Before last year’s NFL Draft, we speculated that wide receiver was a sneaky position of need for the Packers. Green Bay wound up selecting two receivers, starting with Purdue’s DeAngelo Yancey in the fifth round.

Yancey is a big target at 6-2, 220 pounds, and averaged nearly 20 yards per reception as a senior in college. When he was selected by the Packers, it was an easy comparison to connect his style of play with the recently retired receiver James Jones.

The receiver showed his skills as a rookie, but found his way to the practice squad when the team opted to keep just five receivers on their opening day roster. 

2017 Stats

• Preseason: 3 receptions, 67 yards
• Spent 2017 regular season on the practice squad

Expectations going into the season: Low
Expectations were: Not Met

What we said after the draft

How does DeAngelo Yancey fit with the Packers? - Yancey will be a developmental prospect, but he checks many of the boxes the Packers look for as far as physical attributes. He’s a big target who can get downfield in the right situation, and the Packers have lacked a consistent deep threat. Playing with other receivers that draw more attention, Yancey could be that guy.

Analysis: Yancey fails to break through crowded receiver group

DeAngelo Yancey has never lacked confidence. Though he put up solid numbers at a Big 10 program, he was not invited to the NFL Scouting Combine. Instead of giving up on his NFL dreams, he continued to work and inevitably was selected by Green Bay in the fifth round.

Eliot Wolf scouted Yancey, and spoke highly of the receiver after he was drafted. “(He's a) really confident kid. Thought he was a player from Day 1," Wolf said. "Sometimes with the guy that don't get invited to the combine, you don't always see that (confidence). But that was the thing that stood out."

Confidence is a good characteristic for a wide receiver, especially one walking into a position group with three entrenched starters who weren’t going anywhere.

In 2016, the Packers kept seven wide receivers on their original 53-man roster. Unfortunately for Yancey, they opted to keep just five in 2017. Once second-year receiver Trevor Davis returned a punt for a touchdown in the preseason opener against the Eagles, it put a damper on Yancey’s chances to make the roster.

In Ted Thompson’s tenure as general manager, just two receivers drafted after the third round made their original 53-man roster out of training camp: Jeff Janis and Trevor Davis.

Yancey remained on the Packers’ practice squad all season long, and will return as a second-year pro in 2018.