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It’s that time of the year that fringe players in the NFL dread the most as the final 53-man rosters are finalized. Having given their everything, toiled in the sun, and worked hard in practice, training, and preseason, there comes a time when more than 40 players get cut from the main team, and the Green Bay Packers are no exception.
Cutting down a 90-man roster to 53 men is no easy task. The coaching staff has to make decisions based not only on the offense and defense, but they must consider the players for special teams as well.
But before teams actually reveal their final rosters, let us take a look at two surprising roster cuts the Packers could make prior to the start of the 2024 NFL season.
AJ Dillon, RB
AJ Dillon has emerged as a surprising cut candidate for the Green Bay Packers. This comes despite Dillon having had a decent season as the backup to Aaron Jones in 2023. Dillon finished the year with 613 rushing yards and added a further 223 receiving yards. Not only that, but Dillon’s production for the Packers has always remained up to the mark over the past four years.
Yet, it is looking more and more like the 26-year-old will be on his way out of Green Bay. Aaron Jones left in the offseason to join the Vikings, which would have opened the door for Dillon, but Green Bay signed Josh Jacobs as his replacement.
The problem for Dillon is that he and Jacobs are both similar types of running backs who use their power to run through defenders. Green Bay has two more running backs, Marshawn Lloyd whom they drafted this year, and Emanuel Wilson who possesses a different skill set to that of Jacobs. Thus, keeping Dillon on the roster may not be in the best interest of the Packers.
Anders Carlson, Kicker
Generally speaking, special teams players do not make much headlines in terms of roster cuts. However, Anders Carlson could be a surprising candidate here due to his poor performance in 2023. Carlson was drafted by the Packers in the sixth round last year but struggled with long distance kicks.
Carlson hit 27 of his 33 field goals in the regular season which comes out to 81.8%, while he made 34 of 39 extra point attempts amounting to 87.2%. While he was perfect from 20-39 yards out, he made only half of his eight attempts from 40-49 yards and converted 3-of-5 from 50-plus yards. He ended up leading the league with 13 missed kicks in total.
Moreover, his missed field goal in the Divisional Round against the 49ers ended up costing them the game.
The Packers have since brought in five-year veteran Greg Joseph and 2024 undrafted free agent Alex Hale to add to the competition.
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The post 2 Surprising Roster Cuts the Green Bay Packers Could Make appeared first on NFL Analysis Network .
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