Experienced lineman leads the group of Packers offensive UDFAs to keep an eye on

Two aspects of what tends to happen and of what happened with the Green Bay Packers show how offensive lineman Donovan Jennings can be a real contributor for the roster.

First of all, it's how the Packers are calm with rookies. On Tuesday, during the first OTA open to the media, not even first-round pick Jordan Morgan started with the ones. Even so, undrafted rookie Donovan Jennings was the left guard with the twos, closing the left side of the line with tackle Caleb Jones.

That's why, on the offensive side of the ball, he leads the pack of undrafted rookies — and he has a real shot at making the 53-man roster.

Three UDFAs to watch on offense

G Donovan Jennings

Jennings is one of these highly experienced college players. Because of covid, he ended up playing six seasons in the NCAA at South Florida. For the vast majority of his time there, he was a left tackle — but he also had two games at right guard in 2019.

"Jennings is quick out of his stance and looks comfortable on the move to reach/cut in zone," wrote The Athletic's draft analyst Dane Brugler on The Beast. "In the run game, he has only average power and grit. With his lack of length, he is a strong candidate to move inside (96.2 percent of his college snaps came at left tackle, but he looked solid at guard during Shrine Bowl practices). Overall, Jennings displays enough foot quickness and hip flexibility in pass protection, but he must refine his hand placement to establish leverage and strengthen his anchor to match up in the NFL."

The Packers drafted three offensive linemen, but two (Jordan Morgan and Travis Glover) are preferred tackles, and the other (Jacob Monk) is expected to be a center. Therefore, there is space for a guard to be a real piece of the team. He is older and will be 25 in November, but that's fine for what the Packers expect from him.

RB Jarveon Howard

Howard played four seasons at Syracuse without many opportunities, which led him to transfer to Alcorn State. There, he had a solid last college season, with 773 rushing yards (5.05 per carry) and seven touchdowns, plus 184 receiving yards. He opened the eyes of the NFL scouting community with an excellent Mississippi State NFL Pro Day performance. According to Dane Brugler, he is the 38th best running back of the class.