Training camp for the Green Bay Packers is just about here as the team ushers in a new era with Jordan Love at quarterback. Naturally, that means there are a lot of questions around this team, but there are also several potential strengths that this group will be able to lean on as well.
What takes place over the next month of training camp and preseason play will give us some added insight into these strengths and questions but here is a closer look at the big ticket items to watch for as training camp and the 2023 season unfolds, starting with the potential strengths of Matt LaFleur’s roster.
Offensive line experience
While the overall offense may be young, the Packers have a lot of starting experience along their offensive line. On the left side is a healthy David Bakhtiari, who has played nearly 9,000 career snaps, along with Elgton Jenkins, who is nearing 4,000 snaps. The duo could very well form the best tackle-guard combo in football. Then at center is Josh Myers, who played 99.7% of the offensive snaps in 2022, and Jon Ruyan at right guard, who played over 96% of the total snaps. Competing at right tackle is Yosh Nijman and Zach Tom, two players who have shown they can be capable starting tackles.
Naturally, a lot of the attention this offseason is on Jordan Love and the Green Bay pass catchers, but any sustained success for this offense begins with the offensive line. If Love is under regular pressure on dropbacks, odds are that the first-year starter won’t fair too well. If the run game is struggling, then that puts Love in predictable passing situations, which, again, isn’t ideal. Looking back at last season, it’s not a coincidence that in Week 10 was when the offensive as a whole really started to produce, and that also happened to be the time that the offensive line was regularly healthy.
Speed, versatility and big-play potential
The Packers receivers and tight ends may be inexperienced — more on that shortly – but these position groups also possess speed, versatility, and big-play abilities.
Joining Christian Watson and his 4.36 speed is Jayden Reed, who the Packers clocked at 4.37 seconds during the pre-draft process. Luke Musgrave ran the fastest 10-yard split of all tight ends at the NFL combine in what was a very athletic draft class. Tucker Kraft, meanwhile, brings impressive YAC potential. Look for these players, in particular, to stretch the field and be go-to targets over the middle where they can get the ball in space.
From a versatility standpoint, the running backs can impact the passing game both from the backfield and the slot or even out wide. Most of the receivers can play from the slot or boundary, while the tight end group can play inline, from the slot, or out wide, while also impacting both the passing and running games as blockers.
Add that speed and versatility together, and you get the illusion of complexity Matt LaFleur has often discussed. With a number of players able to fill a number of roles, the Packers can run a variety of plays from just a few personnel packages, which stresses the defense, creates matchup problems, and makes it difficult for defenses to diagnose pre-snap what is going to take place.
Running back duo
Along with an experienced offensive line, the Packers have a top running back duo as well. Aaron Jones still remains one of the game’s most effective ball carriers, averaging a league-high 5.3 yards per rush in 2022 while ranking eighth in rushes of 10 or more yards and seventh in missed tackles forced. Although AJ Dillon’s overall numbers were down last season, he started to gain some traction during the second half of the season once the offensive line had some continuity. From Week 10 through the end of the season, Dillon averaged 4.4 yards per rush after averaging just 3.9 through the first nine games. Both he and Dillon have also been important parts of the Packers’ passing game as well.
The Packers have always been mindful of Jones’ touches each year, which to a degree, has probably played a role in him being as productive as he’s been for an extended period. But if healthy, I hope to see him have a little bit more of the workload. Last season, Jones had about 55% of the running back touches and Dillon 45%. This offense is just different when Jones has the ball and is firing on all cylinders. Also, LaFleur needs to be more consistent with the run game in the red zone. Oftentimes, defenses in 2022 would dare the Packers to throw the ball in this part of the field. I get not wanting to regularly run into heavy boxes, but the passing game also wasn’t effective enough to win regularly in a confined space. There need to be times when the Packers are doing the dictating, not the other way around.
Matt LaFleur's scheme/playcalling
Circling back to the concept of the illusion of complexity, the trickle-down effect of having that versatility and keeping defenses guess is that it puts the Green Bay pass catchers in space, allowing their speed to potentially create big plays. This, in turn, should take some of the playmaking burden off of Love’s shoulders, creating some relatively easier throws to make. With Jared Goff with the Rams or Jimmy Garoppolo or Brock Purdy in San Francisco, we’ve seen that in a similar system, Hall of Fame level play from the quarterback isn’t a pre-requisite for overall success. Along with players lining up in different spots and having a variety of roles, other key elements of the LaFleur offense is utilizing pre-snap motion, leveraging play-action, and attacking the middle of the field.
Playmaking cornerbacks
As noted in a recent article by Bill Huber, Rasul Douglas, and Jaire Alexander were two of only three cornerbacks in the entire NFL to record at least four fourth-quarter interceptions last season. The adjustments that Joe Barry made late last season, including more Cover-2, Cover-6, and allowing Alexander to line up across from the opponent’s top receiver, put the secondary in better position to make plays on the ball, which they often did. During the Packers’ four-game win-streak prior to Week 18, the defense had generated 12 total takeaways.
Of course, turnovers are always good and can greatly impact the game, but doing so consistently is going to be very important to Green Bay’s overall success this season with a first-time starting quarterback. Winning the turnover battle means additional opportunities for the offense, it keeps the opponent out of the end zone and oftentimes can provide good starting field position. Turnovers are a volatile stat and difficult to predict, but the Packers have two of the more opportunistic cornerbacks on their team.
Elite edge rusher: Rashan Gary
Rashan Gary is going to begin the summer on the PUP list but his eventual return will be welcomed. Without Gary, the Packers struggled to create regular pressure. The defense as a whole ranked 22nd in total pressure last season. Before his injury, Gary was one of the most productive edge rushers in football, totaling the fourth-most pressures through nine games, while also holding up well against the run — another area that the edge rusher group as a whole has to improve — recording the second-most run stops.
Not only should the return of Gary help the Packers pass rush, but the overall depth of the edge rusher position has improved – at least on paper – from this time a year ago, with the addition of Lukas Van Ness, Justin Hollins having a full offseason with Green Bay, and JJ Enagbare entering Year 2.
Rich Bisaccia's improving special teams
The Packers’ special teams unit finished the 2022 season ranked 22nd in Rich Gosselin’s annual rankings. Although that still ranks in the bottom third of the NFL, it was also a far cry from the many performances we had seen over the last decade, including a 32nd-place finish in 2022. One could also argue that after a slow start to the season, this was a unit that by season’s end, was playing much better than their final 22nd overall ranking.
While it may be a bit premature to call special teams a strength for the Packers, the continuity that they have, along with Rich Bisaccia, provides them a jumping-off point in 2023. After a ton of needed turnover last offseason, the top eight players in special teams snaps from 2022 are on the Packers’ current roster, along with their top 10 in tackles. Just like with offense and defense, comfortability within a special teams scheme for players allows them to play faster and for Bisaccia to add new wrinkles.
Adding Bisaccia to the coaching staff not only improved the Packers’ special teams performance on the field, but it changed how the organization views this third phase of the game that was often an afterthought. This offseason is a prime example of that, with the Packers re-signing several core special teams players, including Corey Ballantine, Keisean Nixon, Eric Wilson, Dallin Leavitt, and Rudy Ford, while also bringing in Tarvarius Moore and Matt Orzech as outside free agents.
