The Green Bay Packers continue to add to their stable of young receivers, signing former Colorado wideout Will Sheppard on the eve of training camp.
Sheppard’s agent, Will Felix, said July 22 that the 6-foot-2, 203-pound Sheppard had signed with the Packers after several reports said Sheppard had agreed to terms.
The Packers announced the Sheppard signing and also announced they had signed kicker Mark McNamee to replace recently released Alex Hale. The Irish-born McNamee joins through the NFL’s International Player Pathway Program and replaces Hale, who is Australian, as the Packers representative.
Hale was set to join training camp, but he suffered an eye injury in a freak accident while training and won’t be able to kick for several weeks. The Packers need another leg in training camp to help take some of the workload off veteran Brandon McManus.
Sheppard, who wasn’t drafted, signed as a free agent with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers but failed his physical. He later took part in the Denver Broncos’ rookie minicamp on a tryout basis but wasn’t signed.
Sheppard played four seasons at Vanderbilt and then transferred to Colorado, where he caught 48 passes for 621 yards and six touchdowns.
At Colorado’s pro day, Sheppard ran the 40-yard dash in 4.54 seconds, logged a 40½-inch vertical jump and a 10-foot-11 broad jump.
McNamee spent a month kicking for the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League before signing with the Packers. In Ireland, he was a Gaelic football goalkeeper for Ballyboden St Endas in Dublin.
This article originally appeared on Packers News: Packers sign receiver Will Sheppard, kicker Mark McNamee before start of training camp
Reporting by Tom Silverstein, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Packers News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
