Packers running back has growth, not revenge, on his mind (2024)

GREEN BAY — Emanuel Wilson has always tried to focus on proving the Green Bay Packers right for taking a chance on him — and the second-year running back has done an awfully good job of doing just that so far.

But during Friday’s joint practice with the Denver Broncos and the Packers’ preseason game against them on Sunday at Empower Field at Mile High, Wilson will definitely be working to remind the Broncos how wrong they were about him.

“Man, the Broncos cut me,” Wilson said this week, as the Packers prepared to depart for the Mile High city on Thursday. “So I’m going in there with a different mindset, (to) prove a point to them. That’s really about it.”

Signed by Denver as an undrafted free agent out of Division II Fort Valley State on May 12, 2023, Wilson’s NFL dream seemingly ended after just three days, when the Broncos cut him right after the rookie minicamp. He thought his pro football career might be over before it even started.

“It was hard. I cried. I did,” Wilson admitted. “I felt like football wasn’t for me no more. I just felt like it was the end of the road for me.

“But I kept my head up and kept pushing. I talked to my mom, and she was like, ‘You know what you’ve got to do? Write in your journal, talk to God and put it to rest.’”

Wilson wiped away his tears and did just that. He spoke with his agent, and a few days later, the Packers had expressed interest. They signed him on May 22, and after seeing his potential during the offseason program, they brought him back for training camp.

By the end of the summer, the 5-foot-10, 226-pound small-school longshot had become one of the best stories of camp, leading the NFL in rushing for the preseason (223 yards) and scoring a pair of touchdowns — one an 80-yard run.

And just like that, Wilson went from being a Broncos castoff to being one of four undrafted free agents to make the 53-man roster coming out of camp.

Call it a storybook plot twist.

“He’s really talented — and that’s obvious. We’re going to keep pushing him to try to get the most out of him,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “He’s been a great addition to the locker room. He’s a great teammate.

“It’s funny, because I always try to get him to smile each and every day because he is (such) a quiet guy. It’s good to get him to smile.”

Wilson has had plenty to smile about. He not only made last year’s roster, he saw action in seven regular-season games — including five snaps against the Broncos in October, carrying twice for 19 yards (including a 14-yard run on the final play of the first half) and catching two passes for 8 yards.

While his regular season was derailed by a shoulder injury, he finished the year having rushed for 85 yards on 14 carries (a 6.1-yard average) and added eight carries for 20 yards in the Packers’ NFC wild card win over the Dallas Cowboys in January.

“Trust me, it is a big jump,” Wilson said of his rookie experience. “Coming here, it’s a lot faster — mentally, too. Playing at FVSU, a low-Division II school, it was easy. Coming here, it was hard to adjust because I’m in here with a lot of big fish.

“To be honest, I’m still adjusting to it.”

He seems to be adjusting well, getting off to another strong start in camp this year in a crowded backfield that includes former NFL rushing king Josh Jacobs as the starter, fifth-year man AJ Dillon back on a one-year prove-it deal and rookie third-round pick MarShawn Lloyd.

With Lloyd sidelined with a hamstring injury, undrafted rookie Jarveon Howard missing time with an ankle injury and Jacobs not expected to play as LaFleur sits the starters, Wilson is in line for plenty of work against his sort-of former team.

It’s another opportunity not only to show the Broncos what they missed out on, but to continue growing.

“The main thing is just (his) understanding the offense. He’s not out there thinking as much before each play like he did last year — which can happen to a lot of rookies,” running backs coach Ben Sirmans replied when asked where Wilson has improved most. “He’s put himself in position just through his ability to study and ask questions and see things and have reps at different things.

“And that’s what you’re seeing, that he’s a lot more comfortable back there because he has a better understanding of what he’s doing and what we’re trying to do in the offense.”

Wilson looked plenty comfortable last Saturday in Cleveland, rushing for 67 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries, including a 23-yard run.

“I felt like I proved to myself that I can do it,” Wilson said. “I can be that guy whenever my time comes.”

If and when that time comes, Wilson feels like he’s in just the right place to do it.

“It feels good. It feels like they’re relying on me a little bit,” he said. “In Denver, going through minicamp, I was afraid to be me. Now I’m comfortable with being me. That’s what I can say. I’m just being myself.”