Getty Pernell McPhee #90 of the Baltimore Ravens and Chauncey Rivers #56 participate in a drill during training camp at Under Armour Performance Center Baltimore Ravens on July 28, 2021 in Owings Mills, Maryland.
The Green Bay Packers are taking advantage of the waiver wire for the first time this summer and adding a young talent who isn’t a stranger to the spotlight.
According to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle, the Packers claimed second-year outside linebacker Chauncey Rivers off the waiver wire from Baltimore on Thursday after the Ravens waived him two days earlier. Rivers had been part of their 2020 undrafted rookie class and spent most of last season on their practice squad.
Rivers was also featured on the second season of Netflix’s “Last Chance U” while playing at East Mississippi Community College under coach Buddy Stephens in 2016. Across 12 games the season, he racked up 45 total tackles (25 solos) with eight sacks.
Green Bay Packers awarded Chauncey Rivers off waivers from Ravens, cut Joe Fortunato
Rivers didn’t get much of a chance to contend for playing time over his first season with the Ravens, receiving one practice-squad elevation in Week 12 but seeing no snaps. The Packers, however, could use some reinforcements to an outside linebacker room that just lost one of its top rotational pieces, Randy Ramsey, to a significant ankle injury. Star pass rusher Za’Darius Smith has also been held out of practice on the non-football injury list as he battles with a back issue.
The Packers released long snapper Joe Fortunato, who had originally signed as a free agent in March and been expected to challenge Hunter Bradley for his starting job throughout training camp. Bradley is now the squad’s lone long snapper.
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Does Rivers Have Shot at Roster Spot?
Prior to the start of camp, the Packers were sitting pretty at outside linebacker. Preston Smith had agreed to take a pay cut in order to ensure his return for the 2021 season, while even higher expectations were set for Za’Darius Smith and 2019 first-rounder Rashan Gary. Ramsey was also returning as a reliable — albeit, rarely needed — fourth option on the depth chart with evident special teams value.
With Ramsey now out for the foreseeable future, though, the Packers have some legitimate questions to answer about their depth behind the primary trio, and that could be a benefit for a newcomer like Rivers. While the 6-foot-2, 262-pound pass rusher will have to split his practice reps with Jonathan Garvin (2020 seventh-round pick) and Tipa Galeai (2020 undrafted rookie), the shrunken depth at the position could afford him some valuable looks with the second team if he impresses early.
The Packers have also tried to move some of their inside linebackers to the outside spots when depth has been an issue in the past. They experimented with Oren Burks at the spot throughout the 2020 season; though, the trial runs were hardly successful. Packers head coach Matt LaFleur also said they would attempt to use 2020 fifth-rounder Kamal Martin in a similar way this season, but he is currently sidelined with a “slight injury.”
“We’re a little bit short losing Rambo at the outside ‘backer position, so we’re going to try Kamal in that role,” LaFleur said. “He will be OK, but he did suffer a minor setback with a slight injury there during that one-on-one pass-rush drill. But we’ll just see how long it takes him to get back in the fold, and that is something we’re going to experience with him, both outside and inside.”