Packers Sign Athletic Defensive Lineman Who Had Decorated Senior Season

The Green Bay Packers are signing defensive tackle Devonte O’Malley, a source told Packers On SI on Monday morning.

O’Malley was a three-year starter who finished sixth in Northern Illinois history with 22.5 sacks. He was an honorable mention All-American by Phil Steele in 2024, when he had a career-high eight sacks, which ranked fourth in the MAC. He added 11.5 tackles for losses.

O’Malley went undrafted and signed with the Tennessee Titans. He was released two weeks ago.

To clear a roster space, they waived/injured defensive lineman Keith Randolph, who had a productive game against the Colts.

O’Malley will bring some juice to the field for the final week of training camp. At 6-foot-2 1/2 and 284 pounds, he ran his 40 in 4.95 seconds. With excellent all-around testing numbers, his Relative Athletic Score was 9.20.

In the big upset win over Notre Dame, he had three tackles for losses, forced a fumble, broke up a pass and had five pressures to be named the Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week by the Football Writers Association of America.

“Going into that game, it was a lot of doubts,” he told Slim Sports. “People were saying we ain’t going to win. I like to know what other teams think. So, I looked at the scouting report. It was like I hadn’t shown up in big-time games in X amount of years that I’ve been here, spelled my name wrong like they didn’t care. Stuff like that – I’m undersized.

“The cherry on top, we watched the interview from the head coach after they played Texas A&M, and he said something along the lines, ‘You don’t prepare for next week. I don’t even know who we play next week.’ They played us, so that left a chip on my shoulder. You just don’t go out and trash-talk your opponent.”

He wasn’t intimidated by the formidable Fighting Irish.

“Honestly, it’s just another game,” he said before the game. “I don’t think any major Power Five team that we play is crazy … At the end of the day, we put our shoes on just the way that they do.”