The Green Bay Packers are all-in on a youth movement, but that means these Packers veterans will be cut by Week 1 of the 2023 season.
Aaron Rodgers' offseason departure has unofficially started a movement for youth with the Green Bay Packers. Jordan Love taking over at quarterback is obviously the face of that movement, but an exceptionally young group of pass-catchers, and virtually no player expected to play meaningful snaps drafted in 2015 or before other than David Bakhtiari, this group can be good now, but they're certainly eyeing the future of the organization.
In light of that, though, the Packers indeed have some tough roster decisions to make before Week 1 of the regular season. There are several areas where Green Bay could elect to go with younger, less experienced options instead of relying on veterans, or at least the more veteran players on the roster. Or, in other cases, some veterans just simply aren't as good as their younger peers.
As a result of that, expect these three Packers veterans to be cut before Week 1 rolls around, though perhaps for different reasons for each of them.
Packers veteran who will be cut No. 3: Danny Etling, QB
Danny Etling entered the NFL as a seventh-round pick by the New England Patriots in the 2018 season. Since coming into the league, though, he's bounced around quite a bit, though rarely seeing the active roster.
The former LSU quarterback landed with the Packers initially in the 2021 season when he was signed with Jordan Love on the COVID-19/Reserve list, but was released within a week of being signed. But he landed back in Green Bay in 2022 having spent time with the Patriots, Falcons, Seahawks, Vikings and Broncos as well.
This offseason, though, the Packers essentially pre-wrote Etling's pink slip, despite his experience with the organization on the practice squad.
First, Green Bay selected former Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford in the fifth round of the draft. That was then followed up just prior to training camp with the club landing USFL MVP and two-time champion Alex McGough to a deal as well.
With Clifford already flashing some positive signs in training camp and with McGough having the USFL experience under his belt in addition to time in NFL camps as well, Etling feels like the easy odd-man out of this group at quarterback. The other options behind Love are simply more enticing moving forward.
Packers veteran who will be cut No. 2: Corey Ballentine, CB
At the end of September last year with Green Bay's cornerback depth being tested a bit, the Packers inked former Giants sixth-round pick Corey Ballentine to their practice squad. Later in the year, he was promoted to the active roster and then ultimately re-signed with the club in March of the offseason.
There are indeed questions still about the cornerback depth for the Packers. We have a good grasp on the starters with Jaire Alexander and Rasul Douglas manning the outside and special teams ace Keisean Nixon earning his keep to play in the slot. Then there's Eric Stokes, who is on the PUP list to start camp, but will surely have a role to play in the secondary.
Beyond that, however, Green Bay is looking at a combination of Ballentine, 2021 fifth-round pick Shemar Jean-Charles, and seventh-round rookie Carrington Valentine, among others, to fill out the rest of the depth chart, whether they keep five or six players at the position for the Week 1 roster.
Point blank, though, Ballentine has not given anyone a reason to believe that he can be a usable piece on the field for the Pack. He's graded out as one of the worst cornerbacks in the NFL when he's seen the field over his career according to PFF (subscription required), a massive reason why he's bounced around the league to this point already.
Moreover, the upside of Valentine, who was an absolute steal in the seventh round of this year's draft, in addition to Jean-Charles also being simply a younger option too makes either of those players better options to fill out the depth at cornerback than Ballentine. As such, it's unlikely he sees Week 1 with Green Bay.
Packers veteran who will be cut No. 1: Royce Newman, OG
This one might be a tad controversial, but it feels like it could very well be coming.
Royce Newman was a fourth-round pick out of Ole Miss for the Packers and has played immediately for Green Bay at guard over each of his first two seasons. He played more than 1,000 snaps as a rookie in the 2021 season and then tallied another 400+ snaps last year. In his sophomore season, he saw time at right tackle in addition to right guard.
Though Green Bay has utilized Newman on the field, that doesn't mean he's been good. In fact, he's been notably below average in each of his first two years in the NFL, grading out in the bottom-third of qualified guards according to PFF (subscription required) in each season.
What's most troubling about that is the fact that there isn't just one area he needs to work on. Newman has been below average as both a run and pass blocker thus far in his career. Perhaps more importantly, he also didn't show notable improvement from year one to two.
Meanwhile, the Pack used a third-round pick on Sean Rhyan in 2022 and have hopes for him while 2020 sixth-rounder Jon Runyan has been better at guard than Newman, even if he has his warts.
There could be some shuffling on the Packers offensive line throughout training camp, as we've already seen with Josh Myers getting some competition at center. With that being said, though, the plethora of versatile and movable pieces on the depth chart combined with the on-field struggles of Newman could ultimately push him off the roster before Week 1 as there are simply better options to fill out the depth chart in the best way possible for Green Bay.
