Thursday Cheese Curds: Packers’ roster decisions now down to fine tuning

With the final preseason game roughly 48 hours away, the final roster cutdown to 53 is fast approaching.

For the Green Bay Packers, there isn’t a ton of uncertainty as to which players make the final roster but that doesn’t mean there won’t be a few things to watch when the Packers face the Buffalo Bills on Saturday.

How many receivers will the Packers end up keeping? There are at least five that are roster locks (Davante Adams, Randall Cobb, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Amari Rodgers, and Allen Lazard) and players like Malik Taylor have played well in the preseason. With Devin Funchess going on injured reserve yesterday, the thought process on how many receivers to keep has changed.

Will Kurt Benkert force Green Bay to keep three quarterbacks and could he become eventual QB2 behind Jordan Love? It will be tougher than expected to sneak Benkert onto the practice squad should he be released following his solid showing against the New York Jets plus Benkert’s former team in Atlanta will be looking for a backup thanks to AJ McCarron’s season ending injury.

Defensively, the surprise release of Kamal Martin answers some questions at inside linebacker but have Oren Burks and Ty Summers shown enough to make the team? Burks had a stellar game in the preseason opener versus the Houston Texans so he should be all but locked in.

Meanwhile, safety has become the spot to watch. With Will Redmond now on IR, there are multiple spots up for grabs between Vernon Scott, Henry Black, Innis Gaines, and Christian Uphoff. At least two and maybe three of those four will make it but which two is very much up for grabs.

Brian Gutekunst has some decisions to make in the next week or so and with the majority of the roster set, we have a pretty good idea of what the 2021 Packers will look like Week 1.

At this point, it’s all about fine tuning.

How many roster spots are still open entering Packers’ preseason finale?—Packers Wire

Love’s likely return to the field will give fans enough incentive to watch but there are still plenty of positional battles to watch. One more exhibition game to go before the games start to count in the standings.

As the Green Bay Packers enter their final preseason game, here are roster projections at every position heading into final cuts—PackersNews.com (subscription)

Taylor’s special teams prowess may be his saving grace in a stacked wide receiver room while this might be the end of the injury-riddled road for Equanimeous St. Brown.

Green Bay native Cole Van Lanen enjoys home support system while pursuing Packers dream—ESPN

Hometown hero Cole Van Lanen has lived out a dream at Packers training camp this year but he likely will find himself squarely on the roster bubble barring a standout game on Saturday. His will probably be the biggest name local fans will be following as the roster is finalized.

Kevin King back with Packers to ‘finish this with my guys’—Packers.com

Kevin King’s return was not exactly a popular signing with the fans but for his part, King seems intent on making up for his poor play that contributed to the Packers’ loss in last season’s NFC Championship.

Falcons apparently started celebrating at halftime of their crushing Super Bowl loss to the Patriots—CBS Sports

“28-3” was one of the most popular memes a few years back and this news shows that the enormous public ridicule the Falcons endured was probably deserved