For the first time since making the necessary moves to get Green Bay’s roster down to the 53-man limit, Packers GM Brian Gutekunst met the media Wednesday to speak about his decisions.

Here are some highlights from the 15-minute press conference:

— One of the surprises of Tuesday’s cuts was seeing only two running backs on the initial roster. The thought had been that either Patrick Taylor or Tyler Goodson would serve as the No. 3 back behind Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon. But Gutekunst instead opted to cut both and bring them back on the practice squad with the idea of being able to elevate them to the active roster if need be.

He also pointed to the potential use of Amari Rodgers in the backfield as another reason for the move, saying the second-year wide receiver gives them some flexibility.

— The team ended up keeping seven wide receivers, including all three of their draft picks. Among them was seventh-rounder Samari Toure, who seemingly beat out Juwann Winfree for the final spot.

“That was a tough call,” Gutekunst said of Toure over Winfree. “But, Samari, his ability in the slot and his ability to get open and separate, some of those things really, really intrigued us.”

— Kicker Ramiz Ahmed was among the cuts, but ended back on the practice squad. The team is counting on veteran Mason Crosby to be ready for the start of the season after undergoing knee surgery in the offseason, but have a plan if he’s unable to get all the way back.

“We’re very hopeful Mason’s going to be back on time,” Gutekunst said. “We still have a little ways to go. The plan is to bring Ramiz back to the practice squad and have him here in case we don’t get there. But (Mason) is progressing really nicely and we expect him to kick Game 1, but we’ll be prepared if he doesn’t.”

— One of the stories of Tuesday was safety Micah Abernathy making the roster after being with the team for just 20 days. His time as part of the 53 was very short, though, as he was cut to make room for free agent safety Rudy Ford. The 27-year-old Ford was cut by Jacksonville earlier this week.

“Rudy is a very accomplished special teams player in this league. He’s one of the better gunners in the league,” Gutekunst said. “He’s got kind of a speed and physicality that we certainly covet, so we were kind of looking at that situation for a while. We were a little surprised that he got shaken loose, but when he did, we were kind of ready to get on that. Hopefully, he can get here and get acclimated soon, so he’s not only on special teams, but then on defense as well.”

The team announced the addition of 12 players to the practice squad:

WR Travis Fulgham
DB Rico Gafford
OLB La’Darius Hamilton
DL Chris Slayton
DL Jack Heflin
QB Danny Etling
DB Kiondre Thomas
RB Tyler Goodson
RB Patrick Taylor
OT Caleb Jones
LB Kobe Jones
LB Ray Wilborn