The front staff replaced three players with three rookie minicamp standouts.
The Green Bay Packers revealed a flurry of moves on Monday, as they made roster revisions following last week’s rookie minicamp. The Packers have dismissed cornerback Anthony Johnson (not to be confused with 2023 draft pick safety Anthony Johnson Jr.) and defensive end Deandre Johnson. They also waived receiver Thyrick Pitts due to an injury designation. None of those three players had appeared for the Packers in either the regular season or the playoffs.
Green Bay made those adjustments to make room for three new arrivals to their roster, all of whom had tried out during the Packers’ rookie minicamp. Receivers Julian Hicks and Dimitri Stanley, as well as offensive guard Lecitus Smith, were added.
Hicks is an undrafted rookie who played at Central Michigan and Akron before joining the FCS in 2021. In 2023, the 6’2″, 201-pound receiver recorded 50 receptions, 834 receiving yards, and 11 touchdowns for the squad that won the Coastal Athletic Association Football Conference and advanced to the FCS semifinals.
Stanley is the son of Walter Stanley, a former Packers fourth-round choice who caught 101 passes for 1,831 yards and five touchdowns in Green Bay. Stanely also contributed as a returner with the Packers, accumulating 720 punt return yards and 857 kick return yards over four seasons in Green Bay. The younger Stanley began his undergraduate career at Colorado before moving to Iowa State in 2022. The sixth-year player had 118 receptions for 1,379 yards and five touchdowns at the NCAA level.
Unlike the receivers, Smith was a former draft pick. Smith was drafted in the sixth round by the Arizona Cardinals in 2022, and he started two games and played ten as a rookie. Since his rookie year, he’s been on the rosters of the Houston Texans and Philadelphia Eagles, but he has yet to play in a regular season game.
Smith was one of two previous draft picks who tried out for the Packers last weekend. The other was quarterback Jacob Eason, who was originally drafted in the fourth round by the Indianapolis Colts in 2020. It appears like Eason will not be added to Green Bay’s offseason roster, leaving the Packers with only Jordan Love, 2023 fifth-round pick Sean Clifford, and 2024 seventh-round pick Michael Pratt as quarterback unless an injury occurs this summer.
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