Mercifully and finally, the preseason is over, and the Packers – who didn’t lose any important players to major injuries, like Jordy Nelson last year, and saw the impressive depth of their team, as their second and third stringers mostly outplayed their opponents – can feel pretty good about it.

Now comes the tough part.

Green Bay has to cut its roster down from 75 to 53 by 3 p.m. CT on Saturday. Injuries and performance in the team’s last exhibition game, a 17-7 loss to the Chiefs on Thursday, have given Ted Thompson and his personnel staff even more questions to answer: What to do with rookie receiver Trevor Davis, who hurt his shoulder? Is the No. 3 running back on the club or would the job be better filled by another team’s cut? Can the defensive line improve at all? 

With the Wisconsin vs. LSU College Classic game kicking off 30 minutes before the NFL final cuts have to be made, Lambeau Field is going to be a circus Saturday afternoon. We’ll be there to report any and all Packers news that comes out; released players could be turning in their playbooks and cleaning out their lockers, and Thompson could make announcements, while the Badgers game is going on.

But until then, here is our prediction for the 53-man roster:

Quarterbacks (2)

Aaron Rodgers, Brett Hundley

Rodgers is a lock, and so is Hundley, even with the ankle injury that’s kept him sidelined. Joe Callahan, the undrafted rookie from Division III Wesley College, has had a strong preseason – completing 54 of 88 passes (61.4 percent) for 499 yards with three touchdowns and zero interceptions – and the Packers would love to get him onto their practice squad. By playing Callahan against Kansas City for more than three quarters, the team exposed him further to the league, and it’s hard to believe he’d go unclaimed if Green Bay released him. Even though Hundley’s lingering injury complicates things a bit, the rest of the roster is too talented to keep three quarterbacks.

Running backs (3)

Eddie Lacy, James Starks, Aaron Ripkowski

Lacy and Starks aren’t going anywhere; they make for a dynamic, complementary, 1-2 punch – when healthy, in shape and not fumbling, that is. Earlier this week the Packers placed last year’s No. 3 running back, John Crockett, on injured reserve with a shoulder injury; Brandon Ross has been unremarkable and Brandon Burks’ lost fumble Thursday night hurts his chances. The guess here is that Green Bay waits to see who’s available after cut-downs and signs a player with a better third-down-back skillset.

Wide receivers (7)

Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb, Davante Adams, Jared Abbrederis, Ty Montgomery, Jeff Janis, Trevor Davis (Geronimo Allison)

Seemingly every year, the Packers have more talented wideouts than they can keep – at least that’s the perception until they go to another team and then don’t look as good. Green Bay could conceivably keep as many as eight receivers, though only two, Nelson and Cobb, are locks. So there’s depth, but is it good depth?

Adams has again flashed great potential amid more disappointment; Abbrederis, always an injury concern, had a good camp, a stellar preseason finale and could be the No. 1 punt returner; Montgomery is coming off a major injury and hasn’t done much, but was a third-round pick just last year and could be the top kick returner; Janis, a fan favorite who’s shown glimpses of game-breaking ability but also frequent mistakes, has a club on his broken hand but might still be the Packers’ best coverage specialist. Accounting for fewer running backs and tight ends than usual, Green Bay will probably keep those six, at least. After Davis suffered a shoulder injury, there’s a chance the Packers will put him on the 53-man roster Saturday just so they can place him on short-term IR and then re-sign Allison, who’s looked terrific.

Tight ends (3)

Jared Cook, Richard Rodgers, Justin Perillo

The physically gifted Cook should be the playmaking answer at tight end and Rodgers is a sure-handed pass-catcher who knows the offense. Perillo has done everything the Packers have asked of him, as a blocker and receiver, over the past month. Under Mike McCarthy, Green Bay has never kept fewer than three tight ends, sometimes even rostering five, and those three are good bets. Kennard Backmann, an athletic sixth-round pick last year, was placed on injured reserve (leg) Wednesday.

