The Green Bay Packers’ offense and defense appear to be on two separate sides of the spectrum heading into training camp and the preseason.
While the defense’s potential still has to be recognized on the field, this is a unit that, on paper anyways, could finish the season ranked top-5 in the NFL. Among the starters, there really are no weaknesses.
This will be the best and deepest interior defensive line rotation that Green Bay has had in years, while Rashan Gary and Preston Smith were two of the most productive edge rushers in 2021 when it came to disrupting the quarterback.
With All-Pro De’Vondre Campbell and first-round pick Quay Walker, the Packers have two linebackers who are both equipped to handle the running or passing games, allowing them to stay in their base defense more often, which will keep offenses guessing.
In the secondary, the Green Bay Packers have potentially the best cornerback trio in the game, along with the always reliable Adrian Amos and ascending Darnell Savage at safety.
On offense, however, we run into some question marks. We don’t know when the offensive line will be at full health with Elgton Jenkins still rehabbing and David Bakhtiari not yet a full participant in practice. Robert Tonyan appears to be on schedule to return sooner than later, but he likely won’t be a part of training camp—or at least not right away.
Meanwhile, at receiver, Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb have been effective in their specific roles but will have to prove that they can remain efficient with a larger workload and more attention on them. Sammy Watkins has struggled to stay on the field, and as is the case for any rookies at any position, there is going to be a learning curve for the Green Bay Packers’ three draft picks–not to mention getting also on the same page as Aaron Rodgers.
So with all of that in mind, there very well could be a steep learning curve for the Green Bay Packers offense this summer as they go against this defense every day in practice, and Rodgers agrees:
“It could be a long training camp for the offense. I like the way our defense is looking and playing, and just on paper, it looks like they’re going to be pretty formidable,” Rodgers said on the Pat McAfee Show. ”So there could be some growing pains for the offense, which would be great for us, it would be nice to take our lumps from time to time and help us to get better facing a really good defense like that.”
As the old saying goes, iron sharpens iron, and Rodgers hopes that is the case for the Green Bay offense—specifically their young wide receivers having to go up against Eric Stokes, Jaire Alexander, and Rasul Douglas on a daily basis.
Of course, going up against top-flight cornerbacks every day in practice doesn’t guarantee success in the NFL for Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, or Samori Toure, but it certainly doesn’t hurt either.
In the past, we’ve seen Alexander frequently line up across from Davante Adams during his 2018 rookie season, and last summer, Stokes received the same treatment.
“I played against the best receiver in the league, Davante Adams, all four years I’ve been here,” Alexander said via Packers.com. “I’m going to make it as hard as I can for those guys because I know on Sunday it’s going to pay off. Iron sharpens iron. However I can help to make them better, I’m going to do that.”
As Rodgers said earlier this offseason, he prefers production over potential—meaning that we should expect veterans Lazard, Cobb, and Watson to be the focal points at receiver early on.
Not to mention that when discussing the passing game, we have to discuss Aaron Jones’ impact, as he has finished each of the last three seasons second on the team in targets, along with Tonyan, who was third in targets during his last fully healthy season in 2020.
However, with that said, for this offense to be at their absolute best this season, they’ll eventually need consistent contributions from their rookies, and going against this stout defense daily hopefully helps to expedite that process–but expectations shouldn’t be that it will happen right away.
“Let’s, everybody, take a nice, deep, long breath,” Rodgers said on the McAfee Show via Packers Wire. “Trust the training camp time we have. Trust the coaching staff. Trust the relationships. Trust the guys in the room, like Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb and Sammy Watkins to help these guys out.”
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