Chris Russell wasn’t signed after trying out for the Green Bay Packers at their rookie minicamp but was hopeful he’d get another opportunity.
This week, the undrafted linebacker got it when he signed with the Packers following a Tuesday workout.
“I was just blessed that I got signed, got an opportunity to go make a 53-man roster. Just a blessing,” Russell said after Wednesday’s practice.
Russell played linebacker alongside Packers second-round pick Edgerrin Cooper at Texas A&M. While Cooper went from starter in 2022 to All-American in 2023, Russell went from starter in 2022 to backup in 2023. Thus, despite an impressive athletic profile, Russell not only went undrafted but unsigned.
He got a shot with the Packers the weekend after the draft and with the Tennessee Titans the following week but was not offered a contract.
“I feel like I believed I had a shot [to return to Green Bay] because I came in here and performed pretty well with other people during rookie minicamp,” Russell said, “So, they just told me to stay in shape, stay ready, and that’s what I did. The opportunity came.”
With the Packers playing without their two touted rookies, Cooper (hip) and third-round pick Ty’Ron Hopper (ankle), Russell was part of a Tuesday workout. This time, he got the contract he desired.
It was a payoff for working out the past three months in California, grinding toward a dream that might never become reality. As each day of NFL training camps ticked past, that dream seemed to become more and more unrealistic.
How did he keep going?
“You’ve got to have superior confidence in yourself,” he said. “Talk to God, just leave it up to Him. Just have faith – unseeable faith – in your future. That’s all I could do in that moment. Now I’m here, so I’m just going to take care of the opportunities that I have and see what God has planned for me.”
Cooper said he was at home on Monday when he got a text from his former teammate that he was coming to Green Bay for the workout.
“He’s been waiting and he has a chance to show what he’s capable of,” Cooper said.
Russell was a 12-game starter in 2022, when he finished third on the team with 66 tackles and second with seven tackles for losses. However, as a fifth-year senior in 2023, he started only one game. The highlight of his season was a pick-six against Arkansas.
Cooper called Russell a “hard-working person, a person that’s been waiting for the opportunity to come and compete.”
Russell said he was “blessed” to not have to get a so-called real job. That doesn’t mean he hasn’t been busy. He was “keeping my brain sharp” and working on his linebacker techniques while helping host 7-on-7 football camps at the Army and Navy Academy in Carlsbad, Calif.
While he has some recall of Green Bay’s defensive scheme from the two-day rookie camp, Russell, obviously, is behind the 8-ball from a playbook perspective. All the other linebackers, from starter Quay Walker to undrafted rookie Ralen Goforth, have been working in the defense since OTAs began in May.
Cooper will do what he can to get his former and current teammate up to speed so he can play, well, with his usual speed.
“I always show him if he has any questions or anything, try to catch up as fast as possible so he’s able to go out there and show what he’s capable of,” Cooper said. “That’s part of the whole linebacker corps is to try to help each other out. Having a new person coming in, we all want to be great so we try to help each other and keep the best things we can do for each other.”
Russell probably will get some opportunities on defense and special teams against the Denver Broncos during the joint practice on Friday and the preseason game on Sunday.
For the game, coach Matt LaFleur said a “majority” of starters wouldn’t play. Even if the starting trio of Walker, Isaiah McDuffie and Eric Wilson play a little, most of the snaps will be played by Kristian Welch, Christian Young and Goforth. With Cooper and Hopper working their way back, Russell wouldn’t be just the next man up. He’d be the only next man up.
Thus, Russell should have a real opportunity to make a splash.
“Just showing that I can still compete at a high level,” is what he said he’ll be trying to accomplish in the next two weeks. “Just take advantage of every opportunity that I get and make the 53-man roster.”
