GREEN BAY, Wis. — The streak of a rookie free agent making the Green Bay Packers’ initial 53-man roster is alive and well.
2026 will be the 22nd consecutive season, thanks to J. Michael Sturdivant’s valiant, last-second buzzer-beater in Friday night’s preseason finale versus the Arizona Cardinals. The undrafted wide receiver from Florida earned a spot on the Packers’ 53-man roster, which was no easy feat considering the state of the position group.
The depth chart is headlined by the starting trio of Christian Watson, Jayden Reed, and Matthew Golden, with third-round pick Savion Williams entering his second season, do-it-all Bo Melton remaining as a favorite among the coaching staff, and Skyy Moore cementing himself as the team’s top return man. That left very little room for a seventh body, but Sturdivant made sure he was the exception.
Despite Isaiah Neyor, Will Sheppard, and Kisean Johnson all stating their case, Sturdivant beat out the competition to earn his spot.
With an intriguing blend of size and speed at 6’3” and 207 pounds, Sturdivant offers a rare combination that is seldom found on the Packers’ roster. Watson and Williams are the only other wideouts on the team that are taller than 6’0”, and the latter is currently dealing with an ankle injury that has placed his availability for the start of the season in question.
Sturdivant has been a training camp darling for the Packers, but he was relatively quiet in the team’s first two preseason games. He drew just four targets while working with the Packers’ No. 3 offense, bringing in three of them for 30 yards. Friday’s finale against the Cardinals, however, was a different story.
He was on the field for nearly the entirety of the game with Kyle McCord under center at quarterback. McCord looked Sturdivant’s way seven times, completing six passes for 112 yards and a touchdown, but it was on a single drive where Sturdivant may have stamped his ticket to the 53-man roster. Early in the second quarter, Sturdivant was the recipient of a target on consecutive plays—he turned that into two receptions for 65 yards, including a 29-yard touchdown reception where he beat cornerback Quinton Newsome.
The Packers have kept more than seven receivers just once under general manager Brian Gutekunst: 2018, when they drafted a trio of rookies in J’Mon Moore, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, and Equanimeous St. Brown. Only thrice has an undrafted wideout made the team’s initial 53-man roster since 2012: Jarrett Boykin, Darius Shepherd, and Malik Health. Sturdivant now makes a fourth.