The Green Bay Packers training camp will be here before you know it! Because of that, let’s take a look at each side of the ball leading up to July 22nd. This week, let’s focus our efforts on the Packers’ offensive side of the ball.
At the end of 2023, the offense was playing at its best thanks to the cohesion that was found between Jordan Love and his receivers. Will the offensive group continue to develop? We’ll find out soon enough. In the meantime, this is a breakdown of each offensive group heading into training camp.
To do this breakdown effectively, it is important to look at some historical trends for the Packers. We will start the historical trends with 2017, which is a year before Brian Gutekunst took over as the general manager. Over this timespan, Green Bay has rostered an average of 24.86 offensive players. This means that Gutekunst has kept the offense and defense equal at 25 players with the three special teamers.
Training Camp Quarterbacks
The quarterback room for the Packers is currently filled with only three players. Sean Clifford, Michael Pratt, and Jordan Love are the only quarterbacks on the Packers current roster. Technically, Alex McGough is on the roster but he is now being classified as a wide receiver. So, yeah, the Packers only have three on the roster and I think it could very well stay that way.
Since 2017, the Packers initial 53-man roster has had an average of 2.29 quarterbacks on it. In other words, Green Bay mostly keeps just two quarterbacks but in 2018 and 2020, they kept three. With both of those instances, the Packers had invested some capital in a quarterback which required them to keep three on the roster. In 2018, the Packers traded for DeShone Kizer and in 2020 the Packers drafted Jordan Love in the first round.
Considering history, I believe that the Packers will enter into the regular season with the same three quarterbacks that are already on the roster. The only way this doesn’t happen is if someone provides Green Bay with a nice return on investment trade for Sean Clifford.
In training camp, watch for the battle between Sean Clifford and Michael Pratt for the backup quarterback role.
Running Backs
The Packers have seven running backs/fullbacks on their current 90-man roster. These players are Josh Jacobs, AJ Dillon, MarShawn Lloyd, Emanuel Wilson, Ellis Merriweather, Jarveon Howard, and fullback Henry Pearson. Josh Jacobs and MarShawn Lloyd are going to make this team. I can’t say the same for AJ Dillon.
Lately, the Packers have kept an average of 3.29 running backs on their roster at the beginning of the season. Also, just a clarification, this number includes fullbacks in addition to running backs. Most of the time, the Packers will keep three running backs but have just kept two in 2018 and 2022 while in 2017, they kept five.
So, how does this position group shake out? I would look for the Packers to keep three running backs on the roster with a possibility of a fourth being a fullback.
The interesting player of this group to watch for is AJ Dillon. I believe Dillon is in direct competition with Emanuel Wilson for the third spot.
Training Camp Wide Receivers
Green Bay will carry ten receivers into this year’s training camp as of right now. Currently, these receivers are Romeo Doubs, Grant DuBose, Malik Heath, Julian Hicks, Bo Melton, Jayden Reed, Dimitri Stanley, Samori Toure, Christian Watson, and Dontayvion Wicks.
There are four players guaranteed a spot on the roster and two that are nearly guaranteed a spot. Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, Jayden Reed, and Dontayvion Wicks are the players guaranteed a spot while Malik Heath and Bo Melton are nearly guaranteed a spot. This gives the Packers six receivers with a spot on the roster already.
This is made more interesting because, historically, the Packers keep only six receivers on the initial 53-man roster. The only outliers to this are in 2018 where they kept eight and 2022 when they rostered seven receivers. So, unless there is a trade, the rest of the receivers will be playing for a possible 7th spot or a practice squad position.
Tight Ends
With six tight ends on their 90-man roster, the Packers will have to make some decisions to which tight ends make their initial roster. Those tight ends are Tyler Davis, Tucker Kraft, Luke Musgrave, Ben Sims, Messiah Swinson, and Joel Wilson.
The Packers mostly keep four tight ends on their roster outside of a couple of seasons where they only kept three. Let’s assume they stay relatively consistent and keep four. Luke Musgrave, Tucker Kraft, and Ben Sims are locks for the initial roster, and honestly if Tyler Davis comes back fully healthy then he will likely be a lock to for his special teams abilities. The other two will be vying for a spot on the practice squad.
Finally, Offensive Line
The Packers have averaged 9.57 offensive linemen to make their initial roster each year since 2017. However, the one outlier just so happened to happen last season when eleven linemen made the roster.
Remember, the Packers normally keep an average of 25 players on offense. With three quarterbacks, three running backs, six wide receivers, and four tight ends, the Packers have only nine spots left! This means that the Packers can only nine offensive linemen unless they break trends and keep more offensive players than defensive players which has only happened once since 2017. So, let’s stick with nine.
Let’s reduce nine down even further by mentioning the offensive linemen guaranteed to make the roster: Rasheed Walker, Jordan Morgan, Zach Tom, Elgton Jenkins, and Jacob Monk. With these five, that leaves just four more spots. Let’s project starting positions to help narrow this down.
Rasheed Walker at left tackle, Elgton Jenkins at left guard, Josh Myers at Center, Jordan Morgan at Right Guard, and Zach Tom at Right Tackle. So, if the Packers do believe in Josh Myers, I expect him to be on the roster. This leaves only three spots left for the rest of the offensive linemen to compete for. With six expected to make the roster, there are only three spots available for the remaining nine.
The Most Interesting Competition Is!
The offensive line is the most interesting group heading into training camp and quite frankly, it isn’t even close. Not only are there roughly only three spots available for nine players, but there will be battles for starting spots as well. There is also the question of what to do with Jordan Morgan. Does he supplant Rasheed Walker, move to guard, or ride the bench? Do the Packers keep Zach Tom at right tackle or do they move him to center where there has already been rumblings of some believing that he could be a Hall of Fame center?
There are a ton of questions regarding the Packers offensive line! Just remember, they will play the best five. No matter what.
And no matter what,
It’s always this:
Go Pack Go!
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Damon is a diehard, fully-immersed cheesehead who currently lives in southern Missouri. He teaches at a local high school and has a family YouTube channel about all things Packers. You can follow him on twitter at @packersfamily and on YouTube at The Packers Family.
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