These Five Packers are Ceiling Raisers

Jordan Love helped lead the Green Bay Packers to the playoffs last year. These five players could take the team to the next level.

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Christian Watson / Mike De Sisti / Milwaukee Journal

The 2024 season is upon us!

Well, almost. With Green Bay Packers training camp starting in a week, the team appears to be locked and loaded for another run at the Super Bowl.

Jordan Love and the offense are looking to pick up where they left off to finish their first full season together.

The defense, led by new coordinator Jeff Hafley, will be looking to match the talent they believe is on that side of the ball.

If everyone performs at their absolute base level, the Packers will return to the playoffs. These five players could raise the ceiling even higher.

CB Eric Stokes

Perhaps this is unfair because Eric Stokes should be listed as a wild card more than anything.

Stokes’ career has been in limbo since he sustained a foot injury at Detroit in November 2022. Hamstring injuries limited him to just three games last year, and he struggled in two starts before his season ended on injured reserve.

The Packers did not exercise Stokes’ fifth-year option, which usually isn’t a good sign for a former first-round pick.

Stokes will enter training camp in a starting competition with last year’s seventh-round pick, Carrington Valentine.

Valentine was solid as a rookie, but Stokes was better than that his rookie season. With Jaire Alexander missing most of the season with a shoulder injury, Stokes came to the rescue. Pro Football Focus charged him with a 78.8 passer rating, and his 51.0 percent catch rate ranked among the league leaders.

Stokes finding that form again would help the Packers in terms of depth and talent at one of the game’s most important positions and give the Packers the dynamic cornerback tandem they envisioned when they drafted him in 2021.

DE Lukas Van Ness

Speaking of former first round picks. Lukas Van Ness had a strong finish to his rookie season after largely being invisible for the middle portion of it. According to PFF, 15 of his 22 pressures after Thanksgiving.

Van Ness was drafted with a similar development path to fellow pass rusher Rashan Gary.

With the pass-happy nature of the NFL, the Packers need their pass rush to be the buzzsaw they’ve designed it to be.

Gary needs to be more consistent after only registering a half-sack after Thanksgiving. One way to do that is to get more impact from the players around him.

In terms of ceilings, there might not be a player on the roster with a higher one than Van Ness, perhaps even including Gary.

His size and athleticism are tantalizing, and he started to improve at the details of his craft as the season came to a close.

In addition, Van Ness is one of the better run defenders on the roster.

Even if Van Ness does hit his ceiling, he likely won’t displace Preston Smith as a starter, but would play a critical role.

WR Christian Watson

At receiver, most of the attention this offseason has gone to the depth and presence of Dontayvion Wicks and Jayden Reed. However, the receiver with the most talent on the roster is the one everyone was talking about a year ago at this time.

Christian Watson entered last season as the slam-dunk choice to emerge as the team’s top receiver. He had a strong finish to his rookie campaign and was hoping to find more consistency in his second year.

Instead, the injury bug bit and hard.

Watson missed the first three games of the season with a hamstring injury, and he reinjured the hamstring toward the end of a two-touchdown performance in an upset win over the Chiefs.

If specialists solved those hamstring issues, Watson is the most likely answer to the question as to whether the Packers have a top-tier receiver on the roster.

His size and speed combination is tantalizing. He has made big plays down the field and with the ball in his hands.

If Watson hits his ceiling, the offense has someone opposing defenses have to gameplan for on a weekly basis. Moreover, his speed opening the middle of the field for Wicks, Reed, Romeo Doubs and the tight ends could spell doom for opposing defenses.

S Javon Bullard

This might be unfair with Javon Bullard being a rookie, but the signing of Xavier McKinney in free agency and the selection of Bullard with a second-round pick was meant to flip the safety position from weakness into strength.

Bullard possesses a versatility that other defensive backs on the roster do not have. Not only can he play a safety spot, but he could play in the slot, as well. That versatility is what drew general manager Brian Gutekunst to Bullard.

Whatever his position, Bullard finding his footing quickly as a rookie would give the Packers a secondary with few openings for opposing passing games.

CB/KR Keisean Nixon

Keisean Nixon is on here for two reasons. He provides stability in that he has experience playing in the slot, but he is the most dynamic return man in football.

Nixon celebrated the NFL’s rule change for kickoffs by saying he was going for a three-peat as a first-team All-Pro.

Last year, Nixon won the award despite not having many opportunities. That was especially true early in the season, when opposing kickers could simply kick the ball out of the end zone.

The new rules should give Nixon more opportunities to show off his skills as a returner.

If Nixon’s able to do that, the Packers should start with better field position, which makes for shorter fields for an offense that should be dynamic enough to move the ball from anywhere on the field. 

More Green Bay Packers News

With a breakout season by Jordan Love, the #Packers reached the playoffs last year.

Who will be the breakout players to help the team take the next step this year? Here are five from @JacobWestendorf. ⬇️https://t.co/hEBGcnqiQE

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) July 13, 2024

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