With final cuts approaching, Packers keep searching in secondary

The latest addition to the roster is cornerback-turned-receiver-turned-cornerback Jackson Porter.
With final cuts approaching, Packers keep searching in secondary
With final cuts approaching, Packers keep searching in secondary /

The Green Bay Packers continued their last-minute tinkering of their 90-man roster on Monday by releasing safety Mike Tyson and signing cornerback Jackson Porter.

Porter went undrafted out of Massachusetts in 2018 and spent his rookie training camp with the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens released him at the end of camp and he’s been out of the league ever since.

Porter started seven games at UMass and intercepted two passes. He started one game at corner as a freshman in 2014 – when he made both of his interceptions – but spent 2015 at receiver before going back to corner for his last two seasons.

“Corner has been very good to me. I’m looking forward to shining this year and showing everyone what I can do,” Porter said at the time. “Going from corner to receiver back to corner has taught me a lot. It’s given me a lot of confidence going back into it. It’s helped me appreciate the position.”

Tyson was a sixth-round pick by Seattle in 2017 who played in 10 games with two starts last year for Houston. He had been in the battle with Chandon Sullivan, Natrell Jamerson, Will Redmond and others for a backup spot in the secondary.

Rather than letting the clock run out on training camp, Green Bay has added four players over the last couple days. On Sunday, it signed outside linebacker James Folston and cornerback Jocquez Kahili, undrafted rookies from Pittsburgh and UNLV, respectively, and claimed inside linebacker Nicholas Grigsby off waivers from the Baltimore Ravens. While the NFL listed the Grigsby move on its transaction wire, the Packers have announced the move and he was not on the practice field on Monday.

With the additions of Porter, Folston, Kahili and Grigsby and the departures of Josh Jones and Tyson, the Packers have a 90-man roster to take into Thursday’s preseason finale against Kansas City. The roster will have to be cut to 53 players by 3 p.m. Central on Saturday.

While left tackle David Bakhtiari and outside linebacker Rashan Gary returned, 13 players did not practice while reporters were present: WR Allen Lazard (concussion), WR Equanimeous St. Brown (ankle), CB Kevin King (hamstring), S Ibraheim Campbell (PUP; knee), ILB Curtis Bolton (knee), ILB Oren Burks (pectoral), FB Malcolm Johnson (unknown), CB Kabion Ento (hamstring), OLB Greg Roberts (PUP; core muscle), G Cole Madison (unknown), C Corey Linsley (unknown), TE Jimmy Graham (hand) and OLB Reggie Gilbert (knee). Only Linsley was new to the list.

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Published
Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.