The wide receiver room in Green Bay is chock full of young, talented pass catchers, most of whom are Packers draft picks from the last two years.

But as training camp and the battle for roster spots heat up, a former Seattle Seahawks draft pick in Bo Melton has been turning heads.

Melton was selected by the Seahawks with the 229^th pick in the 2022 NFL draft, with the former Rutgers receiver taken 29 slots before the Packers drafted Samori Toure.

A four-star recruit coming out of Cedar Creek High School, Melton chose Rutgers over offers from some of the top college football programs in the country, including Michigan and Ohio State.

He was never a high-volume receiver at Rutgers. Melton’s career highs for yards and touchdowns came in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, when he put up 707 all-purpose yards and had eight scores.

Melton used the extra year of eligibility granted to 2020 seniors due to the pandemic and returned in 2021 for his senior year before entering the NFL.

The pre-draft process, and specifically the athletic testing, is where Melton really helped his prospects of being selected, posting an impressive 9.23 Relative Athletic Score (RAS) on a 0-10 scale compared to wide receivers who had previously tested.

The highlight was an ‘elite’ speed score, with Melton running the 40-yard dash in 4.34 seconds, but the wideout also posted ‘good’ scores for agility and explosion.

After being drafted by the Seahawks and failing to crack the 53-man roster, Melton spent most of his rookie season on the practice squad, before the Packers poached him in December 2022 and added him to their active roster.

Making that same roster for the 2023 season, up against a now crowded wide receiver group, will be a challenge, but Melton has staked his claim during the early part of camp.

Melton caught a touchdown pass from Alex McGough in the red zone period on day two, running a slant to get open for the score, but he really began to make some noise when the one on ones started.

On day five of camp, Melton faced Kiondre Thomas, a corner who sits further down the depth chart, in what turned out to be a total mismatch, as he won all three reps.

The next day, he beat Innis Gaines twice in the same drill, before catching a 35-yard touchdown pass from Danny Etling after beating Carrington Valentine, who himself has enjoyed a strong start to camp.

He was overthrown by Etling later in the two-minute drill, having edged in front of Corey Ballentine, and faced stiffer competition in the one on ones in practice number seven.

Melton enjoyed a back-and-forth battle with Keisean Nixon, shaking him twice but failing to haul in a high pass on one of those occasions, with Nixon also winning a rep.

In two-minute, Melton saw some time with the first team and caught a pass on a slant from Jordan Love to pick up a 1^st down.

With the twos, he dropped a pass but instantly bounced back to convert on 3^rd down, grabbing a Sean Clifford pass which went for 15 yards, before catching another pass later in the drive which ended in a touchdown.

There is plenty of competition for Melton as he aims for a place on the 53-man roster, with Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, Jayden Reed, Dontayvion Wicks, Grant DuBose and Samori Toure all draft picks from 2022 or 2023, and another 5 undrafted wideouts to battle against.

DuBose is yet to practice this training camp, which could give Melton a leg up, as could the potential fear from Brian Gutekunst that he could get stolen from Green Bay’s practice squad, just as they took him from Seattle.

But beyond that, Melton’s performance on the field so far have got him noticed and will have placed him squarely in the mind of the Packers GM as he evaluates the roster.