The Green Bay Packers have signed two players to their practice squad on the day of the NFL trade deadline: tight end McCallan Castles and receiver Michael Woods II. The Packers’ practice squad was already at 16 players, on a 17-man squad, so there will need to be at least one corresponding roster move to be made before these additions are final. I say at least, because there’s still a possibility that linebacker Kristian Welch, who was brought up to the 53-man roster last week and was released on Monday,
could return to the practice squad, too.
Castles was brought in on a workout on Monday, so his signing isn’t out of left field. The assumption is that at some point, the Packers will call up Josh Whyle, a former draft pick who Green Bay signed at the roster cutdown deadline, to the 53-man roster when the team officially places Tucker Kraft on the injured reserve for his ACL tear.
Castles was originally signed by the Philadelphia Eagles as an undrafted rookie in 2024, but ended up signing with the Los Angeles Chargers’ practice squad after roster cutdowns. He was waived by the Chargers this summer and picked up by the Los Angeles Rams, who waived him again at the roster cutdown deadline.
Woods, meanwhile, is a signing that wasn’t expected. He was originally drafted in the sixth round of the 2022 draft by the Cleveland Browns, where he played 459 offensive snaps and 105 special teams snaps over three seasons with the team. If you were wondering, no, he doesn’t have NFL experience as a returner.
The receiver had a rough sophomore year, as he ruptured his Achilles that April, which wound up costing him action for the entire 2023 season. The NFL then suspended him for the final six games of the regular season that year for a violation of the league’s personal conduct policy, though the specifics of the incident that caused the suspension haven’t come to light.
This past August, Woods was placed on the Browns’ injured reserve with a hand injury and was eventually waived from the team with an injury designation. Cleveland reporters initially stated that the hope was that Woods would land back with the Browns’ practice squad when healthy, but that never occurred.
The Packers already had three receivers on their practice squad in Isaiah Neyor, Will Sheppard and Jakobie Keeney-James, all undrafted rookies. My guess is that one of them will be moved to make room for the re-signing of Welch this week.
