After finishing the 2023 season on a high note, the Green Bay Packers look to carry that momentum into the 2024 campaign. Their 2024 preseason opener against the Cleveland Browns on August 10 was the team's first chance to demonstrate their abilities ahead of a promising season. Jordan Love began the game with a 65-yard touchdown to Dontayvion Wicks on the team's third offensive snap, setting the town for the squad in a comfortable 23-10 Packers victory.
Green Bay has two more preseason contests and less than two weeks before the team must decide its final 53-man roster. This period will be crucial for determining the cut candidates on the edge of the roster. First, we must evaluate what we saw on the field in Cleveland. Here are two Packers roster hopefuls who improved their stock in the promising win over the Browns.
Grant DuBose (WR)
The Packers lack a true number-one receiver, a go-to guy the team can lead in crunch time. Each of the team's five highest single-game receiving totals came from different players, but that did not hinder Jordan Love's breakout season. Love finished with 4,159 passing yards, 32 touchdowns, and just 11 picks.
When asked about the WR1 situation in Green Bay, head coach Matt LaFleur announced his displeasure with the question, saying: “I want to vomit every time I hear ‘No. 1 receiver,' to be honest with you.” The wide receiver room is set to look very similar in 2024, with each of the team's top seven wideouts still on the roster. Can any outsider crack this deep rotation?
If anyone has a chance, it is Grant DuBose. A 2023 seventh-round pick out of Charlotte, DuBose spent all last season on the practice squad before being activated in Week 18. He did not play a snap but did sign a reserve/futures contract. With so many talented pass-catchers on the Packers roster, DuBose looked to set himself apart with his blocking.
“It’s a mentality. You want to be the hammer and not the nail,” DuBose said to reporters this week. “You’re either going to deliver it, or you’re going to take it. That’s the mentality going in there, and it’s just something you’ve got to flip a switch.” The second-year wideout had several key blocks in the team's preseason win over the Browns, including one to spring Emmanuel Wilson's five-yard touchdown run.
On top of his physical play in the run game, DuBose was also an impressive offensive threat. His five catches and 66 yards were both team highs, and he tip-toed the sideline to haul in a nifty 23-yard grab with just seconds remaining in the second quarter. DuBose's catch set up an Anders Carlson field goal to end the half.
In a competitive receiving corps, Grant DuBose stood out from the rest during the team's preseason opener in Cleveland.
Emanuel Wilson (RB)
An undrafted free agent in 2023, Emanuel Wilson was a minicamp cut victim of the Denver Broncos before surprisingly making the Green Bay final roster thanks to a 111-yard, two-touchdown performance in the team's final preseason game. As the RB3 behind the dynamic duo of Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon, Wilson only saw 36 offensive snaps before a shoulder injury kept him out of the team's final seven regular season contests.
But, Wilson impressed during his limited time on the field, finishing with 14 carries for 85 yards (12.1 yards/carry). The second-year back will face even more competition for a roster spot this year. The team lost Aaron Jones but brought in free agent Josh Jacobs and drafted USC running back Marshawn Lloyd in the third round, bumping Wilson to fourth on the depth chart.
Despite his lower roster standing, Wilson continued to churn out yardage in the preseason. Against Cleveland, he finished with 13 carries for 67 yards (5.2 yards/carry) — both team-highs — while also finding the end zone on a five-yard run. With his impressive combination of quickness and power, Emanuel Wilson may no longer be on the outside looking in on this Packers roster.
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