The Green Bay Packers signed tight end Luke Lachey and released wide receiver Jakobie Keeney-James on Monday, General Manager Brian Gutekunst announced, a roster move that adds a pass-catching option at a thin position and makes room on the 91-player offseason roster.
Lachey, who will wear No. 86 in Green Bay, was a seventh-round pick (No. 255 overall) in the 2025 NFL Draft out of Iowa and spent his rookie year on the Houston Texans’ practice squad before being released on May 11. Listed at 6-6 and roughly 250 pounds, he started 31 of 42 games at Iowa, was named a permanent team captain and was one of the Hawkeyes’ Comeback Players of the Year in his senior season.
Jakobie Keeney-James joined the Packers’ practice squad last September and started at wide receiver in Week 18 against the Vikings, catching two passes for 15 yards and returning two kickoffs for 47 yards while playing 94 percent of the offense’s snaps in that game.
The number that gives the move weight: 91. Lachey joins Green Bay’s full offseason list as the club heads into the final week of its organized workouts, a late addition to depth behind the team’s existing tight ends. Gutekunst’s announcement framed the switch as a targeted roster adjustment at a position the Packers have been thin at.
There is a clear wrinkle to the timeline: the Packers tried to claim Lachey in May but did not add him then after he failed a physical. Lachey cleared that hurdle this month and passed a physical before being added to the Packers’ 91-player offseason roster on Monday, a difference that turned a prior attempt into a completed acquisition.
The friction is straightforward. A failed physical in May briefly blocked what looks, on paper, like a simple depth signing; a passed physical in June cleared the way. That sequence raises the immediate question Green Bay faces now: whether Lachey’s medicals will allow him to contribute consistently enough to survive roster cuts later this summer.
For Green Bay the practical takeaway is immediate: the team adds a 6-6 target with starting experience in college and leadership credentials at Iowa, while moving on from a young receiver who logged meaningful snaps in the regular season last year. For Lachey the move is a second chance to earn a role after a rookie year limited to a practice-squad spot and a mid-May release by Houston.
What happens next is simple and consequential. Lachey will participate in the remainder of the Packers’ offseason program and will be part of evaluations through organized team activities and, later, training camp. His presence addresses a short-term depth need at tight end, but whether he translates UIL-level production and practice availability into a place on Green Bay’s final 53-man roster remains the single most important unanswered question coming out of Monday’s transaction.
Gutekunst’s roster note closes the chapter on a brief transaction saga: an attempted acquisition in May that stalled on a failed physical, followed by a successful signing after Lachey passed the club’s exam. The Packers have responded to a thin tight end room by adding a veteran college starter; now the team — and Lachey — must show he can stay healthy and help on game days if he is to keep his spot through the summer cuts.
