Most Important Packers – 13 to 16: He ‘Tilts the Field’

Part 13 of our 90-to-1 countdown of the Green Bay Packers’ roster includes Rasheed Walker, who started 15 games at left tackle last year, and receivers Romeo Doubs and Christian Watson.

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Romeo Doubs torched the Dallas Cowboys in the playoffs. / Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers will take a 90-man roster to the field for the first practice of training camp on July 22.

Here is Part 13 of our ranking of the most important players on the Packers’ roster. This isn’t just a listing of the team’s best players. These rankings consider talent, importance of the position, depth at the position, salary and draft history. More than anything, we hope you learn something about each player.

No. 16: LT Rasheed Walker

A year ago at this time, Walker seemed like a bubble player. After all, as a seventh-round pick in 2022, his one game of NFL experience consisted of four snaps on special teams. With a potentially healthy David Bakhtiari, the emergence of Zach Tom and the re-signing of Yosh Nijman, Walker seemed destined for a limited role.

Or no role at all.

Instead, Walker shot past Nijman on the depth chart and replaced an injured Bakhtiari in the starting lineup for 15 of the final 16 games of the regular season and both playoff games. He wasn’t in-his-prime Bakhtiari but he wasn’t bad, either. It’s not as if coach Matt LaFleur had to create wide-ranging updates to the weekly game plan.

Of 70 offensive tackles to play at least 500 offensive snaps last year, he finished 46th in PFF’s pass-blocking efficiency, which measures sacks, hits and hurries per pass-protecting snap. He was charged with six sacks. In the run game, he yielded three stuffs (a tackle at or behind the line of scrimmage); his stuff rate of 0.9 percent was a little better than the league average.

In the playoffs, he battled the Cowboys’ Micah Parsons and the 49ers’ Nick Bosa. Two of the NFL’s premier pass rushers failed to beat Walker for a sack.

“Elite. I feel elite,” Walker told Packer Central. “Names and labels don’t really dictate how I move. I see man just as man is. I’m in a good spot. I’m never really worried about who I’m going against. It’s, ‘Am I prepared? What do I have to do to prepare?’ That’s where I keep my focus on.”

Presumably, he will be better in Year 2 as the starter. Assuming there is a Year 2. The Packers used a first-round pick on Jordan Morgan.

“I think you always wonder about that,” coach Matt LaFleur said of how Walker reacted, “but there’s only two ways you can go about it and I think he’s chosen the right way. Ultimately, our job is to continue to bring in as much talent as possible that’s going to make your roster better, and I think competition brings out the best in everybody.”

No. 15: DE Preston Smith

The 31-year-old Smith is the oldest player on what might wind up being the youngest roster in the NFL again.

Smith started every game in 2023 because, well, he almost always starts every game. In 17 games, he tallied 48 tackles, eight sacks, four tackles for losses, 21 quarterback hits, two forced fumbles and four passes defensed.  The eight sacks marked his third consecutive season with at least eight. Only once has he recorded more quarterback hits.

During the final five games – the three must-win games to close the regular season and the two playoff games – Smith had 4.5 sacks. However, of 62 edge defenders with at least 300 pass-rushing snaps, he ranked only 41st in PFF’s pass-rushing productivity, a metric that measures sacks, hits and hurries per pass-rushing snap.

“Preston is the heartbeat, man,” Rashan Gary said. “He’s going on 10 years. I’ve been with him my whole six years. Everybody feeds off him. When Preston talks, everybody be quiet and listen because when 10 years talk, he’s coming from experience and understanding.”

In his nine seasons, Smith incredibly has missed only one game.

“It’s always the goal of mine to make Year 10 and, now that I’m here, it’s always a goal to just keep on chopping,” Smith said during minicamp. “Keep on chopping at the wood and making sure that I keep on doing what it takes to stay here, and I keep on doing what it takes to reach my own personal goals because I’m so close to a lot of them.

“I feel like I got so much ball left in me. I feel like I got a lot of gas left in the tank and I still have an opportunity to make big plays and play for a long time in this league.”

Even with a revised contract, Smith’s cap hit of $14.11 million is the fourth-highest on the team.

No. 14: WR Romeo Doubs

Doubs picked one heck of a time for a breakout game.

In 30 career regular-season games, Doubs didn’t have a single 100-yard game. In fact, he had 80-plus yards only once. In the blowout loss to Detroit early in 2023, he caught nine passes for 95 yards. It was almost all fluff, with the majority of his receptions and yards coming on third-and-long catches that failed to gain a first down.

However, in the playoff win at Dallas, Doubs looked like – dare we say it – a No. 1 receiver with six receptions for 151 yards and one touchdown. Four of his six catches gained 20-plus yards. The only other Packers receiver to accomplish that feat in a playoff game since 2000 was Greg Jennings in the 2010 NFC Championship Game. He added four catches for 83 yards against the 49ers.

“I thought going into the playoffs, the goal was to get the Lombardi and we didn’t do that,” Doubs said during OTAs. “But I think for me, experience is everything. There’s no doubt those were big games for me. But it’s not about me.

“We’ve all got a taste of what it’s like to be in the playoffs and what kind of mindset you have to have. It was a bitter feeling not coming out with the win. But just kind of wrapping around that experience, it’s just progression for me. I’m looking forward to this year. I’m looking forward to the days, the grind and I’m excited to be part of this team.”

Still, in two seasons, Doubs has 101 receptions for 1,099 yards and nine touchdowns. In 17 games last year, he caught 59 passes for 674 yards and eight touchdowns. He tied for fourth in the NFL with seven red-zone touchdowns and caught 13-of-25 in contested-catch situations, but was one of the worst in the league with 2.3 YAC per catch.

No. 13: WR Christian Watson

Watson was supposed to be last year’s breakout star. Instead, because of his cantankerous hamstrings, he went from 41 receptions for 611 yards and seven touchdowns with a 62.1 percent catch rate in 2022 to 28 receptions for 422 yards and five touchdowns with a 52.8 percent catch rate in 2023. Moreover, after making the play on nine of 12 contested-catch chances in 2022, he grabbed six of 18 in 2023. Of Jordan Love’s 11 interceptions thrown to receivers, five went to Watson.

Still, he’s 6-foot-4 with 4.36 speed in the 40 and a 38.5-inch vertical. Watson’s got a premier skill-set, and he showed it during a sensational stretch as a rookie in which he scored seven touchdowns in four games. Even while playing in only 23 of a possible 34 games, his 12 touchdown catches are No. 1 in his draft class.

In the big upset win at Detroit, he caught five passes for 94 yards and one touchdown. In the big upset win over Kansas City a week later, he caught seven passes for 71 yards and two touchdowns. When he’s scored, the Packers are 6-3.

Is Watson the best receiver on the roster? No. But he’s the one that can swing a game on any given play. If he can stay healthy – and there is optimism that will be the case – and stack one week after another, he could be the player that turns a playoff team into a championship team.

“Certainly, the sheer size and physicality and speed that he possesses, you better know where he’s at at all times because all it takes is one play,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “If he gets a sliver of light, he’s able to outrun everybody on the defense. So, yeah, he definitely changes and tilts the field in our favor when he’s out there.”

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