For the second straight day, the Green Bay Packers used the waiver wire to add a new player to the offseason roster. On Wednesday, the Packers claimed wide receiver Brenden Rice, a 2024 seventh-round pick and the son of Hall of Famer Jerry Rice, off waivers from the Las Vegas Raiders.
Rice (6-3, 210) was the 225th overall pick of the Los Angeles Chargers in 2024. The Packers will be his fifth team; Rice previously spent time with the Chargers, Raiders, New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks, including stints on the practice squad with the Raiders, Patriots and Seahawks. He appeared in three games for the Chargers as a rookie in 2024, playing three snaps on offense and 10 more on special teams.
The Chargers waived Rice at final cuts last August. The Raiders waived Rice this week after originally signing him to the practice squad last December.
During his final season at USC, Rice caught 37 passes for 644 yards and 11 scores, earning him All-Pac 12 second-team honors. He was a Colorado transfer. During pre-draft testing, he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds, hit 36.5″ in the vertical leap, covered 9-11 in the broad jump and did 13 reps on the bench. His Relative Athletic Score is 7.17 out of 10.0.
Rice’s scouting report from Lance Zierlein: “The bloodlines don’t get much better than Jerry Rice, so Brenden Rice might have a head start on the rest of the field. He’s big and plays a physical brand of football when cornerbacks want to fight over space. He lacks sudden feet, so beating press cleanly and separating on short routes could be challenging as a pro. Rice possesses good build-up speed to create deep-ball opportunities once his ball skills are added to the equation. Rice catches with quick, strong hands and good extension to help with frequent contested catches. There are some limitations at play, but he has enough checkmarks to project as an early backup with some upward mobility.”
Zierlein had Rice graded as a possible fourth-round pick, although he fell into the seventh round and hasn’t yet panned out at the NFL level.
Rice gives the Packers another talented pass-catcher to compete for a roster spot at the bottom of the receiver depth chart this summer.
The Packers announced the addition of cornerback MJ Devonshire on Wednesday after claiming him off waivers on Tuesday.
This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Packers claim Hall of Famer’s son off waivers from Raiders
Reporting by Zach Kruse, Packers Wire / Packers Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
