Packers Unofficially Hit 90-Man Roster Limit

On Friday, the Green Bay Packers signed safety James Owens. As a sidenote, the Packers gave Owens jersey No. 34 and shifted fellow safety James Wiggins from No. 34 to the No. 31 worn previously by veteran starter Adrian Amos.

Amos remains available in free agency, and No. 31 is available again. On Monday, the Packers released Wiggins.

Unofficially, the transaction cuts Green Bay’s roster to the 90-man limit. Officially, with four unsigned draft picks, the Packers are at 86.

Wiggins was signed to a futures deal by the Packers on Jan. 10, two days after the season-ending loss to Detroit.

Wiggins was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals in the seventh round in 2021. As a rookie, he played on special teams in three games for the Cardinals, then spent some time on the Kansas City Chiefs’ practice squad in 2022.

At the University of Cincinnati, he had four interceptions in 2018, missed 2019 with a torn ACL and was a second-team All-American in 2020.

He entered the NFL known mostly for earning on a spot on Bruce Feldman’s prestigious Freaks List for The Athletic in 2018. (Rashan Gary was No. 1 on the list.)

Wrote Feldman: “One of the higher-ranked recruits Cincinnati has signed in recent years, the 5-11, 205-pound one-time Miami commit from South Florida is super strong for his size. He benches 405, squats 675 and has tremendous burst, broad jumping 11-0, vertical leaping 37 inches and timing 4.40 in the 40.”

Afterward, Wiggins’ teammates started calling him “Freak.”

“He's got as much ability as pretty much any safety that I've been around," then-coach Luke Fickell, now the new coach at Wisconsin, told GoBearcats.com. “There's still a long way to go, but he has the raw natural talent. The ability to learn the football game is where we're still trying to grow, and he hasn't done it on a Saturday just yet. But I see great growth in him. And I don't just mean as an athlete – he's always been that. But his confidence in understanding and playing the game of football.”

At the 2021 Scouting Combine, Wiggins ran his 40 in 4.40 seconds.

Green Bay has nine players at safety, including Owens and seventh-round draft pick Anthony Johnson.