Offense 

This Packers offense is still incredibly young and because of that youth they have a lot of talent but it comes down to who can really take that next step from being a good young player to a great player in the league. Whether it be Jordan Love at QB, someone at WR/TE, or this OL group becoming truly special they need a guy or group of guys that can change this offense from young and promising to just flat out great.

The conversation here at QB really isn’t as big as a lot of people make it out to be in my opinion. While it would be amazing to see Jordan Love take his game to another level and be a solidified top five guy or so he has been a very good player for them and even through the inconsistencies there hasn’t been much of a worry on my end. Love played through a number of injuries last year and wasn’t able to get into much of a rhythm and with the expectations set so high as he impressed down the stretch of his first year starting (2023) I think people got a little ahead of themselves and were disappointed by his performance last season. I thought Love played really solid football last season and had he not dealt with a number of injuries he would have been more comfortable and in turn more consistent in his play. I wouldn’t worry much at all about Love and what he can give you so long as he stays healthy but I also wouldn’t be waiting for any major leap that gets him into the top flight of guys, at least this season that is. Behind Love you have Malik Willis and Sean Clifford, Clifford being more of a practice squad piece that is well received in the locker room and Willis being more of a solidified backup that you can trust to keep you competitive if Love were to go down. There also seemed to be some buzz around Willis being a trade candidate to start somewhere but I would be hesitant to do so because of the simplification/limitations on the Packers offense when he was in there last season. He did a great job of executing the offense and I do see a solid backup in him but I’m not sure how 17 weeks of Malik Willis at the helm would be, especially without Matt LaFleur or someone at his level play calling.

At RB this is one of the best rooms in the league in my opinion. You have a true bell cow/#1 back in Josh Jacobs that can control games for you and be a guy you run your offense through. Behind him you have two quality backs that we saw have major roles for the Packers last season in Chris Brooks and Emanuel Wilson. Wilson and Brooks both may be limited in their skill sets comparatively to Jacobs but they both showed they can come in as relief and keep the offense rolling for you. You add on the fact you have a second year player that didn’t play at all in his rookie last season in MarShawn Lloyd and he provides a skill set that you don’t have at all in this room, not even with Jacobs. Lloyd processes a first step and burst that no one else can provide in this room and while he may lack the top speed to be true game changer with that first step where I think he’ll really shine is in the passing game. He’s got great hands and his transition from receiver to runner is unbelievably smooth and when you pair that with his lower body strength and toughness as a runner I think you’d could see him have a very similar role as a former Packer, now Viking, Aaron Jones. Lloyd now paired with Jacobs could be an unexpected top duo in the league by the end of the season and in my opinion will be the backbone of this offense.

Now onto the WR room and all the interesting storylines that have developed here since the draft. While my initial reaction to the Matthew Golden (Texas) and Savion Williams (TCU) picks were something along the lines of “Well, Romeo Doubs is gone” I’ve taken a step back to look at this roster and what they’re building specifically in this room. Doubs may not be an elite WR but what he does provide for this team is a WR that they can line up at X consistently and while I think Golden and Williams will play big roles for this team neither of them are X WRs. Golden will be an off the ball outside WR that can threaten the defense deep with his speed and truly special separation skills and Williams will be more of a gadget WR that they use to get manufactured touches too and let his athleticism and frame do the rest. While it’s two high picks at WR and on the surface that may look threatening to a Doubs, Reed, or Wicks job it’s more complimentary in my opinion. You lose Christian Watson once again to an injury (Torn Right ACL) and that’s the guy I point to and think more than likely they will move on from. Watson has yet to play a full season throughout his young three year career and while he’s very dynamic when out on the field these picks of Golden and Williams are virtually two separate players that will fill every single role he filled for the Packers. As a deep threat and off the ball separator you now have Golden to fill that role and all the jet sweeps and unique touches they’d get Watson as well, because he was such a great athlete, are now Williams touches. This WR room is still searching for the one guy that can be a number one and in my opinion between Jayden Reed and Matthew Golden they will find just that.

Last but not least by any means is this OL room and this group has a real chance to be one of the best rooms in the league in my opinion. What really sets this group apart from the rest of the league is just how much quality depth they have. Spending the 54th pick on Anthony Belton (NC State) and their first rounder last year on Jordan Morgan are prime examples of this. Did this team need to spend two high end picks on OL the last two years? No, not really but between you never being able to have enough OL in the room and this group now look incredibly deep and prepared for any injury now I’m not sure I can make an argument against it. The Belton and Morgan picks also allow you to move on from guys like Rasheed Walker and Sean Rhyan when their contracts are up and with how much someone like Dan Moore Jr just got paid that’s a flexibility and luxury that you can’t really praise enough. This group from LT all the way over to RT (Rasheed Walker, Aaron Banks, Elgton Jenkins, Jordan Morgan, Zach Tom) may not be the best of the best but are all at least starting level guys and most being plus starters at that makes this group incredibly complete and should be a real reason this team can compete with anyone next year. Not to mention you have guys like Sean Rhyan, Anthony Belton, Jacob Monk, and Travis Glover that can all play in pinch, at the very least, behind them. While some may be upset with the number they gave Banks or the assets they put into Belton and Morgan the past two years it’s hard to be that upset when you walk into a year eight to nine guys deep in your OLroom.  

