With two preseason games down, there's only a week to go until the really hard decisions of the offseason have to start being made: the decision of who actually gets to be a Green Bay Packer at all.
It's the last real piece of roster construction for GM Brian Gutekunst. Once the games begin, it's Matt LaFleur who sits behind the driver's seat. Sure, Gutey might have a trick or two up his sleeve mid-season, but cutdown day is the ultimate shaping of who the 2026 Green Bay Packers will be.
Woven throughout the 53-man cutdown are so many stories, so many personal triumphs, and roads of long recovery. Take Kamal Hadden's journey back from an absolutely gruesome leg injury in Week 17 of last season to looking like he might just end up firmly entrenched on the roster. But all of that comes second to the most integral part of sports itself: competition.
As Packer competes against Packer for those final roster spots, let's take a closer look at one of the more intriguing races that may or may not even exist in the first place: WR7. And there are three different receivers who all could earn that spot.
Could the Packers even keep seven receivers in the first place?
It is rare but not unheard of to keep seven wide receivers on the roster. Green Bay has chosen to do so four times in the last decade: 2022, 2021, 2018, and 2016. And if the Packers are going to do it again this year, then it comes with a massive prerequisite: those receivers at the bottom have to play special teams.
Green Bay, under Rich Bisaccia especially, has been reluctant to play their wideouts in special teams, preferring instead to use safeties, linebackers and tight ends.
Luckily, the Packers already have receivers who contribute massively to that side of things.
Savion Williams has been getting some time as a kick returner and "gunner" on the punt team. Skyy Moore is also a returner for kick and punt units, and Bo Melton is a special teams ace with roles on every unit but field goals. That helps our exercise here a ton, because you've already got some special teams responsibilities doled out. That might help lighten the blow a bit to release a player at another position.
I don't think the Packers have given much thought to releasing either Moore or Melton to make room for another, younger guy. While the risk that Moore could get the same treatment that Mecole Hardman saw at the end of preseason a year ago is present, the way that he has been integrated into the offense, in a way that Hardman never was, has cooled those fears.
Melton, meanwhile, is the darling of the team, and his flexibility between DB and WR is just a small part of the value he brings. My gut tells me Melton is going to be a Packer for a long time.
Who are the players that could make the Packers' roster behind them?
Christian Watson, Matthew Golden, Jayden Reed, Savion Williams, Skyy Moore, and Bo Melton are all but locks to make the team. So if the Packers do keep seven receivers, who is the last one going to be?
The first thing we have to do is figure out what kind of players they might be looking for, because there is a big hint there. Throughout Matt LaFleur's time with the Packers, he's made no secret of his preference for keeping big-bodied receivers on the roster who can block well on the outside. Of those six "locks" I mentioned, only two of them fit that criteria: Watson and Williams. The other four...
Name | Height | Weight |
|---|---|---|
Matthew Golden | 5'11" | 191lbs |
Jayden Reed | 5'11" | 187lbs |
Skyy Moore | 5'10" | 195lbs |
Bo Melton | 5'11" | 189lbs |
I think the Packers, and LaFleur in particular, are desperate to add some size on the outside.
Who are the possible seventh receivers?
There are three candidates all fighting for this last spot. First up, we have Isaiah Neyor, now in his second year in the NFL. Neyor was an undrafted free agent who first signed with the San Francisco 49ers days after the 2025 NFL Draft, but ended up on the Packers' camp roster a few months later.
Neyor stuck with Green Bay's practice squad all season and was even elevated to an active gameday participant in the playoff game against the Chicago Bears last season. Standing 6-foot-4 and 218 pounds, he is definitely the largest of these three receivers, which helps his case immensely. Neyor is probably the next guy up as far as offensive contributions, but he doesn't play special teams as much.
Next up, we have Will Sheppard, an UDFA from the 2025 class out of Colorado. Sheppard originally had plans to sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which fell through due to a failed physical, and he also attended a rookie tryout for the Denver Broncos. He ended up with the Packers on July 21, 2025, and was also a mainstay on the practice squad all of last season.
Sheppard is 6-foot-3 and 196 pounds, and has seen a recent surge in the last few weeks to make a name for himself, culminating in a touchdown catch against the Denver Broncos.
Then lastly we have J. Michael Sturdivant, a UDFA this year from the University of Florida. Sturdivant is 6-foot-3 and 207 pounds, and had a draftable grade from many draft resources in the run-up to April's draft.
Instead, he fell and signed with the Packers. He is the leader in the clubhouse, to me, to make that final, hypothetical spot. Sturdivant has got a high athletic ceiling, great hands, and a larger size. But the telling point is, again, on special teams, where the Packers have been training him on the punt coverage/return teams.
His situation is clouded by a head injury/possible concussion sustained in the Broncos game. If he has to miss the final week of the preseason, it could be disastrous for his chances.
It's not often that a team has to make such a hard decision about the lower end of the roster like this, where you have three viable candidates for one job. The optimal path is to be able to keep all three, of course, by stashing two on the practice squad through the season.
But the more the players show their skills, the more other teams will start to take notice. I don't envy the choice Gutey has to make on the emotionally hardest day to be a GM on August 30.
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