Green Bay Packers Top 3 Most Competitive Position Groups To Watch In The 2024 Offseason
The Green Bay Packers are attempting to transition from ‘overachiever’ to ‘contender’ in the 2024-25 NFL season. After putting together an elite 7-3 record in their final 10 games (falling 3 points short of an NFC Championship appearance), the Packers still have plenty to prove, as they are one of the youngest teams in the NFL.
The best way to get rapid improvement in an NFL roster is adequate competition within each position group. The Packers have built a roster to promote competition from the ground up with impressive drafting through the Brian Gutekunst era. In the 2024 offseason, there will be a lot of position groups that are capable of being shaken up due to competition.
After an inconsistent season from the rookie kicker out of Auburn, Anders Carlson ended the season with a missed field goal late in the divisional round of the playoffs (a game that was lost by three points). The Green Bay Packers quickly brought in competition.
It will be interesting to see if the 2023 6th-round pick will grow into the elite kicker that he is physically capable of being, or if the job will be won by the veteran and former rival kicker.
The Packers offensive line put on an impressive display in the 2023-24 season, allowing just 30 sacks on the season (3rd lowest). This was during a time when future hall-of-fame left tackle and current free agent David Bakhtiari was unavailable, and the Packers found consistency with their versatile room of linemen. Now after the departure of LT David Bakhtiari and G John Runyan Jr, only time will tell who will fill the voids to protect Jordan Love.
Sean Rhyan is the expected starter of the hole left by John Runyan Jr at the right guard position, though if first-round pick Tackle Jordan Morgan or fifth-round pick Center Jacob Monk switched to the inside, Rhyan would be on the hot seat quickly. Uncertain of who the best 5 offensive linemen are, training camp and preseason will be very important to diagnosing who’s job controlling the trenches will be.
The Packers will find themselves in a very good predicament when the regular season starts. That predicament is figuring out who gets snaps on the offense out of the large batch of talent. The wide receivers caught over 3000 yards worth of passes in 2023, though the leading receiver caught less than 800 yards. With talent capable of grabbing the number one receiving role any given week like Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs, to young talent that has shown flashes of elite caliber play like Dontayvion Wicks and Bo Melton, it feels as though the only secured spot is the no.1 slot receiver in Jayden Reed.
The wide receivers versus the defensive backs in OTA’s and minicamps will tell a lot about who is prepared to take the next step into a secured spot, but there is little to no doubt that the talent is already in the room.