Defense

In my opinion the defensive conversation really starts and ends with what this team is able to get out of their pass rush. While they had a number of guys (Rashan Gary, Kenny Clark, Devonte Wyatt, Lukas Van Ness, Kingsley Enagbare, Brenton Cox Jr) that had fine years last year they never felt like they were having the impact they should. Gary wasn’t his old self after having his first full year back off his Torn ACL in 2022, Clark struggled with injuries early on and never looked the same, Van Ness was reliant on athleticism and lacked refinement in pass rush moves, and the rest of the depth guys looked like well.. depth guys. This year they made a change at DLcoach (Demarcus Covington hired) and they spent a 4th round pick on Barryn Sorrell (Texas)along with a 6th round pick on Warren Brinson (Georgia) that I think could make real impact on this team. While Brinson is more of a depth guy that could be a project for them this year I see Sorrell and the impact he had on Texas last year and while he may not be a true high pass rusher himself I think he could help tie things together for this team. Sorrell is high effort player that from all accounts was also vitally important in the Texas locker room and while he may not single handily wreck games he’s someone that ties a room together and gets everyone playing their best ball, almost like a coach on the players level of things. He’s young and you’re certainly counting on more than just him to have an impact on the room and effectiveness of the pass rush for this group to succeed but I wouldn’t be surprised if we see this group playing with a little more fire and attitude because of the Covington and Sorrell additions. 

To keep the front seven talk going I think this LB group could be vitally important to this team having success. If you get Quay Walker back healthy flying around and finally get to pair him with Edgerrin Cooper these young guys could have a real impact on this defense. Cooper and Walker are both young and while they can struggle to dissect what the offense is doing at times each of them possess athletic traits that can make up for those mental mistakes. If Walker and Cooper can work through some of those mental mistakes and let their athleticism shine through more and more this pairing could be special. They are both capable fly sideline to sideline and they both posses traits (Walker length and ball skills and Cooper instincts/feel) that make them pluses in the passing game as well. I would also keep an eye on what they do with Isaiah Simmons, there’s been a lot of talk about him throughout camp and there’s seem to be a push for him being a real player for them.

This secondary without Jaire Alexander is certainly more questionable but to be fair they haven’t had him on the field for the majority of the past two or three seasons. The addition of Nate Hobbs may not be a one for one replacement for Jaire and while Hobbs has his own injury history I think they’ll get very good play out of Hobbs. The thing that really sticks out to me is the flexibility they now have between Hobbs, Keisean Nixon, and Johnathan Bullard. Bullard has played mainly in the slot for them but has some S flexibility if they were to have an injury to Xavier McKinney or Evan Williams, Nixon has played in the slot and on the outside, and Hobbs is in the same boat as Nixon, playing on the outside and the slot throughout his NFL career. At CB you have a group of guys in Hobbs, Nixon, and Bullard in the slot that are all willing to come downhill and tackle which may not be the first thing you want from a CB but is very important to run defense. While this secondary may not be elite and in my opinion could use another body they do have some depth with Carrington Valentine that has shown to be capable of playing on the outside and a young guy that was once highly thought of at Penn State in Kalen King. While I’m not saying these guys are long term answers or guys I’d be hinging my season on I wouldn’t count them out as far as having Ana impact on this team either. Overall this is fine CB room but could use another body or two to compete and the S room is very talented at the starter positions with McKinney and Williams and the depth is okay with a nice young piece in Kitan Oladapo and a special teamer in Zayne Anderson.

Overview 

• While this Packers team is still very young and failed to meet some fans expectations this past season I personally think this is the year they’ve been building towards. This team is extremely talented and while I wouldn’t say they’re a perfect roster right now they have some position groups that are heading in a direction that have a chance to set them apart from the rest of league. All they really need is a couple of players to take that next step in their development this upcoming season. Whether that be Jordan Love, Lukas Van Ness, Jayden Reed, or whoever else you want to point to they have the talent capable of doing so it just comes down to one or two of them putting it all together for an entire season. Between great coaching on both sides of the ball, a solid special teams unit that is improving year after year under Rich Bisaccia, and the amount of depth and talent this team has across its roster anything less than a second round exit would be disappointing. And while I wouldn’t consider this to be make or break year necessarily I think it’s fair to say there’s real expectations for this team and there’s a world thing are all perfect by the end of the year. Would I bet on that happening? No, I wouldn’t but it’s also the NFL and this team plays in what looks to be one of the toughest divisions heading into next season along with some real questions at important spots. It’s not all perfect in Green Bay but I have a hard time believing this coaching staff with this much talent isn’t a recipe for real success.

August 30, 2025 – Update

After writing this over a month ago it turns out all of the concerns I had with the pass rush can be swept away and forgotten about after one of the biggest trades in recent NFL history taking place for Micah Parsons to Green Bay. While losing Kenny Clark in the middle of this defense will certainly bring on its own issues, especially with run defense, there’s no world where you can say no to a trade like this. This trade completely changes the outlook of this Packers season from what would have been a fringe contending team that would have real flaws that would stand in their way to have ultimate success, in my opinion, to now being a top NFC contender. Not only does Micah transform this team from a pass rush perspective he completely changes the level of the entire defense. This team finally has someone that is going to give issues to any team that lines up against them. When you add a Top 5-10 player in the entire NFL at any position it obviously helps but when you add a guy of that caliber at Edge along with that being a top need on your team it just changes everything. The Packers still have flaws and have some kinks they’ll have to work out on the fly with Clark now missing in the middle of the IDL but I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say this completely transforms the level of team the Packers are capable of being now. The goal is now Super Bowl or bust in my opinion where it was Super Bowl hopeful before.