2026 Packers roster ranking, 91-81: Enter the longshots
The Leap ranks the Green Bay Packers' 90-man roster in order of player caliber.
With the Green Bay Packers on break until training camp and the personnel essentially frozen for the foreseeable future, The Leap will use this time to reveal its annual 90-man roster rankings.
Our methodology: We ordered the players based on ability relative to their respective positions rather than the value of those positions. Put another way, this exercise prioritizes the "best" players, not necessarily the ones who offer the most "value." That means the starting quarterback doesn't have to top the list because of the position he plays.
Each edition of the 90-man roster ranking will include a batch of roughly 10 players. Due to voting ties, some batches will feature slightly more or less.
Today's slate features those on the fringes of the 90-man roster. Most entered the NFL earlier this year while a few have previously had a cup of coffee with a professional team or two. Less than half of the group has registered a statistic during the regular season or playoffs. These are all true long shots.
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91. Jaden Crumedy
Position: defensive tackle
How acquired: free agent (2026)
The Packers signed Jaden Crumedy from the Carolina Panthers, where he spent the last two seasons on and off the practice squad. He was a versatile player at Mississippi State, playing all along their defensive front thanks to his combination of size and quickness. He’s a 6-foot-4, 301-pound defensive lineman with 33’’ arms who could play 3T or 5T for Jonathan Gannon’s odd front defense.
Coming out of college, he had an 8.81 Relative Athletic Score thanks to his excellent straight-line speed numbers. He played in eight games the last two seasons for the Panthers, but despite his relative experience, he was last or second-to-last on both of our ballots.
90. Dante Barnett
Position: DL
How acquired: International Player Pathway street free agent (2025)
Dante Barnett comes to the Packers from the Cincinnati Bengals as part of the International Player Pathway program. That’s why Green Bay has 91 players on its roster. The IPP allows a team to carry an extra player as part of the program to expand opportunities for international players.
The Bengals waived Barnett last year, allowing the Packers to sign him in late October. Barnett has yet to play an NBA snap and has an atypical body type at 6-foot-1, 275 pounds. But there are athletic tools here to believe are worth developing. He ran 4.69 at his weight with a 7.33 3-cone. Those are elite numbers for a defensive tackle despite his lack of size.
Whether he’ll play on the edge or inside will have to shake out, but the whole point of the IPP is to provide players like Barnett a chance to grow and learn.
89. Marlon Jones
Position: cornerback
How acquired: undrafted free agent (2026)
Brant Banks landed at 89 on the list last year and will end up significantly higher on the 2026 list. That’s exactly why we spend the time to go through all 90 players, because a guy who looks like a fringe roster player in June or July can quickly become a key practice squad player with a little development.
A player like Marlon Jones, who plays a position of need for the Packers, has a chance to do the same thing this year. Jones checks all the boxes for Green Bay from a physical profile perspective. He’s a shade under six feet tall, 190 pounds, with elite explosive measurables, and while he lacks S-tier top-end speed, he boasts a 87th percentile 10-yard split, which pairs with his outstanding jumps.
On paper, an SEC cornerback with the requisite size and athleticism belongs higher on a list like this, but Jones started just one game in college, making his chances of landing on the roster a decided longshot.
T-87. Murvin Kenion III
Position: safety
How acquired: undrafted free agent (2026)
This was the first true disagreement between Jason and me on the list, with Kenion landing at the bottom of my list. Without speaking for him, I assume that was premised on the depth at the safety position, which is admittedly thin past Kitan Oladapo.
But the athletic profile here does not say NFL player. His 7.56 3-cone is in the 1st percentile for a safety — not the 99th percentile, the 1st. His short shuttle and vertical jumps were also well below average, and he ran 4.56 for a player who played at four different schools, none of them in a top conference of college football.
On the other hand, he was a playmaker, snagging five interceptions last year at Nevada and forcing two fumbles. I’m dubious that will translate to the NFL.
T-87. Anthony Campbell
Position: DL
How acquired: street free agent (2025)
The Seattle Seahawks originally signed Anthony Campbell as an undrafted free agent in 2025, ultimately landing the 6-foot-6 307-pound defensive lineman on their practice squad. Green Bay signed him in January to a futures deal, and his frame is the basis of his appeal.
