The 90 to 1 Green Bay Packers roster countdown: No. 34 – Robert Tonyan

Robert Tonyan continues to easily hold off third-round pick Jace Sternberger.

The Green Bay Packers, and their 90 players on the roster, are in the midst of their first training camp under coach Matt LaFleur. In an annual tradition from my 11 years at Packer Report, I rank the players in order of importance from No. 90 to No. 1. This isn’t just a listing of the team’s best players. Our rankings take into account talent, importance of the position, depth at the position, salary and draft history. More than the ranking, we hope you learn something about each player. (Note: The start of this series can be found with my former employer.)

No. 34: TE Robert Tonyan ($570,000 cap)

In a bizarre season for a team that harbored its usual championship hopes, there weren’t many things more confounding than the team’s use of Robert Tonyan.

Tonyan, a former quarterback and receiver at Indiana State, turned his first career catch into a 54-yard touchdown against Seattle in Week 11. Still, while the offense hungered for a big play and Jimmy Graham underachieved, Tonyan was kept glued to the bench by former coach Mike McCarthy. He played only three snaps in that Seattle game and saw the field for just one snap the next week at Minnesota. He played only 67 snaps; 44 of those came in four games under interim coach Joe Philbin compared to 23 snaps in 12 games under McCarthy. He finished the season catching 4-of-5 passes (one drop) for 77 yards and the touchdown.

“We just had a lot of talent in that room, and a lot of years, a lot of people ahead of me,” Tonyan said during the first week of camp. “And I had a lot of growth do to. When my name was called, I wanted to go out there and, not even make a name for myself, just do what I’m asked to do. I wasn’t going out there and trying to do too much, I was just doing what’s asked of me. And if the plays come to me, I’ve got to make them. There’s good and bad in it. It was frustrating for some people that didn’t understand it from the outside perspective, but I think it was still good for me to sit behind those guys and learn. I feel like I am so much more confident that I did do that last year and wasn’t put in bad situations. Did I want to play? Yeah, but at the end of the day, I do understand the situation and what was going on. I’m not going to sit here and (complain).”

Will Tonyan ever pan out? Your guess is as good as anyone’s. To be sure, he has a superb toolbox at 6-foot-5 and 237 pounds and 4.58 speed in the 40. Of course, a lot of talented players with a lot more experience than Tonyan haven’t panned out, so raw ingredients don’t always make a finished product.

“Going into it, you’ve got to evaluate your roster,” new tight ends coach Justin Outten said. “Who do you got? The video was minimal, but you got to see flashes of some things that got you excited. And then working with him this offseason, you could see those flashes coming out. It’s going to be a rep thing with him. Obviously, he’s still learning the tight end position as far as putting your hand in the ground, the run game part of it, but the great thing about him is he’s so eager and willing and asks questions all the time and wants to be good at it. So, if you are willing and able, you have a chance. He’s been really, really good as far as watching video, being on practice, notes and asking questions that may not be pertaining to other guys who have been here or have done it many times.”

With third-round pick Jace Sternberger not looking like an instant contributor, Tonyan figures to get a big chunk of playing time alongside veterans Graham and Marcedes Lewis and get more chances to make plays with Aaron Rodgers.

“How he sees things is much different than how the normal quarterback sees things,” Tonyan said. “So how he wants us to run routes, sometimes he just wants us to go be football players. And I love that and respect that about him. That means he trusts us to go out and make plays for him.”