As the Green Bay Packers traverse a championship window, an athletic undrafted rookie wideout with a nearly perfect relative athletic score fights to secure a roster spot through special teams.
We're officially 50 days from the start of the 2026 NFL season for the Green Bay Packers. Whether you're ready or not, football season is here.
The Packers kick off their 2026 season against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, Sept. 13, from U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Talk about pressure. The Vikings are certainly in a transitional place as a franchise, but getting going against an NFC North foe ratchets up the intensity of this season from the get-go.
It's a big season for the Packers. There's a belief that they're in a Super Bowl window right now, which means every single game is important. That means the intensity will be there in Week 2 at MetLife Stadium against the New York Jets and it will certainly be there in Week 3 against the Atlanta Falcons, when the Packers will play at Lambeau Field for the first time in 2026.
There's going to be a lot of proverbial ink spilled on this 2026 season and we here at PackersRoundtable hope that you spend as much time as possible with us talking about the ins and outs and ups and downs of the Packers.
As we prepare for the 2026 season, though, we're going to kick things off with a rankings series looking at the Top 50 Packers heading into the 2025 season.
At No. 50, we have wide receiver J. Michael Sturdivant.
The Top 50 Packers Heading Into 2026: No. 50, J. Michael Sturdivant
Nov 22, 2025; Gainesville, Florida, USA; Florida Gators wide receiver J. Michael Sturdivant (9) runs with the ball against the Tennessee Volunteers during the second half at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images.We're going to kick off these rankings with a bold predict that wide receiver J. Michael Sturdivant will make this team as an undrafted free agent rookie.
The Packers have a long history of falling in love with UDFA targets who they believe can provide a niche skillset at the bottom of the roster, and Sturdivant fits the athletic mold.
He checks in at 6-foot-2, 207 pounds, ran a 4.40 40, has a 39-inch vertical, a 10'11'' broad jump and a relative athletic score of 9.96. He's right in general manager Brian Gutekunst's "football crush" wheelhouse.
2025 Synopsis:
Sturdivant caught 27 passes for 406 yards and three touchdowns for the Florida Gators in 2025. He averaged 15 yards per catch.
Notable Quotables:
"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." - Dane Brugler
Projected role in 2026:
Brugler had it spot on in his analysis of Sturdivant in the pre-draft process. He's got to make the team first, but he's on this list because we're projecting him to do so. He'll be a bottom half of the roster player in 2026 who will need to fight for time on special teams before he can even think about sniffing the offensive rotation at wideout.
