Getty Keelan Cole #84 of the Jacksonville Jaguars breaks past Hunter Bradley #43 of the Green Bay Packers as he returns a punt for a touchdown at Lambeau Field on November 15, 2020 in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
The Green Bay Packers didn’t squeeze in any trades before Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline, but they did shake up their specialist room for the second time since September.
On November 2, Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst released fourth-year long snapper Hunter Bradley from the 53-man roster and promoted Steven Wirtel from the practice squad to take over as their new starter.
Bradley had been the Packers’ primary long snapper for 60 straight games despite stretches of inconsistency through his three and a half years with the team. He was also the second of two specialists that Gutekunst took during his first NFL draft as the Packers’ general manager in 2018, becoming one of Green Bay’s three seventh-round selections. Now, Bradley is the second from that same group to be ousted in 2021 after fifth-round punter JK Scott met a similar fate during final roster cuts.
Meanwhile, Wirtel has been quietly developing on the Packers’ practice squad since the start of the 2021 season. He had spent much of training camp with the Los Angeles Rams — who also traded the Packers their new punter, Corey Bojorquez — but was released before the final preseason game in favor of Matthew Orzech, spending about a week as a free agent before landing with the Packers on September 2.
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Wirtel Was Protected Project for Packers
The Packers made a point of challenging both Bradley and Scott during the offseason after underwhelming results in 2020, bringing in a second man to push each of them for their starting jobs. Bradley, however, seemed to score an early victory in that department when the Packers released fellow long snapper Joe Fortunato on August 5 more than a week before preseason games started. He even earned a vote of confidence from Gutekunst the day after final roster cuts were made.al
“I think in Hunter’s time here in, what, three years now, he’s been really consistent,” Gutekunst said on September 1. “In games, I think he’s only had a handful of snaps that we would consider not great (and) none that have really cost us. I think Hunter’s done a really good job for us and he’ll continue to be our snapper unless … we can find better.”
The next day, though, the Packers seemed to suggest they were exploring better when they signed Wirtel to the practice squad. Speculation about him eventually taking over Bradley’s job only grew when they placed weekly practice-squad protections on him through the first eight weeks of the 2021 season.
The #Packers had concerns about LS Hunter Bradley, but stuck with him until they felt Steven Wirtel could do better. GB slapped protected P-squad status on Wirtel each of the last 8 weeks, which meant no team could sign him after Tue. of that week. That’s how much they liked him.
Packers Make More Practice-Squad Changes
Bradley and Wirtel weren’t the only moving parts for the Packers on November 2. Gutekunst also announced several other roster changes, including swapping out linebacker Aaron Adeoye on their practice squad for defensive lineman Abdullah Anderson. The latter had spent several weeks with the Packers’ practice squad back in September but was released at the beginning of Week 3 to make room for newcomers.
The Packers also placed third-string quarterback Kurt Benkert on the practice squad’s reserve/COVID-19 list and made official the release of veteran linebacker Jaylon Smith from the active roster, a move that ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported earlier on Tuesday.
Additionally, the NFL transaction wire showed the Packers made some changes to their practice-squad protections for Week 9 with regulars Benkert and Wirtel no longer eligible. Two of their protected players were backup kicker JJ Molson and wide receiver Juwann Winfree, who both received the same treatment in Week 8, but defensive ends Tipa Galeai and R.J. McIntosh were new additions to the list.
It is possible that the protections issued for Galeai and McIntosh — along with the re-signing of Abdullah — are connected to the availability of Kingsley Keke. The third-year defensive lineman was knocked out of Week 8’s win over Arizona with a concussion and could potentially have to miss time as a result, giving the Packers plenty of reason to start lining up their backup plans if Keke can’t play against Kansas City next Sunday.