The 90 to 1 Green Bay Packers roster countdown: No. 40 – Ka’Dar Hollman
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. 40: CB Ka’Dar Hollman ($538,570 cap)
Hollman is wearing a green practice jersey at training camp. That’s about a million miles removed from previous jobs and uniforms.
Hollman literally wrote his own draft story. Hollman worked at a bread factor, loaded Dunkin Donuts trucks and cut meat at a deli, all while writing letters to coaches all across the nation for a chance to play for their school.
“Those jobs right there just made me more motivated because those are jobs I didn’t want to do my whole life,” Hollman said. “There were people I was working with telling me how they’ve been working there for 30 years, and I’m like, this is not something I want to do when I get older. They just gave me more motivation and drive to get to where I want to be at.”
Finally, a coach from Toledo answered. A zero-star recruit, Hollman became a three-year starter. As a senior, he tied for the MAC lead with 12 breakups while recording one interception. He was not invited to the Scouting Combine but ran his 40 in a blistering 4.36 at Toledo’s pro day. The combination of production and athleticism made him a sixth-round pick by the Packers.
“Being picked by Green Bay, I had a rush of emotion go through me,” he said. “I just felt like all my hard work and everything I’ve been through went through me all at once. It was tons of emotion, tons of emotion, because of how hard I worked just to get here. I thank the whole organization for giving me a chance.”
Cornerback is filled with uncertainty beyond last year’s first-round pick, Jaire Alexander. Injuries have slammed the depth chart each of the last three seasons, meaning Hollman could be forced into a big role as a rookie. At the start of training camp, Hollman was a fixture with the No. 2 defense.
“I like Ka’Dar,” defensive coordinator Mike Pettine said during minicamp. “He’s intense. You can tell he loves football. He’s a guy that’s been real good at the man, press-man aspect of it. He’s like all rookie corners coming in and having to learn some of the intricacies of the zone stuff, but I just think there’s times where he’s had practices where you have to really go back and look to see if a ball even got caught on him. He’s been up essentially with the ones and the twos most of the time, so it’s not like he’s been kicking butt in the JV game and feeling good about it. He’s been up against some of our better guys and more than held his own. We’re pleased with where he is. He’s got a long way to go, but love his skill-set, love his attitude.”
His physicality has stuck out to veteran defensive back Tramon Williams.
“He’s a scrappy, strong individual. He wants to get up there and fight with these receivers, and that’s a great thing in this league because that’s what coaches want to see,” Williams said. “They want to see you get in the guy’s face and knock the receivers off their routes and challenge these guys, not give up easy completions. That’s the things coaches like and that’s the things that they teach. That’ll definitely get him in the league and he’ll be in for a long time doing those type of things.”
