Indiana offensive lineman Caleb Jones has made the Green Bay Packers’ 53-man roster for the 2023 NFL season.
Jones signed with the Packers as an undrafted free agent in 2022. Though he did not make the 53-man roster during last year’s preseason, he was promoted to the active roster following Week 1. This year, there was far less suspense for the former IU lineman, who more comfortably acquitted himself in Green Bay.
Jones is an absolute mountain of a man, standing 6-foot-9 and weighing roughly 370 pounds.
He arrived in Bloomington in 2017 as a product of Lawrence North High School in Indianapolis. After redshirting in his first year, Jones would play in all four subsequent years for coach Tom Allen and the Hoosiers from 2018-21. In total, Jones played in 41 games at Indiana, and started in his last 30.
Of his 30 career starts at IU, 25 were played at right tackle, while five were at left tackle.
Though Jones never achieved an individual honor higher than honorable mention from coaches to the All-Big Ten team in 2019, he was a key contributor to one of the greatest two-year stretches in the history of Indiana football. In total, the Hoosiers went 14-7 from 2019-20, ranked as high as No. 7 in the AP poll and recorded wins over both Michigan and Penn State. Jones started in 18 of the 21 games during that stretch
“We liked his play temperament coming out of college,” Packers’ general manager Brian Gutekunst said of Jones in 2022. “You’ve got to give him a lot of credit. He’s made the most of his opportunities. He’s gotten himself in really good shape, probably the best shape he’s been in since high school. He’s done a really nice job, so I’m excited for him, among others, to get out there Friday and really have an opportunity to see what they can do.”
Jones and the Packers kick off their 2023 season and their first game of the post-Aaron Rodgers era on Sunday, Sept. 10., when they travel to the Windy City to take on their arch rivals — the Chicago Bears.
