Green Bay Packers: 5 Cut candidates fighting for a spot at training camp

Green Bay Packers roster cut candidate No. 1: Jace Sternberger, TE

Over the 2019 and 2020 offseasons, the buildup to training camp and even going into the regular season has featured talk about the potential of tight end Jace Sternberger. A 2019 third-round pick out of Texas A&M, the upside of the young player as a pass-catching option has been obvious, especially with the Packers in need of more viable options.

The issue, however, has been that Sternberger hasn’t delivered anything in the ballpark of his potential to this point. He’s played in only 18 games over two seasons (for a variety of reasons) and has only played 262 total snaps as well, even if his role did increase from 2019 to 2020. And things aren’t shaping up for that to get any better.

Robert Tonyan was one of the big pleasant surprises for Green Bay last season with a monstrous touchdown rate from the position, so he expects to be one of the starters there. Moreover, the team brought back veteran Marcedes Lewis, the presumed TE2 in this offense. Then you also have to factor in 2020 third-round pick Josiah Deguara, who could see an expanded role in year two.

Clearly, he was already facing an uphill battle to make the roster. However, the nail in the coffin for Sternberger could be that he’s also now facing a two-game suspension for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy. With a crowded tight end group and now a strike against him, it’s not hard to imagine the Packers simply cutting their losses and moving on.