Packers keeping Herb Waters in the mix at cornerback

GREEN BAY - Even though the Green Bay Packers did not extend a minimum salary tender to cornerback Herb Waters on Wednesday, they weren't ready to give up on the former undrafted free agent just yet. 

By Thursday, Waters was back as a member of the Packers after signing a fresh contract to take another crack at making the 53-man roster. The Packers announced the signing in a news release that also made official the signing of defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson and a trade with the Cleveland Browns that saw cornerback Damarious Randall depart in exchange for quarterback DeShone Kizer, plus a swap of fourth- and fifth-round picks.  

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Waters, 25, signed with the Packers as an undrafted rookie from Miami in 2016. He went through training camp as a wide receiver — the position he played in college — before flipping to cornerback and becoming a project for cornerbacks coach Joe Whitt Jr. 

Waters played well last spring and summer until suffering a shoulder injury early in training camp. It was an aggravation of an injury suffered during minicamp a few months prior. Waters wound up spending the season on injured reserve. 

But, as of Thursday, the Packers are willing to give him another chance. 

"He’s further along at this point than I thought he would be," Whitt said last June, after Waters hurt his shoulder the first time. "I hate that he got hurt; hopefully he’ll be ready for training camp. If he is, he’s going to give (all the other cornerbacks trouble). He has that ability in his body that, don’t be surprised, like I told you in ’09 about Tramon (Williams), I said that Tramon was the best cover guy that we had, I think you thought I was crazy at the time, but at the end of the year and going into ’10, he was. This kid has that type of ability. He does."