He’s massive on a team without established defensive tackle depth. In addition to his height and mass, Campbell brings 34.5’’ arms, which could allow him to slide between any of the defensive line spots for the Packers. Seattle had a loaded defensive line room, so the usual wisdom of really good franchises moving on from young players doesn’t necessarily hold here. He could have been caught up in a numbers problem more than a talent problem.
Still, he’s a DT set to wear No. 60. Those guys don’t usually make the team.
T-85. Brenden Rice
Position: wide receiver
How acquired: Claimed off waivers from the Las Vegas Raiders (2026)
The son of the GOAT, Brenden Rice finds himself on his fifth team since entering the league in 2024. Despite a productive collegiate career, concerns about Rice’s athleticism caused him to drop to the seventh round of the draft, where the Los Angeles Chargers tabbed him.
Back in 2024, I got a chance to talk to Rice before he was drafted about his journey to the NFL. The video is below.
Rice checks every box the Packers like at receiver: he’s 6-foot-2, 208 pounds, ran 4.5 and posted a sub-7 three-cone. He had over 600 yards in two seasons at USC, including 791, averaging nearly 18 yards a catch in his final season.
If Green Bay likes a receiver, it’s worth paying attention to, but five teams in two calendar years tell us what the NFL thinks of Jerry Rice’s son.
84. Karsen Barnhart
Position: offensive line
How acquired: street free agent (2025)
Another well-traveled young player lands at 84. When the Packers signed Karsen Barnhardt to the practice squad in late December, Green Bay was his fourth team since entering the league.
But much like Rice, Barnhardt fits the Packers’ athletic profile for offensive linemen to a T. He’s 6-foot-4, 306 pounds with 33’’ arms and a 8.85 RAS. He played some tackle at Michigan but moved inside in the NFL, where he’s yet to truly find a home.
Still, an athletic lineman from a blue blood program, who won a national championship in college, offers some intrigue. On the other hand, he played for his college coach in L.A. for two seasons and couldn’t stick. The Packers’ need for interior swing help adds to his value in Green Bay.
83. Dylan Barrett
Position: interior offensive lineman
How acquired: undrafted free agent (2026)
Dylan Barrett is discount Jager Burton. He has experience as a guard and center in college and could offer the swing interior presence the Packers need. Barrett began his career at Wisconsin before transferring to Iowa State, both teams that want to run the football and control the line of scrimmage.
Barrett follows the trend of the Packers wanting bigger interior players at 326 pounds, but he’s not the usual athlete Green Bay prizes. He’ll also be 25 as a rookie, which raises the question of how much runway he has for improvement, but there’s a pathway here for him to be a practice squad player given the questions at the position for the Pack.
82. Jaden Nixon
Position: running back
How acquired: undrafted free agent (2026)
It would be easy to say the Packers need a running back; therefore, Jaden Nixon belongs higher on this list, especially for a player who averaged almost eight yards per carry in his final collegiate season.
But Nixon received just 71 carries after transferring to UCF, and Nixon’s best chance at a roster spot is to show explosiveness as a returner. That was his best trait in college, where he had a 22.8 career average returning kicks with a score back in 2022.
Unfortunately, Nixon is small (under 200 pounds) and has little to no path as an actual running back on the Packers, and they already have Skyy Moore on the roster as the dedicated returner, with Savion Williams and Bo Melton also returning options. Nixon would have to be a preseason star to have any shot.
82. Shemar Bartholomew
Position: cornerback
How acquired: street free agent (2025)
At one point, Bartholomew may have been an injury or two away from a starting cornerback job in 2025, though his lone defensive snaps came in a meaningless Week 18 game against the Minnesota Vikings. Green Bay signed Trevon Diggs specifically to avoid having to play Bartholomew if an injury did befall Keisean Nixon or Carrington Valentine.
This offseason, the Packers signed Benjamin St-Juste, and drafted a pair of cornerbacks to go with returning players like Kamal Hadden and Jaylin Simpson. Bartholomew has the size (6’1, 200) to be a potentially useful special teams player, which is how he’d have to make the roster, but given the additions this offseason and returning players, his odds of making the roster are considerably long.