Packer Central

‘Don’t Sleep’ on Packers Fielding a Top Offense in 2024

The Green Bay Packers rank in the top 10 in NFL.com’s projections for highest-scoring offenses in 2024.

Bill Huber

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Jayden Reed (11) celebrates with quarterback Jordan Love (10) after scoring a touchdown against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field.
Green Bay Packers wide receiver Jayden Reed (11) celebrates with quarterback Jordan Love (10) after scoring a touchdown against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field. / Lon Horwedel-USA TODAY Sports
In this story:

 

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers’ first-year starting quarterback and youngest-in-the-league set of playmakers took the NFL by storm last year.

With Jordan Love turning into a star and his young playmakers taking flight, the Packers went 6-2 down the stretch and buried the Dallas Cowboys in the wild-card playoffs before pushing the San Francisco 49ers to the limit.

How good could the Packers’ offense be in 2024?

They are seventh in preseason rankings by NFL.com deputy editor Gennaro Filice. His list is based solely on projected points scored.

The strength of the unit is its abundance of young talent.

“Over the past three drafts,” Filice wrote, “Green Bay has showered intriguing talent across the offense, highlighted by five wide receivers (Jayden Reed, Romeo Doubs, Christian Watson, Dontayvion Wicks and Bo Melton), three linemen (Zach Tom, Rasheed Walker and Jordan Morgan), two tight ends (Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft) and a running back (MarShawn Lloyd).”

Love is one of the top NFL MVP candidates thanks to his sensational finish that completely flipped the script for the franchise.

During the first nine games of last season, 34 quarterbacks threw at least 100 passes. From that group, Love was 27th in passer rating, 33rd in completion percentage, 11th in touchdowns and 34th in interceptions.

At that point, there were legitimate questions about Love’s future in Green Bay.

He answered all of those questions during the final eight games, when he was second in passer rating, third in completion percentage, second in touchdowns and first in interceptions. Now, the only questions about his future are the length and size of his forthcoming contract extension.

During those eight games, Green Bay ranked ninth in points.

However, as Filice noted, “not all growth is linear.” The Packers can’t just roll out the ball and expect to play with the efficiency of the Aaron Rodgers-led 2011 team, which finished second all-time in points scored.

“Youth that experiences growing pains together” is the potential weakness, Filice said. “Love feels like such a made man today that it’s easy to forget we’re less than eight months removed from the Packers sitting at 2-5.”

At that time, general manager Brian Gutekunst was asked if it would take the rest of the season to find out if Love was the long-term answer.

“I hope not,” he said. “These are going to be very important 10 games, and I think he’s done a lot of really good things. Really like the way he’s responded to the adversity, how he’s led the team. Again, we’ve got to be better as a unit and I expect that to happen over the next 10 games.”

And that’s exactly what happened. Love threw 18 touchdowns vs. one interception during the final eight regular-season games, then demolished the Dallas Cowboys with a historic performance. He obviously didn’t do it alone. Seemingly everyone had a big performance along the way.

In 2024, the Packers will still have to deal with the “ebbs and flows of youth,” Filice said. Still, so long as Love is the real deal, opposing defenses are going to be stretched to the limit to deal with Green Bay’s standout receivers, dynamic duo of tight ends and backfield combination of Josh Jacobs, AJ Dillon and Lloyd.

“With the high-level quarterbacking Jordan Love showcased in the second half of his debut season as the starter, it’s easy to get intoxicated with this young offense’s immense upside,” Filice said.

The San Francisco 49ers are No. 1 on the list, and the Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Rams rank ahead of the Packers among NFC teams. 

More Green Bay Packers News

Eric Stokes on “hot seat” | “Put it where the sun don’t shine” | Rookie progress report | 53-man roster projection | First-time Pro Bowlers? NFL.com All-Rookie projections | NFL.com All-Breakout Team | Ochocinco on Jayden Reed, Packers receivers | Preston Smith a rarity | ESPN’s starting lineup rankings | Carrington Valentine breakout player 

Published
Bill Huber

BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packer Central, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.