Packers Working Out Veteran Running Backs

Two running backs who have had some productive moments in the NFL will work out for the Packers on Tuesday.

Zonovan Knight / Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers are holding their usual free-agent workouts on Tuesday. A pair of veteran running backs, Deon Jackson and Zonovan Knight, will participate, according to NFL insider Aaron Wilson.

Jackson, 25, has rushed for 283 yards (3.0 average) and two touchdowns and caught 35 passes for 223 yards (6.4 average) and one touchdown in 29 career games over three seasons. His best season was 2022, when he played in all 16 games with two starts. He rushed for 236 yards but also caught 30-of-34 targeted passes for 209 yards.

With Jonathan Taylor injured, he rushed for 62 yards in a win over Denver. The next week, he carried 12 times for 42 yards and caught 10 passes for 79 yards in a win over Jacksonville.

“Deon's been great in the passing game,” then-coach Frank Reich said. “He catches every ball. Knows where to be on the checkdowns. It's not always big yards, but sometimes those little plays for 3 yards, 4 yards, now it's third-and-6 rather than third-and-10. And he's been good in protection.”

With the Colts, Browns and Giants last year, he carried 14 times for 16 yards.

This year, he spent training camp with the Jets but didn’t make their roster. He carried eight times for 18 yards (2.3 average).

Before the 2021 NFL Draft, Jackson measured 5-foot-11 and 218 pounds. With 4.42 speed in the 40, his Relative Athletic Score was 8.94.

In four seasons at Duke, Jackson rushed for 2,267 yards and caught 61 passes. He topped 640 rushing yards each of his final three seasons.

Jackson went undrafted but was given a $45,000 signing bonus by the Colts. That was the highest bonus for any player that year.

“Bam” Knight, 23, has rushed for 313 yards (3.6 average) one touchdown and caught 14 passes for 108 yards (7.7 average) in nine games in two seasons. Most of that production came with the Jets in 2022; Knight carried three times for 13 yards in two games with the Lions last year.

He spent the preseason with the Lions, rushing 24 times for 75 yards (3.1 average).

Knight went undrafted in 2022. At 5-foot-10 7/8 and 209 pounds, he ran his 40 in 4.58 seconds and had a Relative Athletic Score of 5.85.

In three seasons at North Carolina State, Knight rushed for 2,286 yards (5.5 average) and caught 48 passes for 337 yards (7.0 average). He rushed for 745 yards in 2021, 788 yards in 2022 and 753 yards in 2023.

In his first NFL game in 2022, Knight ran for 69 yards and tallied 103 total yards in a victory over the Bears. It was the most rushing yards by a player making his Jets debut since 1964.

At Southern Nash High School in North Carolina – the same school that produced NFL legend Julius Peppers – Knight rushed for 5,073 yards and 71 touchdowns in a Wing-T offense.

“Having someone like Julius Peppers coming from my school and having success in college and the NFL gives you a sense of motivation to know that the dream is possible and achievable,” he told Greensboro.com.

What about his nickname? Initially, it had nothing to do with his running style. Rather, as a baby, he liked to bang his toys together.

“As my uncle walked by, he said, ‘That’s all you hear, bam, bam, bam,’” Knight told Rivals. “So it kind of stuck after that.

“It was actually Bam Bam, but over time I guess people dropped off that second Bam, so it’s just been Bam.”

The Packers have Josh Jacobs, Emanuel Wilson and Chris Brooks on the 53-man roster and Ellis Merriweather on the practice squad.

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