GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — The Green Bay Packers have released wide receiver/punt returner Amari Rodgers one year after they traded up in the third round to draft the former Clemson star.
Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst announced on Tuesday the roster moves involving Rodgers and running back/kick returner Kylin Hill, a 2021 seventh-round pick from Mississippi State.
Green Bay sent the No. 92 and No. 135 picks in the 2021 draft to the Tennessee Titans for the right to select Rodgers at No. 85. Gutekunst said afterward the Packers actually had considered taking Rodgers with their second-round pick that year — they chose Ohio State center Josh Myers instead — before moving up to take him in the third.
But Rodgers never carved out a niche as a receiver and struggled to protect the football as a punt returner.
Rodgers fumbled a punt return Sunday to set up a Dallas touchdown in the Packers’ 31-28 overtime victory over the Cowboys. Keisean Nixon handled the punt return duties for the rest of the game.
Rodgers had five fumbles this season and lost two of them. He had 20 punt returns for 139 yards and four catches for 50 yards.
He had just eight catches for 45 yards in his rookie season.
The Packers intended Rodgers to work as a slot receiver, but acquired Randall Cobb from Houston at the start of training camp in 2021 to fill that role. Rodgers struggled to establish himself even as Cobb missed Green Bay’s past four games this season with a high ankle sprain.
Hill had one carry for 7 yards this season after returning earlier this month from a torn anterior cruciate ligament that had ended his rookie year. Hill had 10 carries for 24 yards, one catch for 5 yards and 10 kickoff returns for 199 yards while playing eight games last season.
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