The Packers tried to claim WR Elijah Higgins

According to ESPN’s Field Yates, the Green Bay Packers put in a claim for former Miami Dolphins wide receiver Elijah Higgins after the initial league-wide cutdowns. Per Yates, five teams attempted to claim Higgins, making him one of two players whom more than two teams attempted to claim.

Higgins was eventually awarded to the Arizona Cardinals, who had waiver priority over the Indianapolis Colts, Tennessee Titans, Washington Commanders and Packers. Originally, Higgins was drafted by the Dolphins in the sixth round of April’s draft.

Higgins is an interesting body type, as he measured in at 6’3” and 235 pounds at the combine. The Stanford product is viewed as a hybrid receiver/tight end, in the same mold as Allen Lazard — a former Packer receiver who left the team in free agency last offseason.

At the moment, Green Bay rosters six receivers on their 53-man roster, not including the two they re-signed to their practice squad on Wednesday. The receivers on the roster are Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, Jayden Reed, Dontayvion Wicks and Samori Toure — all draft picks from the last two classes — along with undrafted free-agent rookie Malik Heath. It’s possible that one of Wicks, Toure or Heath only made the roster because other teams put in a claim on Higgins.

If Higgin ever becomes available in the future, the Packers will probably poke around on him. They have a way of highlighting players they like and waiting for the right opportunity to land them for no extra cost.

A great example of this was their recent waiver claim tight end Ben Sims. Sims, then a prospect out of Baylor, was a player that the Packers tried to recruit as an undrafted free agent — bringing him in for one of the team’s 30 pre-draft visits. Sims ended up signing with the Minnesota Vikings, but after he was waived at cutdowns, Green Bay was awarded him off of waivers.