GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers will take a 90-player roster to the field for their first practice of training camp on July 23.
In a Packers On SI tradition, we will rank every player on the roster. This isn’t just a list of the best players. Rather, we take talent, contract, draft history, importance of the position and depth at the position into consideration.
More than the ranking, we hope you learn a little something about every player on the roster.
No. 40: OT Anthony Belton
Anthony Belton was the Packers’ second-round pick this year. While there was speculation he might be in the mix to challenge for the starting job at right guard as a rookie, he spent the offseason practices bouncing between left tackle – his position at NC State – and right tackle. So, perhaps Belton could be looking at swing-tackle duties as a rookie, a not-unimportant role.
Belton measured 6-foot-6 and 336 pounds at the Scouting Combine. He often played at a heavier weight, which led to getting the nickname “Escalade.”
“I got that from my strength coach, Coach Thunder (Dantonio Burnette),” Belton said after getting drafted. “When I first got there, we had team runs, agility stuff and he seen I could move good. He drives an Escalade himself so that’s what he always told me – how smooth I could move be like an Escalade so that’s what that was.”
Said Burnette: “When you see him change direction, it’s like, man, that’s wild that a big guy can move that well and be smooth while still doing it. He’s a big guy that’s very under control, so it was one of those things that, during the team run, he was out there killing the guy that he was going against. It was just one of those nicknames that I came up with.”
Belton went from a zero-star recruit who started his career in junior college to a 32-game starting left tackle at N.C. State.
“To be able to do the things he does or I’ve seen him do with that body, it’s been fun,” his college line coach said. “I just think it’s a rarity. All those guys at that level are pretty good athletes. Some are better than others but, man, for him to be able to move like that and be able to change direction, jump, all those things, be able to play with elite pad level, all those things have been really fun to watch and coach.”
No. 39: RG Sean Rhyan
Sean Rhyan started all 17 games at right guard last season. He shared snaps with rookie first-round pick Jordan Morgan for six games. When Morgan needed season-ending shoulder surgery, Rhyan played every snap in eight of the final nine games.
Of 65 guards who played at least 300 pass-protecting snaps last season, Rhyan ranked 38th in PFF’s pass-blocking efficiency, which measures sacks, hits and hurries allowed per pass-protecting snap. PFF charged him with four sacks.
For Rhyan, it has been an impressive career trajectory. As a rookie third-round pick in 2022, he played in one game – one snap on special teams – and was suspended by the league for the final six games of the season. In 2023, he got his feet wet with 183 solid snaps at right guard in a timeshare with veteran Jon Runyan. In 2024, he had a solid season as a starter.
He said pass protection was where he grew the most.
“I feel like it might be visible, too, just a little bit more comfortable dropping back at that guard position,” he said. “I think my confidence – not saying I'm the best out there, but each game that goes by I just keep feeling like, ‘OK, that's what I need to do for me.’ I get a few things here or there that help me. It might not necessarily help anybody else, but I just keep kind of finding these little techniques that work for me and help me just do better.”
Now what? The Packers probably would like Morgan to start somewhere, and it’s more likely to come at the expense of Rhyan than incumbent starting left tackle Rasheed Walker. That’s why Rhyan is so far down the list. If he doesn’t win the starting job, perhaps he will be the three-position backup on the interior.
Rhyan was late to the sport. Rather than playing football as a kid, he played the violin and competed in judo, baseball and rugby. He was good enough to be considered for the U.S. Olympic rugby program.
“I think it'll teach you not to be afraid of contact,” Rhyan said at the 2022 Scouting Combine. “It teaches you some conditioning and some perseverance because a game can flip so quick. And you play offense and defense, so you learn to spread out and cover the pitch or you get to run the ball, too, even as a big man. So, that was always fun, as well.”
No. 38: WR Savion Williams
By the time his rookie season is over, third-round pick Savion Williams could easily be a top-20 or maybe even a top-10 player on this list. His final season at TCU showed the possibilities, which is why the Packers picked Williams rather than a pass rusher or cornerback.
Williams caught 60 passes for 611 yards and six touchdowns. He forced 18 missed tackles and averaged 6.9 yards after the catch. With the running game sputtering, he moved into a key role down the stretch as a wildcat quarterback. He finished the season with 322 rushing yards (6.3 average) and six touchdowns. He carried 51 times and forced an astounding 22 missed tackles.
“He’s a guy that is really interesting,” offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said. “You can come up with a zillion different ways to use him in your offense. That’s one guy I’m really fired up about.”
