Last offseason, Penn State brought in Julian Fleming from Ohio State to replace KeAndre Lambert-Smith as the No. 1 wide receiver in Happy Valley. Instead, Fleming struggled to establish himself as a reliable target for quarterback Drew Allar and slid down the depth chart in a talent-deficient wide receiver room.

Now, Fleming will have a serious uphill battle in the NFL after joining the Green Bay Packers as an undrafted free agent on Saturday at the conclusion of the 2025 NFL Draft.

Julian Fleming joins Green Bay Packers as UDFA

Before selecting Texas wide receiver Matthew Golden on Thursday night in front of their home crowd in Green Bay, the Packers had not selected a first-round wide receiver since 2002. That 23-year drought was the longest in the NFL, and the lack of investment in that position was one of the grievances that future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers harboured on his way out of town three years ago.

Now, after years of skimping on highly-touted playmakers, the franchise and general manager Brian Gutenkunst went all-in for Rodgers’ replacement Jordan Love, drafting two wide receivers in the first three rounds of this year’s draft, Golden and TCU’s Savion Williams. So, an already crowded wide receiver room will be nearly impossible to navigate this offseason, but Fleming could have a particular skill set to intrigue Packers head coach Matt LaFleur.

When Julian Fleming arrived at Ohio State as a five-star recruit and the No. 1 player out of the state of Pennsylvania in the 2020 high school class, he was expected to eventually become another Buckeye first-round pick at the position. However, Fleming was overshadowed by Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Marvin Harrison Jr., and Emeka Egbuka, all first-rounders, and transferred to Penn State after four years in Columbus.

While he never put up big numbers, even in Happy Valley, Fleming discovered a niche in Columbus as a talented run blocker, which likely put the 6-foot-2, 206-pound receiver on Green Bay’s radar.

Wide receivers have become increasingly important as run blockers as the outside zone run game and condensed formations of the Kyle Shanahan/Sean McVay coaching tree, of which LaFleur is one of the most successful branches, proliferate through the league. His propensity as a blocker is one of the first things that got eventual Super Bowl MVP Cooper Kupp onto the field for McVay in Los Angeles.

As defenses have responded to a perimeter rushing attack with lighter linebackers who can close sideline-to-sideline, coaches like McVay and LaFleur have countered with a more diverse run game, leaning back into gap and power rushing schemes to bulldoze undersized second-level defenders.

Last season, the Packers had about a 60/40 split in favor of zone runs over gap runs, and Josh Jacobs is more of a between-the-tackles runner than his predecessor, Aaron Jones was. So, Fleming will need to bring more to the table than just run blocking to find his way onto the field in Green Bay, but with a head coach who loves to run the football, it’s not a bad place to start.