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In 2019, the Green Bay Packers gave undrafted rookie edge rusher Greg Roberts a $7,000 signing bonus. That was enough to entice the athletic but unproven Roberts to don the green and gold, but he never ended up playing a down in his rookie season; in fact, he barely even practiced.
Roberts spent all of 2019 on the reserve/Physically Unable to Perform list, missing all of training camp and the season with an abdominal injury. In 2020, he surely hoped to put that behind him and get a chance to prove himself worthy of a roster spot and finally, after more than a year of waiting, he is getting a chance to do so this week.
On Thursday, Roberts practiced for the first time this year, coming off the active/PUP list. Jim Owczarski of Packersnews.com first reported his return. Roberts actually began this year’s training camp on the reserve/COVID-19 list before landing on the PUP when activated from that status. Now he joins a group of young pass-rushers vying to earn the team’s fourth-string EDGE job behind Za’Darius Smith, Preston Smith, and Rashan Gary. With just a few days of practice left to go, however, it may be too late for him to realistically earn a spot on the 53-man roster, but a practice squad spot should be a possibility given that the Packers have been patient with his return from injury.
The Packers now have just three players on active injury lists: linebacker Curtis Bolton remains on the active/PUP list while rookies Simon Stepaniak and Patrick Taylor are on the active/Non-Football Injury list.