Getty Head coach Matt LaFleur of the Green Bay Packers watches action during training camp at Ray Nitschke Field on July 29, 2021 in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin.
The Green Bay Packers are beefing up their defensive line in their second week of training camp with one of their starters still on the mend.
According to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle, the Packers are signing second-year defensive tackle Josh Avery to their active roster after hosting him for a tryout over the weekend. The 6-foot-3, 320-pound Avery originally signed as an undrafted rookie with the Seattle Seahawks in 2020, but he was released before the end of camp and has since been looking for a new role on an NFL roster.
The Packers had been working with just seven healthy defensive linemen over the past week and will now have a fresh body to add to the group while they await the return of one of their starters. Kingsley Keke, a 2019 fifth-round pick, started camp on the non-football injury list due to an ankle injury.
Keke’s return timetable is unknown, but Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said last week none of the players on the NFI list — including star pass rusher Za’Darius Smith (back) and veteran cornerback Kevin King (hamstring) — were dealing with anything that carried long-term concerns for the team.
In the meantime, Avery can provide additional competition in a defensive line unit that features three rookies, including 2021 fifth-rounder T.J. Slaton. He will also contend with undrafted rookies Jack Heflin and Carlo Kemp, second-year Willington Previlon (2020 UDFA) and Tyler Lancaster (2018 UDFA, re-signed in March).
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Avery’s Taking Tough Road to NFL Career
Avery has been working hard the past several years trying to make a living as a front-line defender in the NFL. After starting out at Independence Community College in Kansas, he transferred to Southeast Missouri State in 2017, sat out for a season due to transfer rules and finished strong with 41 total tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks combined over his final two seasons.
Avery’s status as a small-school player led to him falling under the radar during the 2020 NFL draft despite him becoming the first SEMO player to participate in the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl a few months earlier. He did, however, use that opportunity to get his foot in the door with numerous NFL teams and further impressed scouts when he recorded a 34.5-inch vertical jump during his Pro day in March.
Here’s what Lance Zierlein of NFL.com wrote about Avery ahead of the 2020 draft:
Avery has excellent size. He showed that he possesses NFL athletic traits and power at his pro day. However, the tape was fairly disappointing relative to the potential he possesses. Explosiveness off the snap and his natural upper-body power were often canceled out by a lack of instincts and technique. While he had much better physical tools than his opponents, the effort level and urgency left much to be desired. His traits should make him a priority free agent, but his inability to produce at a higher level against his level of competition is a major red flag.
Avery Also Trained in Mixed Martial Arts
Avery may have earned a new opportunity with the Packers, but there is still much for him to do in order to prove himself worthy of an NFL roster spot. On the plus side, Avery shouldn’t have much trouble showing his hands are up to the task, thanks to his background in wrestling and mixed martial arts in his younger years.
After signing with the Seahawks as an undrafted free agent in 2020, Avery sat down with Draft Diamonds and shared a little bit about his fighting background, telling a story about an experience in high school that also allowed him to forge mental toughness and determination.
“I did mixed martial arts for a while which consist of different fighting styles and my senior year of high school I did wrestling,” Avery told Draft Diamonds in May 2020. “My first match, my little brother was there and I lost and he looks up to me and I felt like I let him down, but afterward I went to the gym and lifted and vowed to myself that I wouldn’t lose in front of him again, and I haven’t.”