Green Bay Packers: 5 Potential surprise cuts on the final 53-man roster
By Joe Kipp
Every season there are players who get released unexpectedly. Here are five Green Bay Packers players who could be surprise cuts heading into 2019.
The Green Bay Packers front office has just one preseason game remaining to evaluate players who may be worthy of making the final 53-man roster for the 2019 season. There appears to be about 40 players who should be near locks to make the final roster, leaving 12-13 open spots for players on the roster bubble. Make no mistake about it, though, there will be some surprise cuts.
The battle for the backup quarterback job has been up and down all preseason, but it appears Tim Boyle is slowly starting to edge out DeShone Kizer. In fact, Boyle has been the highest-graded offensive player through the preseason so far, according to Pro Football Focus. His average release time has been a lightning-fast 2.2 seconds, which ranks first among all qualified quarterbacks in the preseason (min. 50 attempts).
Boyle is 31-of-51 for 338 yards and five touchdowns with a 113.0 passer rating this preseason. Comparatively, Kizer is 17-of-30 for 196 yards and one touchdown with a 73.8 passer rating. One of the biggest questions will be whether the Packers elect to keep three quarterbacks on their final roster – Rodgers, Boyle and Kizer. If Kizer doesn’t impress in the final preseason game against the Kansas City Chiefs, it’d be hard to justify keeping three guys.
The Packers already released one high profile player earlier this week, former second-round safety Josh Jones. Jones went unclaimed on waivers and now becomes a free agent. This wasn’t necessarily a surprise since he requested a trade back in May.
Every year we see veteran players get released that we weren’t expecting. It’s happened in the past with the Packers, most notably when former All-Pro guard Josh Sitton was released in 2016. We also saw Pro Bowl defensive tackle Mike Daniels released earlier this offseason.
Who could be next? Here are five potential surprise cuts as the Packers begin trimming the fat for their final 53-man roster.