3 Packers veterans who will be cut before Week 1 and why

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.