Packers Rank Among ‘Most Complete’ Teams

NFL.com ranked the 10 most complete rosters for the 2024 season. Thanks to some superb draft classes, the Packers made the list.

Jordan Love at Packers OTAs / Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Thanks to a couple strong draft classes and the meteoric rise of quarterback Jordan Love, the Green Bay Packers will enter the 2024 NFL season as a Super Bowl contender.

In Eric Edholm’s rankings of the NFL’s most complete rosters at NFL.com, the Packers are eighth.

For Edholm, the starting point was the last four draft classes. In 2020, they controversially traded up in the first round not to give Aaron Rodgers another weapon on offense but to draft his eventual replacement.

Love was a “down-the-stretch star” last year. During the final eight games of the regular season, he was second with 18 touchdown passes and first with one interception, a remarkable plus-17 during that span. He ranked No. 1 in the NFL with 2,150 passing yards and second with a 112.7 passer rating.

With a pair of powerhouse draft classes providing receivers Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs in 2022, receivers Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks in 2023 and tight ends Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft in 2023, Green Bay has one of the game’s top young quarterbacks and, as Edholm put it, “arguably the best young receiver corps in the NFL.”

While general manager Brian Gutekunst signed 2022 rushing king Josh Jacobs in free agency and drafted offensive lineman Jordan Morgan in the first round, this offseason was about fixing an underachieving defense.

First, coach Matt LaFleur replaced embattled defensive coordinator Joe Barry with Jeff Hafley. Next, Gutekunst went to work. After signing the top free-agent safety, Xavier McKinney, he used his second-round picks on safety Javon Bullard and linebacker Edgerrin Cooper.

Under Barry, the Packers ranked 17th in total defense and 10th in points. The hope is Hafley’s fresh vision and the personnel additions can finally have the defense be at least the sum of its many first-round parts.

“The addition of safety Xavier McKinney makes a good defense better,” Edholm said. “The Packers allowed some big pass plays and didn’t force enough turnovers last season, but there’s a pretty stout front, more promise at linebacker and enough CB talent outside of Jaire Alexander to solidify that position. The nucleus of Alexander, Rashan Gary, Kenny Clark, Preston Smith, Quay Walker, Lukas Van Ness and others could make this a top-12 unit by season’s end.”

The addition of McKinney could be a game-changer. He is coming off a season of 116 tackles, three interceptions and 11 passes defensed. All of Green Bay’s safeties last year combined for three interceptions and 13 passes defensed.

“He’s got great versatility,” defensive backs coach Ryan Downard said before the start of OTAs. “He can play in deep zones. He can play in underneath coverage, as well. He can play in man coverage. He can box fit in the run game. He’s got a natural feel to fit the run in the run game, and then he can blitz and he was a single-digit missed-tackle guy. X has all those different things.

“He helps the culture in the room, too, from the vantage point of toughness and practice habits and things like that. That is much needed and very much welcomed.”

The Packers are fourth among NFC teams in Edholm’s rankings. Their Week 1 opponent, the Philadelphia Eagles, is fifth. 

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If the #Packers go through the offseason feeling like they need at least some help at cornerback, there are some quality veteran options still available. ⬇️https://t.co/sttkpkQb7Y

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) May 23, 2024

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