3) Green Bay Packers
After the Bears, it starts to get much more competitive. The Packers may have the best offensive line in the NFC North, led by David Bakhtiari. The Packers were very good at running the ball last season and did a pretty workmanlike job of protecting Aaron Rodgers until the NFC Championship game against the 49ers.
I wouldn’t say the Packer line is spectacular, but they are solid and were productive and should be pretty good again.
Running backs Aaron Jones and Jamal Williams represent one of the best one-two punches in the league. Jones can do it all and the offense hardly misses a beat when Williams comes off the bench.
The Packers also added former Boston College runner A.J. Dillon in the second round of the draft. I’m not sure how he fits in, but let’s be honest, the Packers 2020 draft was a head-scratcher and one of the reasons their offense is being ranked third in the NFC North.
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers isn’t what he once was, but he’s still better than the majority of signal-callers in the NFL. Yet now he has an heir apparent with former Utah State passer Jordan Love who they snatched up in the first round. This may bode well for the future, but what about a team that went to the NFC Championship last year and was a receiving weapon or two away from maybe upsetting the 49ers?
Second-year tight end Jace Sternberger has talent and will need to make a big jump in order to give the Packers passing game a boost. Rookie third-round pick Josiah Deguara from Cincinnati was a surprise. For Aaron Rodgers’ sake, hopefully, he can play.
Meanwhile, the Packer receiving corps is just as weak as they were when the offseason commenced. Davante Adams is their play-maker. After him, well… they did sign Devin Funchess who did little to nothing for the Indianapolis Colts last season.
However we wish to slice things, it seems that the Packers management refused to get Rodgers any help for the passing game. Sure Rodgers took the Pack a long way last season with not much depth to pass to, but with the selection of Love to officially put Rodgers on the clock and the whispers that the Packers are tired of Rodgers primadonna act, this could certainly add up to a regression.
I would expect that Aaron Rodgers is preparing himself to have a great year, which makes him hard to bet against, but considering the lack of tools for the passing game and the not so subtle undercurrents from management, it seems very likely the Packers will be just a beat slower on offense.