GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Inexperienced Bay Packers may need a Travis Hunter of their very own, and his title is Bo Melton.
The backup receiver, who has performed in 22 video games the previous two seasons in Inexperienced Bay, did one thing hardly ever — if ever — seen earlier than throughout a Packers observe: Inside the similar drill, Melton performed not solely his common place but additionally flipped over to the opposite aspect of the ball and took some snaps at cornerback.
It was partially out of necessity after slicing Jaire Alexander and being down a few injured corners (Kalen King and Micah Robinson), however coach Matt LaFleur appeared to genuinely consider Melton might play each methods.
In truth, it feels like LaFleur has thought that for a while now — way back to when Melton first arrived in Inexperienced Bay late within the 2022 season, when he was signed off the Seattle Seahawks observe squad.
“He was like, ‘You ever play cornerback?'” Melton recalled after Wednesday’s minicamp observe, his second as a two-way participant. “That is when it first received in my thoughts. After which after that I forgot, and now it got here again. And everyone was hinting at it.
“Once you’re on the market taking part in particular groups and on punt you are on the nook aspect and also you’re on the market doing loopy stuff, strapping individuals, they like, ‘Yeah, you might play some DB.’ So the state of affairs we’re in now, it was like, ‘Let’s have a look at if he can actually do it.’ I do not care, let’s do it.”
LaFleur broached the topic once more final week after the Packers’ last OTA observe. When minicamp opened on Tuesday, Melton made his debut as a cornerback whereas nonetheless carrying his white No. 80 jersey in observe, the place offensive gamers put on white and defensive gamers put on inexperienced.
“I do know there’s a whole lot of consideration with Hunter down there in Jacksonville with what he is doing,” LaFleur mentioned of the Jaguars’ two-way rookie. “So we simply kinda offered it to him, and he mentioned he was up for the problem.”
Melton, nevertheless, wished to make one factor clear: He isn’t Hunter, the second total choose within the 2025 draft, who performed each receiver and cornerback at Colorado and is anticipated to do the identical within the NFL. In truth, Melton has not performed each methods in a sport since his highschool days in Egg Harbor Metropolis, New Jersey. His final snaps of any form at cornerback have been throughout his early practices at Rutgers.
Bob Melton’s cornerback work in your display screen in 3 … 2 … 1 … pic.twitter.com/6XlD66ysnF
— Rob Demovsky (@RobDemovsky) June 11, 2025
“Travis is a special athlete, as everyone is aware of,” Melton mentioned. “He is a Heisman Trophy winner, received a whole lot of awards. I am not going to match myself to someone that is achieved that. However what I’ll say is I prefer to run for days.
“I am very versatile. Some issues I like doing at receiver could make me be open for wideout. Some issues at nook that I’ve achieved which have proven this crew, these coaches, that [I] most likely might work at nook. It is simply one thing they wish to take a look at. I haven’t got an issue with it so long as all the pieces’s proper.”
Melton additionally wished to make one thing else clear: He isn’t even the very best cornerback in his circle of relatives.
That title belongs to his brother, Max, a second-round choose of the Arizona Cardinals final yr.
In truth, his brother was as shocked as anybody to search out out Bo was taking part in cornerback at Packers’ minicamp this week, particularly since Bo stored it a secret till Max noticed the clips on social media.
Max’s response, per Bo, was: “What the f—?”
“I needed to inform him, ‘Look, man, I can not inform you all the pieces. However yeah, I’ll strive it out and see how it’s,'” Bo added.
At first, even a few of Melton’s Packers teammates have been caught off guard.
“It is completely different if you see a receiver come over there and he is carrying No. 80 and also you see him in a one-line drill,” Packers cornerback Carrington Valentine mentioned. “However if you see him begin doing it, we like ‘Oh yeah, he received him some Melton blood proper there, for certain.'”
Think about how quarterback Jordan Love felt when he threw a cross to Melton, then just a few performs later, Melton was defending a cross from Love.
“That was undoubtedly complicated,” Love mentioned. “Throughout the jog-through, I used to be mentioning that it appeared like Bo was a receiver on the market, however he was really taking part in DB, so I used to be making an attempt to not throw it to him.”
It isn’t like Melton hasn’t had his moments as a receiver throughout his two-plus seasons in Inexperienced Bay. In 2023, he made his first profession begin in Week 17 towards the Vikings and caught six passes for 105 yards with a landing to turn into the primary Packers participant since 2013 with 100 yards receiving and a landing in his first begin. He performed in all 17 video games final season however had a much bigger position on particular groups. On offense, he caught eight passes for 91 yards and carried the ball eight occasions for 54 yards when LaFleur utilized Melton’s velocity on end-around and jet-motion performs.
However with the addition of two rookie receivers — first-round choose Matthew Golden and third-rounder Savion Williams — there is no assure Melton would have a roster spot taking part in solely receiver, though they like what he does as a core particular groups participant.
“We have talked about this for a few years, simply his ability set and the way versatile he’s,” Packers common supervisor Brian Gutekunst mentioned. “You watch him on [special teams] and you are like, ‘Wow, he can most likely do a few of that.’ I believe it is simply one thing we will take a look at and see if it is a risk.
“Bo is all the pieces we wish in a soccer participant on the market so far as his capability as a receiver, definitely on [special] groups. If he is in a position so as to add to his arsenal, that makes him actually, actually priceless to us.”