By design, the Green Bay Packers receiver room looks a lot different this season. Christian Watson, Jayden Reed, and Matthew Golden are the clear-cut top three. Romeo Doubs and Dontayvion Wicks are gone. After the Packers added both Golden and Savion Williams a year ago, no newly drafted rookies joined the mix this season.
That means a much better shot at cracking the roster for the likes of Will Sheppard, a 2025 undrafted free agent who spent nearly all last season on the practice squad and never saw a snap. To be clear, the odds are still stacked against him. Williams is first in line to win the WR4 role. Skyy Moore and Bo Melton will compete for roles.
Still, it's a much more open playing field. So far, Sheppard, an intriguing UDFA out of Colorado who flashed promise last summer, hasn't had much chance to crack the surface. Even with all the injuries, last year's receiver room was impossible to infiltrate as a practice-squad prospect. The current depth chart has more upside on top and less stability further down. Sheppard should read that as an open invitation.
Will Sheppard can complicate Packers' depth-chart calculus
A decently sized receiver without electric athletic traits, the 6-foot-3, 196-pound Sheppard can ironically take both Doubs and Wicks as inspiration. His 4.54 40-time at Colorado's Pro Day falls between Doubs' and Wicks' recorded times. Sheppard is a bit thinner and, at least as a pre-draft prospect in 2025, not quite as physical. All three received prospect grades designating them as backups at best.
Competing with the other UDFAs on the roster, however, Sheppard has an opportunity to give the Packers a difficult decision during preseason cutdowns. Even assuming Moore and Melton figure into the rotation, the team could still decide to carry a seventh receiver. Sheppard has a chance to establish himself as the favorite for that role. If he really impresses, an unassuming WR7 could even leapfrog Moore and Melton for reps during the season.
Compared to J. Michael Sturdivant and Brenden Rice, two other contestants for the last receiver spot, Sheppard has the advantage of being in the Packers' system for a year, along with Isaiah Neyor. During five college seasons at Vanderbilt and Colorado, Sheppard established himself as a sturdy, dependable contributor. From Year 2, he amassed at least 575 receiving yards every year, with six-plus touchdowns in each of his final three seasons.
Given his pedestrian athletic profile, topping out at 776 yards in 2023 was never going to get him drafted, but he was intriguing enough that the Packers were the first team to snap him up out of college.
Ahead of the 2026 season, the offense really only has three obvious targets, versus five by the end of last year. In that environment, with a year in the building under his belt, Sheppard is a name to remember as Green Bay's receiver room takes shape during training camp and the preseason.
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