The question for Williams will be how much he can handle mentally. It won’t do anyone any good to teach him a zillion things if he can’t master any of them.
“You start small and then just kind of adding it, keep adding it until you think it’s too much,” Stenavich said.
A staple part of Green Bay’s offense has been the manufactured touches that went to Jayden Reed, who was a threat on end-arounds, jet sweeps and screens. However, with a smaller frame, he’s been worn down each of his first two seasons by the accumulation of touches and hits. At 222 pounds, Williams has the size and skill to handle that role.
“It’s ridiculous, man,” Williams’ position coach at TCU, former NFL receiver Malcolm Kelly, said. “His athleticism is out of this world. There’s a lot underneath the hood of that kid and they don’t come in that package. You either have small guys who are shifty, big dudes who are more possession-type guys, but you hardly ever get a blend of the two, and that’s exactly what he is.”
Williams had labrum surgery after the season, didn’t compete at the Senior Bowl and was held out of “live” action during the offseason practices.
No. 37: DE Brenton Cox Jr.
When the Packers traded Preston Smith at the deadline, the initial belief was it was to create more opportunities for former first-round pick Lukas Van Ness. As it turns out, it was to get Brenton Cox on the field.
“If our offense is having a tough time blocking certain guys or you get a guy who’s all of a sudden making a ton of plays on the ball, you start really watching him and watching him,” defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley said at the time.
Cox was a healthy scratch for the first 10 weeks of the season. In seven games down the stretch, Cox has four sacks, five tackles for losses and seven quarterback hits. For sake of comparison, in 17 games, Van Ness had three sacks, six tackles for losses and six quarterback hits. According to PFF, Van Ness had only three more pressures while getting 159 more pass-rushing opportunities.
“Me and Preston talked a lot about ways to get better,” Cox said last season. “(When) he was traded, I didn't know what that meant for me because I was already inactive for half the year before. I just wanted to keep working and if they did look my way, I wanted to be ready.”
Last year, 131 edge defenders played at least 97 pass-rushing snaps (Cox’s number). According to PFF, Cox was second in pass-rushing productivity, which measures sacks, hits and hurries per pass-rushing snap. Only Detroit star Aidan Hutchinson was better. Plus, he was 12th in pass-rush win rate.
It’s a small sample size, to be sure, but Cox – who had a troubled college career – could be a major factor in Green Bay cranking up its pass rush. At the end of last season, he said his goal was to “get stronger, faster, and more in tune with my pass rush so I can help the team more and make those plays that we need in games like that.”
No. 36: DE Collin Oliver
Fifth-round pick Collin Oliver is the other player who could provide a big squeeze of juice to Green Bay’s lackluster pass rush.
Oliver played edge and linebacker at Oklahoma State. He was the player for which OSU’s defense was built around. Used as a pass rusher in 2021 and 2022, Oliver recorded 16.5 sacks and 23 tackles for losses. In 2023, he was used as a combo pass rusher and linebacker and finished with six sacks, 15.5 tackles for losses, four forced fumbles, five passes defensed and 73 tackles.
This might be a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison but it’s still rather incredible: In 43 career games at Oklahoma State, Oliver had 23.5 sacks and 42 tackles for losses. In 42 career games at Penn State, the Giants’ Abdul Carter, who was the first defensive player drafted and the No. 3 overall selection, had 23 sacks and 41 tackles for losses.
Just how important was Oliver? After he suffered a season-ending foot injury during the second game of the season, coach Mike Gundy compared him to Christian McCaffrey
“Quite a few of the things that we’ve done in the last few years were built around freeing him up,” Gundy said after the injury. “Just like they do in the NFL with great pass rushers. At this level, he’s a great pass rusher, and so that set us back.”
Said Oliver after the draft: “That comparison was pretty funny. It’s Coach Gundy’s way of saying I’m very versatile and I can bring a lot to the defense.”
What can Oliver bring to Green Bay’s defense? At 240 pounds, can he rush effectively against NFL offensive tackles? Can he develop into the type of versatile playmaker he was in college?
“I don’t see him as a DPR (designated pass rusher) and a special-teamer. I see him as a guy who has a skill set to play linebacker and to rush off the edge, so I think he can do both,” defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley said. “I think he can be an on-the-ball ’backer and I believe he can be an edge rusher in certain situations and I do believe he can be a defensive end in situations.”
Oliver was “fully healed” and participated in the Senior Bowl but did not participate during the offseason practices.
Next. Part 10 of Our Packers Roster Rankings. Part 10 of Our Packers Roster Rankings. dark