Packer Central

Packers Among Teams With Most ‘Under-25 Talent’

ESPN ranked the NFL’s rosters by young talent. The Green Bay Packers finished in the top 10, but so did two NFC North rivals.

Bill Huber

Jayden Reed (11) and Tucker Kraft are two of the Green Bay Packers' many young standouts.
Jayden Reed (11) and Tucker Kraft are two of the Green Bay Packers' many young standouts. / Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – “It’s a young man’s game,” Green Bay Packers vice president of player personnel Jon-Eric Sullivan said during this year’s NFL Draft.

The Packers had the youngest roster in the NFL last season and might have the youngest roster again this season. It’s one thing to be young. It’s quite another to be young and good.

At ESPN+, Aaron Schatz ranked every NFL team by its young talent – defined as less than 25 years old. The Packers, coming off back-to-back strong draft classes in 2022 and 2023, are ninth.

“The Packers have an absurd number of players under 25 who came out with a small amount of value,” Schatz wrote. “Similar to our ranking of the 2023 rookie classes in January, the Packers are high because of quantity more than quality ... though all that quantity means there's potential for a lot of quality.”

Second-year receiver Jayden Reed, who led the team in receptions, receiving yards and total touchdowns last year, is the Packers’ only “blue-chip” player from the under-25 contingent.

However, returning impact players include:

- Tight ends Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave (both 23).

- Receivers Dontayvion Wicks (23), Romeo Doubs (24) and Jayden Reed (24).

- Offensive tackle Rasheed Walker (24).

- Defensive linemen Lukas Van Ness (22), Colby Wooden (23), Karl Brooks (24).

- Linebackers Quay Walker and Isaiah McDuffie (both 24).

- Cornerback Carrington Valentine (22).

- Safety Xavier McKinney (24).

The Packers have only one 30-plus player: defensive end Preston Smith.

“I think it’s nice to have a mix of vets and youth,” Sullivan said. “It’s an ebb and flow, right? It depends on where you are contractually with other guys, but I do think we put an emphasis on staying young. We went through, a couple of years ago, we were aging, I think you could see that. You’ve got to factor that into your practice week. It takes guys longer to recover, so on and so forth. So, yeah, it’s a young man’s game.”

There are benefits to fielding a young team. One, young players have room to grow. Two, young players are inexpensive, which can help a team create a healthy salary cap.

Starts, snaps and accolades were part of Schatz’s methodology, as are importance of the position and the value of the 2024 draft class. The Packers drafted 11 players, including five in the first three rounds.

“When I first got here, there was a bunch of older veterans,” said cornerback Jaire Alexander, who at age 27 is now one of the veterans. “They were doing their work, they were doing their jobs, but not at the intensity and level that these young guys are. That just makes everybody better.”

The Houston Texans are No. 1 again. The Detroit Lions “aced” recent drafts and moved up from No. 3 to No. 2.

“We can certainly have some interesting arguments about positional value with the picks that Detroit made, but it's hard to argue with the results,” Schatz wrote. “(Penei) Sewell was a first-team All-Pro last season and is 23 years old. (Sam) LaPorta is also 23 and set an NFL record for catches by a rookie tight end (86). (Running back Jahmyr) Gibbs and (defensive back) Brian Branch are just 22, while first-round rookie Terrion Arnold is likely to be an NFL starter at 21.”

Receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, defensive end Aidan Hutchinson and the trio of Sewell, LaPorta and Gibbs gave the Lions five blue-chip players.

Another NFC North team, the Chicago Bears, moved up from 12th to fifth. Their touted rookies, quarterback Caleb Williams and receiver Rome Odunze, along with right tackle Darnell Wright gave the Bears three blue-chip players.

The Minnesota Vikings are 24th, with rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy and second-year receiver Jordan Addison considered blue-chip players.

Not only does the NFC North have young rosters but they’ve got (other than the Lions) young quarterbacks. That could make the division especially dangerous.

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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.