GM Brian Gutekunst confirmed that the position switch started in the spring will carry into the summer.
Bo Melton is no longer a wide receiver.
Well, that sentence might be a bit premature, but the Green Bay Packers have a plan for the former wideout to make a move. In OTA and minicamp practices this spring, the third-year Packer started taking significant reps at cornerback. Now at the start of training camp, he will get the opportunity to make that position switch permanent.
Speaking to reporters before the team’s first open practice on Wednesday, general manager Brian Gutekunst confirmed the plan. “Bo’s going to spend most of his time at corner,” Gutekunst said when asked about Melton. “We know what he can do as a receiver and on special teams … we’re excited to see what he might be able to do at corner for us on defense,” he said, adding that Melton is “all for it.”
As part of the position switch, Melton will also be changing his jersey number, moving from a classic wide receiver number in #80 to a more versatile #16.
Although Melton has played wideout throughout his entire three-year NFL career — one season on the Seattle Seahawks’ practice squad and two in Green Bay — the team has apparently always had the possibility of him playing corner in the backs of their minds. Gutekunst said that it was an idea they had when scouting him for the 2022 NFL Draft, perhaps spurred in part because he played some corner in high school and early on in his college career at Rutgers. Additionally, Melton has plenty of experience as a gunner on special teams, logging over 140 teams snaps for the Packers last season and recording three tackles plus a recovery of a muffed punt.
By making this switch, Melton will be following in the footsteps of his younger brother, Max, who moved to corner in college and was a second-round draft pick by the Arizona Cardinals in 2024. In fact, he’s following Max in more ways than one, as Max also wears number 16 in Arizona.
With the Packers’ logjam of wide receivers, Melton needs to find a way to impress this summer in order to make the 53-man roster. If he can show some reliability in coverage, it’s entirely feasible that his versatility in all three phases of the game would make him an important player to keep on the team when September rolls around.