The Green Bay Packers are 50 days from opening the 2026 season, and the first name on this ranking series is an undrafted rookie wide receiver trying to carve out a place on the roster the hard way.
At No. 50 is J. Michael Sturdivant, a 6-foot-2, 207-pound target with the kind of athletic profile Green Bay has been known to chase at the bottom of the roster.
He ran a 4.40 40, posted a 39-inch vertical, a 10'11'' broad jump and finished with a relative athletic score of 9.96. That puts him squarely in Brian Gutekunst’s “football crush” territory.
The Packers are heading into a season that opens Sunday, Sept. 13, against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, and the early schedule doesn’t exactly offer a soft landing.
Week 2 brings the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium, and Week 3 sends Green Bay to Lambeau Field for the first time in 2026 against the Atlanta Falcons. With the belief that the Packers are in a Super Bowl window, every game carries weight.
Sturdivant’s case starts with what he did at Florida in 2025, when he caught 27 passes for 406 yards and three touchdowns while averaging 15 yards per catch. The production was solid, but the real appeal is the blend of size and burst that gives him a chance to stick.
Dane Brugler summed up the profile this way: "Sturdivant needs to introduce more urgency and nuance to his play, but he has juice for a bigger target and shows a decent feel for the position. He projects as an outside receiver at the back end of a roster who can contribute on special teams."
That’s the path here. Sturdivant has to make the team first, and if he does, his role figures to start at the bottom of the depth chart, where special teams work will be his ticket before any offensive snaps at wide receiver become realistic.
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