Getty Ty Clary #66 of the Arkansas Razorbacks during the Southwest Classic at AT&T Stadium on September 28, 2019 in Arlington, Texas.
The Green Bay Packers are giving a chance to a versatile rookie offensive lineman after his first attempt to make it in the NFL was cut short earlier this year.
According to NFL agent Brett Tessler, the Packers are signing his client — former Arkansas offensive lineman Ty Clary — to their 90-man roster ahead of their first training-camp practice on Wednesday, July 27. Clary had been in Green Bay on Monday for a roster tryout along with six other players.
The Green Bay Packers are signing my client Ty Clary (OL, Arkansas) to a one-year deal. Talented rookie lineman signed with the Dolphins after the draft but wasn’t quite recovered from shoulder surgery.
Clary went unselected in the 2022 NFL draft and had initially signed with the Miami Dolphins as an undrafted free agent, but he was waived with a failed physical due to the fact that — according to his agent — he “wasn’t quite fully recovered” from a shoulder surgery he underwent following the end of the 2021 college football season.
During five seasons with the Razorbacks, Clary started in 39 of his 47 career games and spent time at all three of the interior offensive line spots, serving as their starting center for 22 games throughout the 2018 and 2019 seasons. Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman also got him a little experience at right tackle during his final season, giving the 6-foot-4, 315-pound lineman the type of versatility that could appeal to the Packers.
The Packers have not yet announced Clary’s signing, but a corresponding roster move will be required to clear a space for him on the 90-man roster. In fact, the Packers are expected to waive at least two players on Tuesday, July 26, after signing former USFL wide receiver Osirus Mitchell late Monday night, according to Heavy.com’s Matt Lombardo.
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Will Packers Add More Tryout Players?
According to the NFL’s official transaction wire for July 25, the Packers host five other players aside from Clary and Mitchell for roster tryouts on Monday, and there is a chance they could still be looking to add another of them before officially kicking off their first camp practice on Wednesday. But who among them makes the most sense?
With Christian Watson beginning camp on the PUP list, the Packers could be looking at one of the two other receivers who worked out for them alongside Mitchell, including former Detroit Lions signing Jonathan Adams Jr. Adams signed with the Lions last offseason as an undrafted roookie but was suspended for the first six games of the 2021 season (for unspecified reasons), prompting Detroit to cut him loose in mid-June. Still, he caught 79 passes for 1,111 yards and 12 touchdowns — tied for the third-most in the FBS — during his final season at Arkansas State and has good potential.
The other receiver that tried out was a local college product — Wisconsin-Whitewater’s Ryan Wisniewski — who was invited for a prior tryout during the Packers’ rookie minicamp earlier this year. Getting called back for a second tryout before camp begins bodes well for him, but it remains unclear whether the Packers will give him a shot.
The Packers also hosted undrafted rookie guard Denzel Okafor (Texas), former Los Angeles Chargers defensive back Donte Vaughn and former Minnesota Vikings backup quarterback Nate Stanley, who was a three-year starter for Iowa from 2017 to 2019.