Offensive linemen (9)

David Bakhtiari, Bryan Bulaga, T.J. Lang, Josh Sitton, JC Tretter, Jason Spriggs, Don Barclay, Kyle Murphy, Lane Taylor

This group doesn’t seem as thin as it’s been in past years, and the Packers surely hope things won’t be as dire as they were in 2015, when injuries decimated the line and forced players out of position. The first five guys are locks, with Tretter taking the starting center spot from Corey Linsley, who will begin the season on the physically unable to perform list. The need for a second center helps Barclay, who’s been dependably mediocre – the definition of a replacement-level backup player – since 2012. Rookies Spriggs (second round) and Murphy (sixth) have been alternately up and down, but they’re ups are good enough to keep them around. Somehow, Taylor has managed to be on an NFL roster for three years now, and he’ll be a Packer again – at least until Linsley’s ready to return.

Defensive linemen (5)

Mike Daniels, Kenny Clark, Letroy Guion, Dean Lowry, Brian Price

If you’re looking for an area of concern, this is it. Going into training camp, there were worries that the defensive line lacked depth, in both quantity and quality, and a lackluster preseason did nothing to assuage them. Daniels, a Pro Bowl-caliber player, is the rock; Guion is a veteran presence and valuable block-eater. Clark, the Packers’ first-round pick, could be a starter if his back injury heals soon; fellow rookie Lowry, a fourth-rounder, had a quiet camp but has the size and speed to develop into a good player. Given Mike Pennel’s four-game suspension to start the season, Green Bay needs a fifth linemen, and Price seemed to be the team’s preference over Christian Ringo the past couple weeks. This lot will look better when Pennel comes back, but it still wouldn’t be a surprise at all to see the Packers sign a veteran free agent.

Linebackers (10)

Clay Matthews, Julius Peppers, Nick Perry, Datone Jones, Kyler Fackrell, Jayrone Elliott, Sam Barrington, Jake Ryan, Blake Martinez, Carl Bradford

Pro Bowlers Matthews and Peppers, a rejuvenated Perry a newly positioned Jones, impressive rookies Martinez and Fackrell, solid-if-unspectacular inside backers Barrington and Ryan, those guys are all in. Bradford, a fourth-rounder last year, had a fairly productive preseason and has some upside. Elliott hurt his hamstring in the third preseason game, and – as Matthews knows – those are always troublesome, lingering injuries. But he’s an excellent special teamer and showed enough pass-rushing, playmaking ability on defense in 2015 to earn a spot. Recently signed veteran Lerentee McCray is the odd man out.

Defensive backs (10)

Sam Shields, Damarious Randall, Quinten Rollins, LaDarius Gunter, Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, Morgan Burnett, Micah Hyde, Chris Banjo, Josh Hawkins, Marwin Evans

The secondary is strong and deep in Green Bay, which is a good thing for a team that plays a nickel defense so much. Shields, Randall and Rollins make for one of the best trios of cornerbacks in the league, and Clinton-Dix, Burnett and Hyde are three talented safeties. Gunter, last year’s training-camp sensation, changed his downward trajectory this preseason with a playmaking finale against the Chiefs; Hawkins is very fast and his interception on Thursday might have won him a spot over Robertson Daniel.

Banjo’s a special teams ace and captain; the Packers, who struggled for years on special teams before finally improving the units over the last couple years, know how valuable he is. Either of the two undrafted rookie safeties, Evans or Kentrell Brice, could make the team, but we’re hoping it’s the former because he’s a Milwaukee (Oak Creek High School) product.

Specialists (3)

Mason Crosby, Jacob Schum, Rick Lovato

My, how things have changed. One year ago, Crosby’s fellow specialists were close friends Tim Masthay and Brett Goode. Now, after releasing Masthay and local kid Peter Mortell this week and signing Schum, who had a strong tryout game against Kansas City, it appears Green Bay will go with the new (and much cheaper) guy at punter. Lovato was good down the stretch last season after Goode got hurt, and he’ll be the long snapper when the Packers’ 2016 regular season begins Sept. 11 at Jacksonville. 

What do you think? Who are we crazy for keeping? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.