Green Bay Packers: Full Position Breakdown and Depth Chart Analysis at Tight End

One of the Green Bay Packers' wild-card positions heading into the 2015 season is tight end.

With only average tight end play, the Packers offense still looks to be elite this season, with Aaron Rodgers lining up behind this offensive line configuration and with weapons such as Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb and Davante Adams and Eddie Lacy in the backfield to keep defenses honest. 

However, with above-average tight end play, this offense veers toward unstoppable. 

Green Bay currently has six tight ends on the roster: veteran Andrew Quarless, second-year player Richard Rodgers, former practice squad player Justin Perillo, rookie Kennard Backman and undrafted free agents Mitchell Henry and Harold Spears. 

Those players will compete for what will likely be three spots on the 53-man roster. The Packers did have four tight ends on the depth chart at the end of the 2014 season: Quarless, Rodgers, Brandon Bostick and Perillo (in that order). 

However, if Green Bay needs to make room for six wide receivers on the final roster (Nelson, Cobb, Adams, Jeff Janis, Ty Montgomery and Jared Abbrederis), the tight end group may only feature three players. 

If that's the case, let's break down the projected depth chart. 

Player	Height	Weight	40 time	PFF 2014 Pass-Block Rank	PFF 2014 Run-Block Rank
Richard Rodgers	6'4"	257 lbs	4.87 sec	5 of 67	56 of 67
Andrew Quarless	6'4"	252 lbs	4.69 sec	41 of 67	39 of 67
Kennard Backman	6'3"	245 lbs	4.66 sec (pro day)	-	-

It will be difficult for the Packers to whittle the position down to three players, and if they decide ultimately that a fourth tight end is more valuable than a sixth wide receiver or a second fullback, for instance, perhaps Perillo rounds out the roster.

In this projection, Rodgers is at the top of the depth chart, but in reality, he could almost share the starting role with Quarless, which is essentially how the Packers used the two tight ends last season.

Rodgers played 543 snaps in all last season, per Pro Football Focus, and had five starts, including four consecutive ones in Weeks 1 to 4. The Packers clearly felt he had earned the starting job out of training camp, only to realize that perhaps that responsibility was handed to him too soon.  

Though Rodgers performed well as a receiver overall during the regular season, with 20 receptions for 225 yards and two touchdowns, his blocking was a liability. In the first eight games of the season, Rodgers was the sixth-worst tight end in the league in run blocking and the 19th-worst in pass blocking among tight ends, per Pro Football Focus. 

Ann Heisenfelt/Associated Press

However, Rodgers improved so much in his blocking in the second half of the year that by the end of the season, he finished the No. 5-ranked tight end in the league in pass blocking.

Quarless received more snaps than Rodgers last season, with 715, per Pro Football Focus. And while he had a completely decent season, with 29 receptions for 323 yards, three touchdowns and 20 first downs, by now the Packers have seen Quarless' ceiling. He's a serviceable receiver and blocker and the ideal end to feature in a two-tight end set. 

However, Rodgers' improvement has followed an upward curve since Week 1 of the 2014 season, and if given the snaps, he could do special things in 2015. 

"He's got incredible hands; I dare say the best hands on the team," Aaron Rodgers said about Richard Rodgers at the end of the season, per Robert Zizzo of the Green Bay Press-Gazette.

Behind Rodgers and Quarless, the rookie Backman will likely be the third tight end on the roster, as the Packers invested a sixth-round pick in him in May. Backman was expected to go undrafted, but it would seem that his athleticism caught the eye of general manger Ted Thompson and his team of scouts. 

That has been a motivating factor for the UAB product, who appears to have a good sense of his own strengths and what he can add to this unit for Green Bay. 

"Some people lose sight of me or don't expect me to stretch the field vertically just looking at my size. But I can stretch the field. I think that puts defenders at a disadvantage," Backman told Tyler Dunne, formerly of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 

His versatility is another asset. A true athlete with a basketball background, Backman can contribute as an H-back or in-line. 

"I think he definitely has the ability to play both displaced and in on the line...I think he's a good fit." head coach Mike McCarthy said shortly after the draft, per Dunne. 

Backman also impressed during minicamp, getting some reps with Aaron Rodgers and making the most of them, as Ryan Wood of the Green Bay Press-Gazette noted:

Where does that leave Perillo, Henry and Spears? 

Perillo took a step last season when he was signed to the active roster from the practice squad in November. Signed as an undrafted free agent in 2014, Perillo carved out a role for himself last year. 

However, the second-year player hasn't been able to do much in the way of making his case for a spot on the 53-man roster this season so far this offseason. He has missed most of the training with an unidentified injury and did not practice, as Weston Hodkiewicz of the Green Bay Press-Gazette reported at the time. 

There's a good chance Henry or Spears could be headed for the practice squad. Henry is already putting together an eye-catching offseason. During OTAs, he connected with backup quarterback Scott Tolzien for a 24-yard highlight-reel "leaping catch" for a touchdown that was called the play of the day by ESPN.com's Rob Demovsky:

Green Bay signed undrafted rookie Spears on the last day of minicamp. Spears, who originally signed with the New Orleans Saints after the draft, ran a 4.75-second 40-yard dash at his pro day, per NFL Draft Scout. He didn't have much of an opportunity to showcase his skills during offseason training activities, so we'll learn more about what he brings to the table in training camp. 

The Packers don't seem to have an elite tight end on the roster heading into training camp, and while that could no doubt be a game-changer for this offense, they're not hurting for weapons.

If Rodgers and Quarless can both improve in blocking and if Rodgers continues to develop as a pass-catcher, the Packers will have the opportunity to stack the field and utilize some two-tight end sets in 2015 to attack the seam.