign Massive Mack to Practice Squad

This will be Daylon Mack's fourth team in a span of about 40 days.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – For Daylon Mack, maybe the fourth time will be the charm.

Certainly, the Green Bay Packers hope so.

The Packers signed the massive defensive tackle on Wednesday night, a source told Packer Central on Thursday morning. The transaction was first reported late Wednesday by ESPN.com’s Rob Demovsky. He arrived in Green Bay on Monday, went through two days of COVID-19 testing and worked out Wednesday.

The team announced the transaction on Thursday, with Mack and running back Dexter Williams added to the practice squad and not the 53-man roster. They released offensive lineman Alex Light and running back Damarea Crockett to make room.

The active roster remains a man short at 52 players.

Defensive line might be the weakest position group on the team. General manager Brian Gutekunst neither drafted one nor signed one in free agency, leaving the team with the same quintet that wasn’t good enough last season. Moreover, while disappointing Montravius Adams returned to practice in limited fashion on Wednesday, his toe injury leaves him iffy for Sunday’s season-opening game at the run-first Minnesota Vikings.

Could Mack help right away?

"I think that’s something that we’ll evaluate when he gets in here and we see him practice," coach Matt LaFleur said before Thursday's practice.

This will be Mack’s fourth team in a span of about 40 days. At 6-foot-1 and 336 pounds, Mack was drafted by Baltimore in the fifth round of the 2019 draft and played nine defensive snaps in his one and only game of his rookie season before going on injured reserve (knee) for the final eight games of the season. The Ravens released him on Aug. 1 and the Lions claimed him off waivers the following day. He lasted six days in Detroit before he was released again on Aug. 8. The Giants picked him up on Aug. 17 but he failed to make the roster.

A five-star recruit, Mack was a regular starter through his four seasons at Texas A&M. He had 9.5 tackles for losses as a freshman, a combined total of 7.5 as a sophomore and junior, and 10 as a senior, when he recorded 5.5 of his eight career sacks. He chalked up the lull in production to his parents’ divorce. A team service trip to Haiti helped him clear his mind for his senior year.

“It made me not take things for granted as much,” he said at the 2019 Scouting Combine. “It was my second time going. It was definitely more impactful than the first time, honestly.”

His favorite thing about football is “hitting people … I’m not going to lie.” Mack described his game as explosive, strong and smart.

“I'm passionate about the game. I love playing. This season is probably the most passionate I've been about football,” he said. “I really love taking it through the guys I have this year. I had just been there so long. We had all been there for a while together, so we were really a tight group this year.”