GREEN BAY, Wis. — A couple of new defenders will be joining the Green Bay Packers’ secondary.
Pending a physical, they intend to sign safeties Trey Dean III and Tra Fluellen. They were two of three players hosted at the facility for workouts Monday, along with Josh Minkins. With the first preseason game of the summer on the horizon, the Packers’ bruised-and-battered safety room desperately needed reinforcements.
Dean and Fluellen will have the opportunity to practice at least once with the rest of the team on Tuesday, which will mark the final public session before the Aug. 13 exhibition contest against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Their audition didn’t end with their initial workout in front of the Packers’ coaching staff—an encouraging showing on Thursday and they could both stick around.
The Packers needed bodies. Starting nickelback Javon Bullard missed Monday’s practice with a foot injury, and he was spotted in a walking boot, but he only sustained a bone bruise; there’s no long-term concern that will linger into the regular season. Even so, the Packers are going to tread lightly; Bullard might not even be on the field Thursday night, ditto for most of the team’s starters. Head coach Matt LaFleur has remained noncommittal on whether or not the Packers’ top players will be available.
That includes Xavier McKinney and Evan Williams, who aren’t going to play extensively, if at all. That leaves Kitan Oladapo, Mark Perry, and Murvin Kenion III as the only other safeties at their disposal. Oladapo is presumed to serve as the No. 2 behind Bullard at the nickelback spot with Johnathan Baldwin out of the picture. Baldwin was waived/injured on Sunday after missing consecutive practices with a knee injury.
Dean (6’2”, 201 lbs.) was an undrafted free agent in 2023 and has yet to play in a regular-season game. During his collegiate career at Florida, Dean spent five years with the Gators and left the school with three times as many pass breakups (12) as interceptions (4). He logged 60 stops—defined by Pro Football Focus as tackles that constitute a “failure” for the offense—including 40 combined over his last two seasons.
The 26-year-old from Hampton, Georgia, has spent time with the New York Jets, Kansas City Chiefs, and Cleveland Browns before turning his attention to the United Football League (UFL). He bounced between the St. Louis Battlehawks and Louisville Kings last season, but in 2025, he helped the DC Defenders win the championship. He registered 10 tackles, an interception, and a pass breakup during their postseason run.
Like Dean, Fluellen (6’1”, 212 lbs.) also hails from the UFL. Fluellen, 25, signed with the New Orleans Saints in 2024 as an undrafted free agent after a five-year collegiate career—two years at Houston Baptist, three at Middle Tennessee. Fluellen was a two-year starter for the Blue Raiders, intercepting five passes with eight pass breakups and 36 stops—25 of which came in a single season—across his final two years at the program. For as active as he was in halting the opposing rushing attack, he was equally as reckless; Fluellen missed 29 tackles in that span.
Fluellen spent the entirety of his rookie season on the Saints’ practice squad before being released the following summer and venturing to the UFL. For the Dallas Renegades, he appeared in 10 games, accumulating an impressive 40 tackles with one interception and a pair of pass breakups.