The Green Bay Packers released their second-year punt returner on Tuesday as Amari Rodgers fumbled twice in 2021. Check out his stats here.

Amari Rodgers : Fumble | Packers release | Stats

Amari Jai Rodgers is an American football wide receiver who is a free agent. He played college football at Clemson and was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the third round of the 2021 NFL Draft.

Amari Rodgers : Fumble | Packers release | Stats

Personal information
Born: September 23, 1999 (age 23)  
Knoxville, Tennessee
         Height:          5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Weight: 212 lb (96 kg)

Rodgers attended Knoxville Catholic High School in Knoxville, Tennessee. As a senior, he caught 40 passes for 1,238 yards with 18 touchdowns. For his career, he had 3,498 receiving yards with 47 total touchdowns.

He was rated as a four star recruit and the 16th highest rated wide receiver recruit in the country by the 247Sports.com Composite, which aggregates the ratings of the major recruiting services.

Amari Rodgers fumble

Amari Rodgers’ fumble against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, his fifth of the season, didn’t just cost him the punt return job. It cost him his roster spot with the Green Bay Packers.

Rodgers’ fumble against the Cowboys came early in the third quarter of a 14-14 game. The Cowboys turned that into a touchdown and scored again on their next possession to build a 28-14 lead.

The Packers came back to win 31-28 in overtime, snapping a five-game losing streak.

Rodgers’ five fumbles, including four on punt returns, are the most by any non-quarterback in the NFL this season, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

Defensive back Keisean Nixon replaced Rodgers on punt returns against the Cowboys and could continue in that role on Thursday night against the Tennessee Titans.

Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst traded a fourth-round pick to the Titans in order to move up seven spots to draft Rodgers in the third round (No. 85 overall) in 2021.

Only one player drafted higher since 2019 is no longer on the Packers’ roster, and that’s 2019 third-round pick Jace Sternberger (No. 75 overall).

Packers release Amari Rodgers 

Amari Rodgers’ fumble against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday was one too many.

Amari Rodgers : Fumble | Packers release | Stats

The Green Bay Packers released their second-year punt returner on Tuesday. Rodgers fumbled a third-quarter punt return against the Cowboy that Dallas recovered at Green Bay’s 45 yard-line. Four plays later, Tony Pollard scored a touchdown to give Dallas a 21-14 lead.

The Cowboys eventually went ahead 28-14 before the Packers rallied for a 31-28 overtime win. The rally wasn’t enough to save Rodgers’ job.

Green Bay traded up in the third round of the 2021 draft to select Rodgers, a wide receiver out of Clemson. He worked as Green Bay’ primary punt returner since winning the job as a rookie.

He fumbled twice in 2021. His fumble against the Cowboys was his fifth in 2022. He also bobbled a punt in the first half against Dallas that he recovered. The Packers replaced him with cornerback Keisean Nixon on Sunday.

Rodgers averaged 7.3 yards on 40 returns for the Packers in 26 games. He tallied eight catches for 95 yards as a receiver after tallying 77 catches for 1,020 yards and seven touchdowns as a senior at Clemson.

Amari Rodgers : Fumble | Packers release | Stats

He never broke into Green Bay’s receiving rotation on a team that has struggled to find playmakers for quarterback Aaron Rodgers since the offseason trade of Davante Adams to the Las Vegas Raiders.

Stats

Rodgers was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the third round with the 85th overall pick of the 2021 NFL Draft.

The Packers send their 92nd and 135th overall picks to the Tennessee Titans to move up and select Rodgers. He signed his four-year rookie contract on July 23, 2021, worth $4.89 million, including a $923,000 signing bonus.

Amari Rodgers : Fumble | Packers release | Stats

     Career NFL statistics as of Week 10, 2022     
Receptions: 8
                  Receiving yards:                    95           
Rushing yards: 11
Return yards: 626      

He saw his first NFL action on September 12, 2021, against the New Orleans Saints, recording one catch for 19 yards in the 38–3 loss. He finished the 2021 season with 169 yards off punt returns and 199 yards off kickoff returns with his longest being 23 and 27 yards.

During Rodgers’ second season, he proved to be inconsistent, totaling five fumbled punt returns over ten games.

However, he was otherwise more efficient by nearing his 2021 totals in just over half a season, returning 139 yards off punt returns and 122 off kickoffs through week 10.

The fumbles, however, proved to be costly and the Packers waived Rodgers on November 15, 2022 following his struggles in the Packers’ Week 10 win over the Dallas Cowboys.

By Rishabh

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