Well…that was quick. A couple of hours after asking you which position groups the Green Bay Packers should add to, the Packers claimed two players off waivers. Green Bay added tight end Luke Lachey and cornerback MJ Devonshire. With these additions, the Packers’ roster is now full. The two vacancies were created when tight end Eni Falayi failed his physical and kicker Brandon McManus was released.
Lachey was picked in the seventh round of the 2025 draft out of Iowa by the Houston Texans. The former
Hawkeyes team captain spent his entire rookie season with the Texans’ practice squad. He is the son of former All-Pro offensive tackle and Arena Football League owner Jim Lachey.
Here was The Athletic’s Dane Brugler’s blurb on Lachey coming out of the draft:
A two-year starter at Iowa, Lachey was a Y tight end in offensive coordinator Tim Lester’s pro-style scheme (63.8 percent of snaps inline; 29.4 percent in the slot). The top-ranked recruit in the Hawkeyes’ 2020 class, he is next up in the Iowa-to-NFL pipeline, despite below-average college production caused by injuries and a listless passing offense (only one red zone catch and zero touchdowns over his final two seasons).
Strictly an underneath target in 2024, Lachey is an average speed player and more smooth than explosive, but he efficiently transfers his momentum in and out of breaks to give his quarterback a target on stick routes. Bigger defenders will give him trouble inline in the run game, but he is at his best when he can latch and drive on the move. Overall, Lachey doesn’t have any dynamic elements in his game, but he catches the ball cleanly and is willing to do the dirty work in the run game. His competitive wiring will help him compete for a backup role in the NFL.
Lachey will likely compete with Drake Dabney, Messiah Swinson and RJ Maryland for the fourth tight end spot on the 53-man roster or practice squad spot this summer.
Devonshire is another former late-round draft pick, selected in the seventh round by the Las Vegas Raiders in 2024. Since then, he’s had stops with the Carolina Panthers, Baltimore Ravens and Buffalo Bills. Going into his third year in the league, the Kentucky to Pittsburgh transfer has yet to play in a regular-season game, but he did spend his entire rookie year on the Raiders’ practice squad, and he made the Buffalo Bills’ practice squad in December.
Here is what Brugler had to say about Devonshire’s draft selection at the time:
A two-year starter at Pittsburgh, Devonshire was a perimeter cornerback in head coach Pat Narduzzi’s zone-heavy scheme (72.7 percent of Devonshire’s 2023 defensive snaps came in zone coverage). After transferring back home from Kentucky in 2021, he followed in the footsteps of his childhood hero and fellow Aliquippa alum Darrelle Revis as a playmaker on both defense and special teams (first Aliquippa player since Revis in 2006 to score on a punt return and interception return in the same season).
In off coverage, Devonshire can read through the route to the quarterback or stay in the pocket of receivers in man-to-man, using his long arms to challenge throws in his air space. However, his inconsistent anticipation and lack of disciplined technique will make it tough for him to stay in phase versus savvy route runners.
Overall, Devonshire is more of an aggressive athlete than true instinctive ballhawk, but his linear burst, speed and length help him make plays in coverage. He is a developmental player with the tools to play man, zone and special teams.
Devonshire joins a cornerback room with Keisean Nixon, Brandon Cisse, Carrington Valentine, Benjamin St-Juste, Domani Jackson, Kamal Hadden, Jaylin Simpson and Shemar Bartholomew.
