Ranking Every Player on Packers’ Roster, Part 9: Motivated to Revive Career

The Green Bay Packers will take a 90-player roster to the field for their first practice of training camp on July 23.

In a Packers On SI tradition, we will rank every player on the roster. This isn’t just a list of the best players. Rather, we take talent, contract, draft history, importance of the position and depth at the position into consideration.

More than the ranking, we hope you learn a little something about every player on the roster.

No. 50: CB Micah Robinson

Seventh-round pick Micah Robinson knows one player on Green Bay’s roster. He said he’s second- or third-cousins with quarterback Malik Willis.

“He was like family, welcome,” Robinson said. “Blessed to be on this team, but it’s also crazy I’m on the same team as him.”

Robinson spent four seasons at Furman, an FCS-level school, with two interceptions in 2022 and three in 2023. He transferred to Tulane for his final season and added two more interceptions. Pro Football Focus charged him with a completion rate of just 46.8 percent, one touchdown and a passer rating of 52.8.

“I’ll always say when I have a good eye on the quarterback, good eye on the receiver and I see the ball in the air, usually, respectfully, that ball is mine,” Robinson said. “I’m a ballhawk and I like to go up and get it whenever I see it.”

At Tulane, his position coach was former NFL cornerback J.J. McCleskey.

“He has a great feel for the game, a great character guy, does a great job of tackling,” McCleskey said. “I think he was just molded to being a pro, and I’m sure that he is embracing the moment. I was fortunate to play eight years in the National Football League. We always talked about the moment that he’s going to get. If he takes advantage of it like he should, then great things are going to happen. This kid really does a great job of just making plays.”

McCleskey has as good a chance as anybody on the back of the depth chart to earn a roster spot. After the starting three of Nate Hobbs, Keisean Nixon and Carrington Valentine, the roster includes former sixth-round picks Gregory Junior and Kamal Hadden and former seventh-round pick Kalen King.

“There was a skill-set there,” defensive passing game coordinator Derrick Ansley said. “Obviously, fast; he’s got verified top-end speed. He’s hungry to learn. I was in here yesterday with him, about 5:30, and he was in the DB room just writing down every call. So, he’s eager to play. A guy comes in here with that kind of mindset and skill-set that he has, there’s definitely a lot to work with there.”

No. 49: C/G Jacob Monk

The backup center is practically a lock to earn a roster spot. With new starting center Elgton Jenkins skipping OTAs and not practicing during minicamp, Jacob Monk took the No. 1 reps throughout the spring.

Monk was a fifth-round pick in 2024. He played in 10 games but didn’t log a single snap on offense. Even in the playoff loss to the Eagles, when Jenkins and former starting center Josh Myers were sidelined by injuries, Monk remained glued to the bench.

“He’s done a nice job,” coach Matt LaFleur said during minicamp. “Another guy that’s a lot more comfortable in terms of and confident in terms of going out there and knowing what to do. And for him it’s just going to come down to those live reps.”

Monk was a five-year starter at Duke. He was “A-plus-plus” as a player and leader, former Duke and current Texas A&M offensive line coach Adam Cushing said.

“This is one of my favorite Jacob Monk stories,” Cushing said. “It was the first summer we were there. We weren’t allowed to do full practices, but we had some on-the-field drill work we were able to do. I stayed out maybe for an extra 15-20 minutes talking to one of the other players and then talking to some coaches.

“I’m walking back up to my office and I walk past the O-line room and Jacob Monk is at the board teaching the offense to the freshmen. We had just done it and, I’m not kidding you, I didn’t ask him to do it, nobody asked him to do it. He’s just a natural leader and he cares about others in one of the most genuine ways you’ll ever see. That right there would encapsulate who Jacob Monk is. He genuinely wants to encourage other people to be great.”

Monk has an odd allergy. As he shared after being drafted last year: “So, before my first start, first-ever game against Alabama, I got in the cold tub and found out I was allergic to cold water,” he said. “I ended up getting some hives before the game, before we flew out. Yeah, that was something to learn, I guess.”

Playing in the cold and snow of Green Bay won’t be a problem, though.

“It’s always been a dream of mine to play in the snow. I’m not afraid of the cold. I’m not afraid of cold water.”

No. 48: DT Nazir Stackhouse

In the sixth round, the Packers drafted defensive tackle Warren Brinson, who spent most of his career at Georgia as a backup. As an undrafted free agent, the Packers signed the defensive tackle Nazir Stackhouse, who played in 59 games with 42 starts.

