Former Park Crossing High School standout Grant DuBose didn’t expect to be picked in this year’s NFL Draft – and he almost wasn’t.

But on Monday, the Green Bay Packers announced the wide receiver had signed his first NFL contract after the team selected him in the seventh round on April 29.

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When the Packers picked DuBose, only three choices remained in the draft. As the 256th selection, DuBose signed a four-year contract with an estimated value of $3.918 million with a signing bonus of $77,776, according to the sports financial website spotrac.com.

Green Bay general manager Brian Gutekunst said his call to DuBose to tell him he was being drafted wasn’t one he would forget soon.

“When you go through investigating these guys, you really do want to see what adversity they’ve had in their lives and how did they overcome it,” Gutekunst said. “And for me, it makes me feel much better when they have overcome some adversity, some significant adversity, because they’re going to experience that here.

“A lot of noise on that phone call. I always turn it over to (coach) Matt (LaFleur), and he gets to spend a little bit more time with them, and our coaches do. But it was one where we get to – it’s four minutes (to pick in the seventh round), and I think we called him with two minutes left, and I’m trying to get off to give it to Matt so I can tell them to turn the pick in.”

Coming out of high school in Montgomery, DuBose had one offer to continue his football career, and when Miles College canceled its 2020 schedule because of the coronavirus pandemic, he was out the college game after one season.

After a year of bagging groceries, delivering food orders and working at Walmart and Hyundai Glovis, DuBose caught on at Charlotte. In two seasons with Charlotte, DuBose caught 126 passes for 1,684 yards and 15 touchdowns.

In March, DuBose ran a 4.57-second 40-yard dash and posted the fastest three-cone drill at 6.89 seconds and the fastest shuttle run at 4.32 seconds among the players from Alabama high schools and colleges at the NFL Scouting Combine this year. DuBose’s three-cone performance was the eighth-fastest among all players at the 2023 combine.

“When I got the phone call from Green Bay, I didn’t know they were going to draft me,” DuBose told Sports Illustrated. “They said, ‘Are you ready to be a Packer?’ And I said, ‘Y’all about to draft me?’ Because the undrafted free agent talks were already coming up at the time, and I didn’t know I was going to be drafted.

“I had to go into the room with my family, and they were feeling the emotions and all of that. I’m glad I got to enjoy that moment with them.”

DuBose got his first work with the Packers over the weekend during Green Bay’s rookie minicamp. But he wasn’t a full participant as the Packers limited him because of an injury.

“I’m feeling good now,” DuBose said on Saturday. “I was feeling good yesterday. It’s still early. Just want to make sure everything is fine before everything starts to ramp up for us going into the season.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.