Coming off a 2023 season where they were one of the hottest teams in the NFL (atleast for the second half of the season), the Green Bay Packers are heading into 2024 with high hopes. Green Bay will begin their season by taking on the Philadelphia Eagles in São Paulo, Brazil Friday night. The Packers returned all of their young playmakers offensively but made some changes defensively that they hope will lead to improvement. Here's a quick look at the 2024 Packers.
Offense
The Green Bay offense arguably has the best collection of young weapons in the league. Led by young star Quarterback Jordan Love, this offense was unstoppable once it got rolling last season. Not to mention, the team became the youngest team since the AFL merger to win a playoff game. The team, which only got younger over the offseason (now with an average age of 25 years, seven months) has the potential to be unstoppable once again.
Next to Love, the running back room has a completely different look this year after letting veteran Aaron Jones walk in free agency to the Minnesota Vikings and AJ Dillon suffering a season-ending neck injury. Those losses led to a complete overhaul though as the Packers brought in a team captain from the Las Vegas Raiders, Josh Jacobs, who can pull a big play out of nowehere. After signing Jacobs, the Packers also selected MarShawn Lloyd in the third round, a bruising, explosive runner of USC. Lloyd was a lot of people's top back from this year's draft class and should pair perfectly with Jacobs, along with second-year running back Emanuel Wilson.
Shifting over to the receiver room, which is stacked with young talent. The room is so deep that the final roster cut down saw some surplus talent (two of the Packers' former draft selections) have to be trimmed, with Grant Dubose being released before singing with the Miami Dolphins, and Samouri Toure signing with the Chicago Bears after not making the Packers' cut. With second-year player Jayden Reed leading the room in touchdowns last season with 10, along with the improvement Dontayvion Wicks has already shown in year two, combined with Christian Watson returning to health, this room is one that should continue to impress and improve. As if that wasn't already enough, the Packers will have their promising tight end duo of Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft returning this year for their second years.
While there is a few questions along the Packers' offensive line, there are a few veteran leaders. The group is headlined by Pro-Bowl guard, Elgton Jenkins. Opposite of Jenkins, you could find a variety of options in either Sean Rhyan, first-round pick Jordan Morgan or the versatile Zach Tom. On the outside, you can find one of PFF's highest graded tackles from last year in breakout player Rasheed Walker at left tackle and most likely find Zach Tom at right tackle. This offensive line has a lot of experience and should be well-equipped to protect Love and open lanes for Jacobs this coming year.
Defense
Flipping to the other side of the ball, there's reason to believe the Packers will improve after moving on from coordinator Joe Barry. By bringing in star New York Giants Safety Xavier McKinney, the Packers have sured up the backside of their secondary. In addition to McKinney, the Packers selected three safeties in the NFL Draft this year with Javon Bullard, Evan Williams and Kitan Oladapo. Each rookie has already shown breakout signs in camp and in the preseason, with Williams and Bullard both earning first-team reps.
When you look through the room at cornerback, it is led by one of the best in the league in Jaire Alexander. Opposite Alexander, looks to be former first round pick, Eric Stokes. Though Stokes has been plagued with injuries since entering the NFL, he hopes to have figured out his issues this offseason. Starting in the slot is none other than the back to back First-Team All-Pro Kick Returner, Keisean Nixon, who looks to take another step forward on the defensive side of things this upcoming year.
Moving ahead to arguably the strongest group of the unit, the front seven. In this new 4-3 scheme of defense under new coordinator Jeff Hafley, the Packers have only "defensive linemen" or "linebackers" no titled edge rushers or outside linebackers. For the Linebacker room, Quay Walker will pair up with rookie Edgerrin Cooper out of Texas A&M and Isaiah McDuffie as the three in the middle. The amount of speed and playmaking ability amongst those three is huge and they will look to capitalize on this new scheme this season.
The Green Bay defensive line is one of the best rooms in the league, headlined by Kenny Clark, Preston Smith, Rashan Gary, Lukas Van Ness and Devonte Wyatt. With plenty of elite depth behind them, this room will be a scary one for opposing teams in 2024.
Special Teams
The Packers tried out a host of different kickers during training camp. Former draft pick Anders Carlson and Greg Joseph, who Green Bay signed in free agency, competed through most of August but neither stood out.
The Packers finally found their kicker the day after the final roster cutdowns from waivers in Brayden Narveson, who has a much better accuracy record. In college at Narveson was 198/198 on extra points and will look to continue that trend as he goes on to start week one in the Green and Gold.
As far as Punter, returning starter Daniel Whelan never had any competition and he showed exactly why, booting balls with five second hang times.
Last but not least, the Long Snapper Matt Orzech beat out one undrafted free agent in Peter Bowden of Wisconsin, but that job never seemed lost considering the contract and experience that Orzech had over Bowden.
All in all, this Packers team will look to chase their fifth Super Bowl victory and fourteenth overall championship in team history this year. Many believe they have the talent to do so. From my takeaways at training camp, Jordan Love is ready to lead this team with plenty of returning talent to what could be a long playoff run. It all begins Friday night for Green Bay.
Main image via: Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK
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