How badly did the Packers want Stackhouse? They gave him $165,000 guaranteed – a $15,000 signing bonus and $150,000 of his salary – an unprecedented amount for the Packers.

At 6-foot-4 and 327 pounds, he’s built at least a little like TJ Slaton, who started all 34 games the last two seasons because of his excellence as a run defender.

“He has tremendous flexibility, which keeps you from getting injured,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said via Dawg Nation. “He has what we call contact balance, which means he can strike and not get knocked off when another person hits him on a double team. He can anchor. 

“So, he’s been very durable, and we would be in trouble without him. And I thought he had a really, really good year two years ago. He had a pretty good year last year, and then this year he’s played better to me than last year. And he continues to grow and get better, but he’s just been a workload.”

During his first season at Georgia, Stackhouse was diagnosed with narcolepsy. He’s been known to fall asleep in meetings and even on the sideline during games.

“Narcolepsy is so unpredictable,” Stackhouse told The Athletic. “Because people are like, ‘Are you tired, are you tired?’ No, I’m not tired, I just fell asleep. I dozed off. It’s like a curse.”

No. 47: WR Malik Heath

The numbers here are simple. Of Green Bay’s six receivers last season, Malik Heath was a distant sixth in snaps. The Packers drafted Matthew Golden and Savion Williams, who are locks to make the roster.

Heath caught 10-of-12 passes for 97 yards with a pair of 3-yard touchdowns last season. Through Week 17, he had only one catch of 10-plus yards – a 12-yarder vs. San Francisco. However, his 41-yard catch against Chicago in Week 18 gave Green Bay a chance to win. He caught 4-of-5 in contested-catch situations and had zero drops.

“Every time I get a chance to get in the game, I take advantage of my opportunities, so that's what I'm going to do,” he said before the playoff game. “I'm going to keep doing the same thing I've been doing all year, same thing I was doing all last year. I’m going to keep doing it.”

Heath’s lucky to be alive, let alone be in the NFL. In December 2021 while a senior at Mississippi State, an 18-wheeler crashed into the driver’s side of the car he was driving. He was unconscious for about 15 minutes. He sustained collapsed lungs, a broken rib cage and a ruptured liver.

“Once I had passed out [at the hospital], thought I was gone,” he told The Athletic’s Matt Schneidman. “I felt me fading away. I can’t explain it.”

Heath’s toughness and mindset as a blocker have won him spots on Green Bay’s roster. He’ll have to fight his way onto the roster again.

No. 46: WR Mecole Hardman

During minicamp, Mecole Hardman made a one-handed catch in the end zone for the “winning” touchdown in a 2-minute drill. The next day, he caught a bomb from Jordan Love for another “winning” 2-minute touchdown.

Those were big-time plays, to be sure, but they pale in comparison to scoring the game-winning touchdown in overtime in the Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory over the 49ers.

“Just trying to get better every day,” Hardman said in downplaying what happened at practice.

Hardman is trying to resurrect a career that started with such promise. A second-round pick by the Chiefs in 2019, he caught 26 passes for 538 yards (20.7 average) and six touchdowns as a rookie, 41 passes for 560 yards and four touchdowns in 2020, 59 passes for 693 yards and two touchdowns in 2021 and was on pace for 53 catches for 631 yards and eight touchdowns before a midseason injury in 2022.

In free agency in 2023, Hardman signed with the Jets. After catching one pass for 6 yards in five games, he was traded back to the Jets. In six games in 2023 and 12 games in 2024, he caught 26 passes for 208 yards and zero touchdowns. One of the fastest receivers in the league, he had only one catch of 20-plus yards during that span.

“I’m definitely motivated to show a different side of things and playing a certain amount of plays as a receiver and making those contested catches and those different kind of routes I haven’t been running in the past,” Hardman said. “Definitely motivated, but at the end of the day, just being, doing your role the best you can. Whatever role that is, I’m going to try to do it to the best of my ability.”

Hardman’s history as a proven returner should help his cause, but it’s impossible to ignore the depth chart.

“First and foremost, he’s been very coachable,” passing-game coordinator Jason Vrable said. “He’s not like a vet who is stuck in his ways. He’s been an open book. He’s won three out of five Super Bowls. So, you talk about experience, no one else in this building has ever been to five. So, he’s been through a lot but he’s been so coachable.

“He wants to get his career back to what he was before he had the surgery and the injury, and he’s been busting his butt. You can definitely feel the speed out there. He’s been a great addition as well. I just told him that today. I put my arm around him and told him, ‘I’m really glad that you signed here. I think this is going to be, in my mind, a great fit and a great building for you.’”