Jordan Love, offense answers questions but plenty remain after Patriots week
Good morning!
Two days of chippy joint practices, a physical game with legitimate intensity complete with pre-game trash talk, and the Green Bay Packers came out of New England Patriots week with a much better idea of who they can count on when it counts against a well-coached team.
Bill Belichick’s defense finished in the top 10 in rushing defense DVOA last season and in the top five overall. Moving the ball on that group, a squad that played its starters for a full quarter and some even longer, is no small feat. It’s an encouraging sign for Jordan Love and Co., but there are plenty of questions to answer on the roster right now. Today’s edition of The Leap tackles it all.
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What is the “best five” for the Packers’ offensive line right now?
Peter Bukowski: This is really a Zach Tom question and, at this point, he’s shown to be far too valuable on the edge at right tackle to move into center for whatever issues the Packers have with Josh Myers.
He’s one of just two tackles this preseason to play at least 30 preseason passing snaps and not give up a pressure. The other just so happens to be his teammate Yosh Nijman. That makes two years in a row Tom hasn’t allowed a pressure, according to Pro Football Focus.
If he’s the starting right tackle, and David Bakhtiari starts on the left side with Elgton Jenkins, then what does the rest of the group look like? Don’t count out Josh Myers despite the issues with snaps at practice and again in the Patriots preseason game.
"I think he's done a good job. Our pass protection was about as clean as you can get. I don't think there were any pressures on the quarterback," Packers head coach LaFleur said of Myers after the game, adding Myers has been "picking up his play each and every week."
For now, the answer appears to be status quo from the end of last season with Tom starting at right tackle, but Sean Rhyan is making this interesting with his improved play. If he shows well enough to earn some competitive reps with Jon Runyan Jr., and Myers’ inconsistency persists, the Packers could slide JRJ into the center role with Rhyan taking over at right guard.
That’s a lot of “ifs,” but this is an extremely deep group right now. Green Bay will have options if they feel they need to make a change.
Has the WR3 battle been settled and if so, who is WR4?
PB: The first question is much easier than the second: yes. Jayden Reed is WR3 regardless of what the official depth chart says. When Green Bay goes to 11 personnel with three receivers on the field, Reed plays the slot. Period. LaFleur raved about Samori Toure in the spring, but he’s not really a slot receiver, or at least he hasn’t played there much with Love under center. Reed has. At a certain point, this is a physics problem: How can Toure be WR3 if he’s never on the field in three-receiver sets?
As for WR4, Toure currently leads the pack (no pun intended), but that is very much a “for the moment” position. If Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst and the front office truly believed in Toure’s ability to contribute in a meaningful way, they likely don’t draft Dontayvion Wicks and Grant DuBose on Day 3 while also adding Malik Heath in undrafted free agency.
To date, Heath stands out from this group, particularly in the preseason. His explosiveness in and out of breaks and ability to make catches through contact provide a clear path to a role in this offense as a boundary receiver. If we judged based solely on what we’ve seen in preseason, Heath would be WR4.
One quick note on Heath as well: He went undrafted, but tested as an above-average athlete by Relative Athletic Score (6.58 out of 10) and put together a better yards-per-route-run average than first-round picks Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Zay Flowers, Heath’s teammate and 39th overall pick Jonathan Mingo, and top-100 picks Cedric Tillman, Josh Downs, and Michael Wilson.
We talked about the incredibly deep receiver room and these questions on our post-game live after the Patriots game.
How many outside linebackers can make this roster?
PB: This is a Brenton Cox tweet … errr, prompt. He’s making it really, really hard to keep him off the roster.
Now, that’s not to say Cox is a finished product. He’s not or he wouldn’t have been an undrafted free agent. On the Bailey Zappe touchdown run, Cox dog-walked the right tackle into the backfield but lost sight of the ball along with outside contain, allowing Zappe to break the pocket and run in for a score.
The physical tools pop, but awareness has always been an issue for him on the field and off.
Preston Smith, Rashan Gary, Lukas Van Ness, Kingsley Enagbare, and Justin Hollins profile as locks at the position. That’s five players already, much deeper than the vast majority of teams can boast at the position. In a way, that’s the case for keeping Cox because if the Packers expose him to waivers, he’s the kind of guy who would get snatched up. But is it that big a deal to worry about losing EDGE6?
That will depend on where else Green Bay has to make difficult decisions.
Who is the leader in the clubhouse at safety next to Darnell Savage?
PB: Rudy Ford opened camp as the starter opposite Darnell Savage. Then it was Jonathan Owens. Rookie Anthony Johnson Jr. earned reps with the first team last week with a strong game against the Bengals, as did Tarvarius Moore. Ford was back with the starters against the Patriots and, while Joe Barry clearly wants to experiment at the position, Ford remains the good bet.
But don’t expect that to last. This is the worst position group on the roster where there are multiple people competing for a position (which excludes, just for an example, kicker). Also, Ford’s play earned him a shot on the bench last season, which is what caused the Packers to go out and sign multiple guys to come in to compete, then draft Johnson (who remains this author’s favorite player at the position).
Though the smart money is on Ford to hold his spot. But if we set the over/under for another starter at the position at 5.5 games, I’d take the under.