GREEN BAY, Wisconsin – Green Bay Packers receiver Jalen Wayne’s athletic career should have been predetermined.
Wayne is the cousin of former Indianapolis Colts star Reggie Wayne, who was a six-time Pro Bowl player and ranks 10th in NFL history in receptions and receiving yards.
Instead, he didn’t know they were related until Reggie Wayne scored a 53-yard touchdown against the Bears in Super Bowl XLI.
“My dad came into the living room and said, ‘That’s your uncle,'” Wayne said last week in the far corner of the Packers’ locker room. “Well, cousin, but we call him my uncle. That’s what he told me that day.”
Wayne was 8 or 9 years old at the time, but that wasn’t exactly the starting point of his NFL career.
During his middle school years, Wayne suffered a broken kneecap and gave up the sport.
“One of my friends hit me and I broke my knee,” he said.
To repair the injury, two screws were inserted and Wayne shifted his focus to basketball.
“I gave up and just wanted to play basketball or something,” Wayne said. “I had a few offers for basketball, but it wasn’t big enough for me. So my friends told me to try football again, and then I tried it my senior year, transferred to a better high school and then started playing.”
He was a natural talent. At Spanish Fort (Alabama) High School, coach Ben Blackmon made him a central point of the offense as a receiver and runner.
“I just had to pick it up and fell in love with it, just because I had the ball in my hands so many times,” Wayne said.
The situation was different in South Alabama, especially when Steve Campbell took over as coach in 2018.
“He didn’t really like the way I played,” Wayne said, “so I had to change my game.”
Who better to learn the ins and outs of being an elite receiver than an elite receiver? Wayne reached out to his famous cousin through social media and found a willing mentor.
“That’s when my uncle and I started talking every day. I would call him and say, ‘Hey, I heard we’re kind of family.’ And he said, ‘Yeah, we are,'” Wayne recalls.
“And I said, ‘Give me some tips on exercises and other things I can do to at least get to where you are now.’ He gave me a whole bunch of things – big messages on things he used to do – and I did them every day. After that, I got better really, really quickly.”
Wayne caught eight passes for 115 yards in his first three seasons at South Alabama, but caught 144 passes for 1,863 yards in his final three seasons.
Despite his performance and his famous last name, Wayne went undrafted in 2023 and spent training camp with the Buffalo Bills and Cleveland Browns. At Buffalo, he was given the number 87 jersey – the jersey worn by Reggie Wayne, who was unavailable for this story as the Indianapolis Colts’ receivers coach.
Jalen Wayne was released during the Browns’ final roster cuts and did not play in the NFL for the rest of the year.
In January, he signed with the Montreal Alouettes of the CFL. The defending champions had a good selection of receivers and released him in June.
“I wouldn’t say I gave up last summer, but I was close,” Wayne said.
When the Packers called him up for a workout in mid-July, he was helping to set up the interior of a friend’s house and his father’s.
“I was out in the heat every day (for his job), so it wasn’t so much about building my endurance,” Wayne said. “I was just trying to get my feet and my running paths clean enough that they wouldn’t think I’d just been sitting on my butt all day.”
Wayne had two days to prepare for the chance to revive his football career.
“It was crazy,” Wayne said. “My agent called me one morning and I was asleep and didn’t answer. Then I woke up to the news that the Packers wanted me to coach.”
“When I saw that, I thought, ‘Okay, I know I’m going to make the team.’ It’s just a matter of, ‘When am I going? When am I going to get up there?’ He said, ‘Just take your time and you’ll know how to do it.’
“So I came here and did my thing and tried to see where it takes me now.”
The Packers signed him on July 19, just days before training camp began, and gave him the No. 2 jersey.
Wayne didn’t catch a single pass when he returned to Cleveland last week, but he made enough plays on the practice field to show he belongs.
Obviously, the Packers have a deep receiver corps. Even if they keep six receivers on their 53-man roster, they will need two or three more for the practice squad.
Wayne’s thoughts aren’t limited to the lineup, though. Reggie Wayne’s best advice was to focus on the task at hand. He’ll have three more big opportunities to showcase his skills: Sunday night’s preseason game at the Denver Broncos, a joint practice in Green Bay against the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday, and the final preseason game against the Ravens on Saturday.
“I just have to stay focused, get into a routine and stick to that routine,” Wayne said. “That’s what gets you through the league and through your career.”
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Much has changed since the beginning #Packer Training camp. Here’s a look at the biggest battle in each position group with two preseason games to go and 10 days until the 53-man roster is cut. ⬇️https://t.co/aDsXEr5B5D
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) 18 August 2024
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Highlights of the training camp: Joint training against Broncos | Exercise 15 | Exercise 14 | Exercise 13 | Exercise 12 | Exercise 11 | Family night | Exercise 9 | Exercise 8 | Exercise 7 | Exercise 6 | Exercise 5 | Exercise 4 | Exercise 3 | Exercise 2 | Exercise 1
