GREEN BAY, Wis. — Will Sheppard caught the punt at the Packers’ 19, slipped the first defender, and hit a lane down the left sideline that never closed. Eighty-one yards later, he was in the end zone, and Lambeau Field had its loudest moment of a preseason night that otherwise belonged to backups.
The return came with 4:06 left in the second quarter of Friday’s Packers 42-38 win over the Arizona Cardinals, Green Bay’s preseason finale. Official team scoring listed it as an 81-yard touchdown off Jack Browning’s 50-yard punt. Some highlight posts rounded it to 80. The play itself was not close: Sheppard made one man miss near the catch point, then ran through a hole the Cardinals’ coverage never filled.
The Green Bay Packers account posted the clip Saturday morning: “ALL. THE. WAY. 81-YD PUNT RETURN FOR WILL SHEPPARD!”
ClutchPoints posted a similar highlight labeled as an 80-yard score
and the NFL account used the same 80-yard tag
The box score and the team recap both say 81.
How the return was built
Watching the play on the Packers TV Network feed, the first miss mattered more than the long sprint. Sheppard fielded the ball cleanly, broke one tackle, and then ran into space that Arizona never recovered. Packers On SI noted that edge Dani Dennis-Sutton could not find a block and that Kitan Oladapo only grazed the last defender. That is scheme and assignment failure as much as it is a returner’s burst.
Green Bay needed that kind of play. Romeo Doubs finished last season with 94 punt-return yards, a total that left the staff hunting for another option. Sheppard had already been in the mix during special teams periods this spring, according to team content staffer Wes Hodkiewicz. Friday was the first time the experiment produced a score.
It was not his only trip to the end zone. Earlier in the quarter, after Nyjalik Kelly intercepted Kedon Slovis, Kyle McCord found Sheppard on a short throw to the flat. Sheppard turned it into a 12-yard touchdown that tied the game at 17 with 7:44 left in the half, per the team’s in-game recap. He finished with three catches for 26 yards and that receiving score, matching the official box on packers.com.
A wild night for the backups
Jordan Love and Tyrod Taylor did not play. McCord did, for all 60 minutes, and he put the rest of the bubble players on his back. He completed 22 of 35 passes for 226 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions, a 119.5 passer rating that ESPN and the NFL both logged.
The Cardinals led 38-27 with under five minutes left. McCord hit Kisean Johnson for a 28-yard touchdown at 3:19, Damien Martinez ran in the two-point conversion, and Arron Mosby intercepted Slovis. McCord then found Johnson again from 10 yards with 20 seconds remaining. Slovis’ Hail Mary died at the goal line.
“It’s out of my control at this point. I did everything that I could’ve to make a case for myself. And so now we just wait and see.”
Kyle McCord, after the game, via FOX Sports (Associated Press)
J. Michael Sturdivant led the receivers with six catches for 112 yards and a touchdown. Johnson added four catches for 52 yards and the two late scores. The Cardinals piled up 492 total yards to Green Bay’s 282, per the team game center, and still left town with a 1-3 preseason record. The Packers finished 2-1.
Packers receiver
Rec
Yds
TD
J. Michael Sturdivant
6
112
1
Kisean Johnson
4
52
2
Will Sheppard
3
26
1*
*Receiving only. Sheppard also scored on an 81-yard punt return.
What it means before Sunday’s cuts
Sheppard is not a secret. He went undrafted in 2025 after stopping at Vanderbilt and Colorado, saw a Tampa Bay offer pulled after a failed physical, and signed with Green Bay in July 2025. He spent most of last season on the practice squad, got a brief promotion to the 53-man roster in late November, and did not play a regular-season snap. The Packers signed him to a reserve/future contract on Jan. 12, 2026, according to RotoWire and his player record.
That history is why Friday matters and why it may not be enough. Packers Wire called him a prime practice-squad candidate even after the two-touchdown night. The receiver room is crowded. Special teams is the path. An 81-yard score in the last audition helps that argument. It does not guarantee a 53-man spot.
NFL teams must be at 53 players by 6 p.m. ET Sunday, Aug. 30, a deadline the league moved up this year, NFL.com reported in May and CBS Sports recapped Friday. Green Bay’s regular season starts Sept. 13 at Minnesota, 4:25 p.m. ET, per NFL.com.
The Packers went 9-7-1 in 2025, lost in the wild-card round at Chicago, and have not won the NFC North since 2021. They have made the playoffs in each of the last three seasons. Those are the stakes that do not show up on a preseason scoreboard. Sheppard’s job, for one more night, was simpler: field it, beat the first man, and run.
He did.
