Getty Head coach Matt LaFleur of the Green Bay Packers looks on in the first half against the New York Jets during a preseason game at Lambeau Field on August 21, 2021 in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Former Minnesota linebacker and 2020 fifth-round draft pick Kamal Martin will not be returning for a second season with the Green Bay Packers.
According to ESPN’s Rob Demovsky, the Packers made the surprising decision to release the once-promising inside linebacker on Monday, August 23, as they began reducing their roster numbers ahead of the 80-man cutdown deadline.
Here’s a bit of a surprise: the Packers are releasing 2020 fifth-round pick Kamal Martin, a source said.
As a rookie in 2020, Martin had been in the mix to win a starting job before sustaining a knee injury days before 53-man roster cuts. While he ended up missing the first five games of the season and spent another on the reserve/COVID-19 list, he still managed to finish his first year with 24 total tackles (17 solo), three tackles for loss, three quarterback pressures and a sack across 10 games of action, starting in six of them.
It had been expected that Martin would again contend for a starting job with fellow second-year linebacker Krys Barnes for 2021, but the offseason acquisition of veteran De’Vondre Campbell and Martin’s far slide down the depth chart in the first month of training camp ultimately led the Packers to move on after just one year.
The Packers also cleared two more spots from their roster on Monday, releasing undrafted rookie tight end Daniel Crawford and trading 2019 sixth-round cornerback Ka’dar Hollman to the Houston Texans for a 2022 seventh-round pick, according to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle.
The team has not yet officially announced either the Hollman trade and the release of Martin. The deadline for 80-man roster cuts is 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday, August 24.
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Packers’ ILB Picture Remains Shaky
For anyone who tried to predict how the Packers’ inside linebacker room would shake out prior to the start of camp, Martin’s release is probably a bit of a shock. The Packers have plucked some quality talent out of the fifth round in recent years, adding weapons such as Aaron Jones (2017), Marquez Valdes-Scantling (2018) and Kingsley Keke (2019) who all took at least a year to find their proper footing in the NFL.
The Packers also came into camp dangerously thin at inside ‘backer. They had replaced former starter Christian Kirksey with Campbell (free-agent signing) and Isaiah McDuffie (2021 sixth-round pick) during the offseason, but much of their success strategy for 2021 seemed to depend on whether guys like Barnes and Martin could take the necessary steps forward in their development.
Disappointingly, though, Martin did not seem up to the task in his second camp. He had fallen behind second-stringers Ty Summers and Oren Burks through the first few weeks of practice and spent about a week sidelined with a minor injury. The Packers had also tried to cross-train him with the outside linebackers, a decision they had said was based on a shortage of depth at edge rusher but now appears to have been more of a desperate play to find Martin a place to earn his keep.
With Martin gone, the Packers will look heavily to Burks and Summers to pick up the slack in the rotation behind starters Barnes and Campbell. They must also make final 53-man-roster decisions on McDuffie (who missed the first few weeks on the non-football injury list), Ray Wilborn and De’Jon Harris.
Who Else Gets Booted From 80-Man Roster?
The Packers have checked three names off of their list ahead of Tuesday’s cutdown deadline, but another two will have to be gone (waived, traded, placed on injured reserve, etc.) before 4 p.m. ET rolls around. But which remaining players are the most likely to get their walking papers?
Fourth-string quarterback Jake Dolegala seems like a possibility. He was brought in last week again while Jordan Love was dealing with his shoulder injury, but Love returned to practice on Monday to begin the third week of the preseason. If the Packers feel confident enough that the 2020 first-round pick will be able to play this weekend against the Bills, then Dolegala’s service would no longer be needed.
Another natural name for a cutdown is No. 2 kicker JJ Molson. After spending a portion of last season on the Packers’ practice squad as an emergency backup, Molson was brought back to handle kicking responsibilities during the preseason while sure-fire veteran Mason Crosby rested up for the upcoming campaign. Maybe the Packers hang onto Molson for another week to give themselves a better chance of retaining him for their practice squad, but his departure seems inevitable at this point.
Other Packers on the bubble who could potentially be waived on Tuesday include a pair of undrafted rookie offensive linemen (Jacob Capra and Coy Cronk), a former sixth-round draft running back (Dexter Williams) or one of several wide receivers (Reggie Begelton, Chris Blair, Juwann Winfree or — a long shot — Equanimeous St. Brown).