The Green Bay Packers have another chance to bring in a player they already evaluated this spring, and this time it’s New York Giants running back Damon Bankston.
Bankston was waived by the Giants on Saturday, putting him back on the market after Green Bay had him in for a pre-draft visit. He ended up signing with New York for $115,000 guaranteed, while the Packers brought in Jaden Nixon on a much smaller deal worth $15,000 guaranteed.
That earlier interest matters. Since 2022, the Packers have signed, traded for, drafted or claimed 36 players who came through Green Bay as pre-draft visitors.
Sometimes those players don’t land in Green Bay right away, but they often circle back later. Darian Kinnard, John FitzPatrick and Josh Whyle are examples of players who eventually made their way to the Packers after initially being elsewhere.
Bankston fits the profile of a sleeper worth monitoring. At New Mexico, he put up 635 rushing yards on 5.6 yards per carry, scored five rushing touchdowns and added 31 catches for 397 yards and three more scores.
That came in his lone season of FBS football, and he led the Lobos in yards from scrimmage on a 9-4 team. Before that, he was an All-Conference player and team captain at Weber State, where he also worked as a returner.
His athletic profile is part of the appeal. Bankston is listed at 5-foot-10 and 196 pounds, but he ran a 4.43-second 40-yard dash and posted a 6.89-second three-cone during the pre-draft process.
If Green Bay’s preseason tape is any clue - and that’s still an open question - the offense may lean more toward the early Matt LaFleur look in 2026, with more outside zone and bootlegs off outside zone action. That kind of system calls for backs who can threaten defenses with burst, the sort of role Aaron Jones once filled when the offense was rolling.
Things never clicked for Bankston in New York, though the Giants kept adding to the position this offseason, including Najee Harris, who has been linked to the Harbaugh family since then-Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh was hosting satellite recruiting camps at his high school campus.
Even if the Packers passed on Bankston’s asking price back in April, that doesn’t close the door now. Practice squad spots aren’t reserved, and Green Bay has repeatedly landed players that way when those players preferred the Packers as a destination. When those guys were pre-draft visitors, like Whyle was last year after being waived by the Tennessee Titans, they often got onto the field faster than a typical practice squad player.
Bankston didn’t exactly force the issue in the preseason, finishing with 21 carries for 73 yards and two catches for two yards. Still, the Packers liked him once, and his skill set matches what their offense appears to be looking for on film.
If Green Bay decides it wants another running back, he’s very much in the mix. Those 73 rushing yards would have led all Packers backs this preseason.
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That matters because Matt Schneidman reported Josh Sweat is not expected to join Green Bay, and Brian Gutekunst has not even discussed Sweat with Arizona. If Dennis-Suttons progress keeps moving in the right direction, the Packers may feel less urgency to chase a veteran pass rusher and more reason to see how much help they already have in house. [Read more 🡒]