When Bo Melton joined the Green Bay Packers cornerback group this week at the dawn on mandatory minicamp, he was met with confusion.
A wide receiver and special teamer for the Pack over the past two seasons, Melton had been asked all the way back in 2023 by head coach Matt LaFleur if he'd ever played cornerback.
Roughly two years later, LaFleur brought it back up during organized team activities. Then came Tuesday's first minicamp session with defensive passing game coordinator Derrick Ansley telling Melton he'd be joining him for drills.
None of the Packers corners knew, though. Not until he joined them, anyway.
"Everybody turned and looked at me like, 'What are you doing?'" Melton said Wednesday, via Sports Illustrated's Bill Huber. "I said, 'I'm with y'all today.' I was telling everybody before, and they were like, 'You lying. You lying.'"
A day after Pro Bowl cornerback Jaire Alexander was released by the Packers, Melton was getting practice reps at the position, "in the fire quick," by his accord.
Two months after two-way sensation Travis Hunter was drafted second overall by the Jacksonville Jaguars, Melton is causing his own springtime buzz. He's embracing the fanfare, but quick to pump the brakes on any grand comparisons.
"Travis is a different athlete, as everybody knows," Melton said. "He's a Heisman Trophy winner, won a lot of awards. I'm not going to compare myself to somebody that's done that. But what I will say is I like to run for days. Back in high school, college, I'm very versatile. It's just something they want to look at. I don't have a problem with it as long as everything's right."
Melton was a 2022 seventh-round draft choice of the Seattle Seahawks, taken out of Rutgers and boasting a 4.34 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine. Waived and then signed to the Seahawks practice squad in August of his rookie year, Melton was eventually signed by the Packers. He's been released by Green Bay, too, and spent plenty of time on its practice squad.
He's still done his best to flash his talents -- and versatility.
From 2023-24, Melton has played in 23 games for the Packers with 390 offensive snaps, 24 receptions for 309 yards and a touchdown, and 11 carries for 75 yards. He's also contributed 154 career snaps on special teams and tallied four tackles.
So, his resourcefulness has been glimpsed.
However, the reality is he's taking on a tall task of learning a cornerback position he only dabbled in early at Rutgers and adding that to his wide receiver plate.
Melton is taking the challenge on with his eyes wide open and a long grin, happy for the opportunity.
"When you're out there playing special teams and on punt, you're on the corner side and you're out there doing crazy stuff, strapping people, they like, 'Yeah, you could play some DB,'" Melton said. "So, the situation we're in now, it was like, 'Let's see if he can really do it.' I don't care, let's do it."
Perhaps it's the genesis of a helluva story. Perhaps it's merely a spring headline that will fade into the summer.
More than anything, though, it's an opportunity for Melton to further his career and make his mark.
