The Packers are the youngest team in the NFL this season, with an average age of just 25 years old on their 53-player roster. But General Manager Brian Gutekunst says age wasn’t the deciding factor as Green Bay made its final cuts.
Instead, Gutekunst says the Packers prioritized keeping the fastest, most athletic players from training camp and the preseason, and it just turned out that those players tended to be younger.
“I don’t think it was intentional to be young. I think our intention was to be athletic, fast and have a really competitive camp so the best guys rose to the top, and I think that’s what we accomplished. But it wasn’t just to be young,” Gutekunst said.
The Packers had 11 draft picks make the roster, as well as three undrafted rookies: running back Emanuel Wilson, receiver Malik Heath and outside linebacker Brenton Cox Jr. Gutekunst said the Packers tell everyone in their rookie class that they have a real chance of earning a roster spot.
“You’re gonna get a real opportunity. Just because someone was drafted ahead of you, might have been here for previous years, doesn’t mean you’re not gonna get an opportunity to make this squad,” Gutekunst said he tells undrafted rookies. “It’s been an open competition and let the guys who performed the best earn it.”
Now the Packers will hope the guys who performed the best keep performing on September 10 against the Bears.
