Packers Players Who Need Impressive Camp to Avoid Being Cut

Every August serves as a good reminder that the NFL is a harsh business. That's when the Green Bay Packers, and the other 31 teams in the league, will have to cut their rosters down to 53 before Week 1.

For established veterans with clear-cut roles, training camp is about sharpening up things and getting ready for the season. For those on the fringe, it's about survival and making it on that elusive 53-man roster.

The Packers figure to have plenty of competition this season. There's a lot of youth on the roster and a need for several players to step up and provide depth toward the bottom of the roster.

As we head toward training camp, these three players have all either been recent draft picks or have played significant snaps but will need to impress in camp to make the final roster.

OG Sean Rhyan

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SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 12: Sean Rhyan #75 of the Green Bay Packers blocks against the San Francisco 49ers during the fourth quarter of an NFL preseason football game at Levi's Stadium on August 12, 2022 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

Generally, a team isn't in a hurry to cut a Day 2 pick just two years into their career but the Packers proved they aren't above that already.

Amari Rodgers was a third-round pick in 2021 and while he made the initial 53-man roster he was released during the season and picked up by the Houston Texans. That should have Sean Rhyan feeling a little bit of heat as a former third-round pick who didn't have a great rookie season.

The Packers had nine different offensive linemen take at least one offensive snap last season. Rhyan was not one of them despite making the initial roster coming out of last season's training camp.

The only time Rhyan made news last season was bad. He was suspended six games for violating the league's performance-enhancing drugs policy.

Conversely, Zach Tom—who was drafted a round later—ended up playing well across 489 snaps and will fight for a starting role in camp.

Rhyan will have to fight to make the roster. All nine of the linemen who played an offensive snap last season are back and the team carried 10 last season.

RB Lew Nichols III

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ASHWAUBENON, WISCONSIN - MAY 31: Lew Nichols #32 of the Green Bay Packers participates in an OTA practice session at Don Hutson Center on May 31, 2023 in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

The Packers had a huge draft class with 13 picks back in April. With a class that size, there's a good chance that more than one won't make the roster.

Lew Nichols III is an interesting running back prospect but he's fighting an uphill battle to make the team.

The former Central Michigan Chippewa was the 2021 MAC Offensive Player of the Year with over 1,800 rushing yards and another 381 receiving yards. His film is a fun watch as he knows how to use his 5'10", 220-pound frame as a downhill runner but has good hands for a back his size.

However, injuries plagued his final season and he got lost in the shuffle of a very talented rookie running back class.

The same thing is going to happen on the Packers roster unless he proves to be a special teams asset. Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon were the only two backs to make the roster last season and Tyler Goodson remains in the competition to round out the running back room.

Nichols is a fun prospect, but he's going to have to really show out at camp to force the Packers to make a spot for him.

Edge Jonathan Garvin

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Green Bay Packers linebacker Jonathan Garvin (53) in action during the second half of an NFL football game against the Minnesota Vikings, Sunday, Nov. 21, 2021 in Minneapolis. Minnesota won 34-31. (AP Photo/Stacy Bengs)

While Nichols has a tough road to make the roster as a seventh-round pick, Jonathan Garvin is proof that you can hang around as a former seventh-rounder.

The team took him in the final round of the 2020 draft and he's stuck up to this point. However, that's a streak that may come to an end as camp gets started.

Garvin has provided depth as an edge rusher. As a rookie he only saw the field for 85 snaps but that number jumped to 395 in 2021 and 193 in 2022. He worked himself into the role of being the third pass-rusher in 2021 and saw an uptick in playing time when Rashan Gary went down last season.

Both times, he failed to make much of an impact. He has just 1.5 sacks and seven quarterback hits for his career thus far.

Competition figures to be tougher this season. The addition Lukas Van Ness gives the Packers a legitimate project to fulfill that third edge-rusher role. Veteran Justin Hollins and Kingsley Enagbare also look like better options on paper.

Those three combined with Gary and Preston Smith will probably be the five they take.