Packers training camp is finally upon us. With close to the entire roster on the field, the next few weeks will see the team try and settle a number of situations before the regular season begins. What are the biggest questions that need answering before then?

The Packers Offensive Line

Let me preface this by saying that I believe regardless of what the final configuration is, this line will be good. That doesn’t mean however that there are not real questions that need to be answered before the team takes the field for real.

One of the biggest questions coming into camp was actually answered before it started:

I think most everyone assumed that this was going to get done. Getting it done before camp is excellent work by both sides. This lets Tom come into camp 100 percent engaged and lets the team focus on dealing with the remaining spots. It’s also a relatively team friendly deal in relation to rest of the deals handed out this past offseason.

With Tom locked in, there’s still only two spots I feel comfortable predicting at this point however. Tom and new Packer Aaron Banks will be be manning the RT and LG guard spots respectively, but what about the remaining three?

At LT Rasheed Walker has to be the odds on favorite, but Green Bay drafted two players that also played that position primarily in college. Both Jordan Morgan and Anthony Belton are high picks, and I have to imagine that the Packers at least give them a shot to take the job from Walker. If Walker holds on then I suspect both guys get a chance to take the RG spot from Sean Rhyan.

There’s also the center issue. At the owners meetings earlier this year Green Bay indicated that it wanted it’s LG Elgton Jenkins to make the move to center. Jenkins in turn wants more financial incentives for making a switch to a position traditionally less lucrative than the one he played previously. So far there has been no progress on the issue and Jenkins has been placed on the NFI list. Given his age and injury past I suspect the Packers will play hard ball, at least to start the season. Hopefully this gets resolved quickly however to ensure that the line has the most amount of time to gel.

The Wide Receivers

The Packers have a lot of wide receivers on the roster right now.

After the Sheppard signing the team has a total of 12 on the roster going into camp. Obviously there are some players that we can call locks to begin with:

  • Romeo Doubs
  • Jayden Reed
  • Mathew Golden
  • Savion Williams

The next guy is in his own category of, I would be shocked if he wasn’t, but less shocked then I would be about the first four

Dontayvion Wicks

Then you have returning veterans that have played real snaps for this team in the previous two seasons

  • Bo Melton
  • Malik Heath

That’s already seven spots accounted for and that doesn’t include Christian Watson who will likely begin the season on the PUP list or IR.

That leaves Mecole Hardman, Cornelius Johnson, Sam Brown and the above signed Will Sheppard all fighting for a spot that at best is already taken, at worst simply isn’t there.

I would suspect that Hardman and Heath compete for the 6th spot with Melton and Johnson perhaps landing with the practice squad.

Is Demarcus Covington the Answer to the Packers Pass Rush Woes

The Pass rush did not live up to expectations last year. A unit that ranked 6th in DVOA two years prior getting into a more aggressive system had many predicting a breakout year. Instead the rush stalled and as a result new DC Jeff Hafley was forced to get very creative in finding ways to get pressure on the opposing QB.

Packers GM Brian Gutekunst must have felt that the investments made up to this point was enough to make adding more a difficult proposition. Instead the team looked at the coaching, specifically on the DL. Jason Rebrovich, the DL coach for the past three seasons was let go, and Covington was brought into replace him.

Players speaking anonymously claimed that Rebrovich was not “technically proficient” and was more of a motivator than a teacher of scheme and technique. If that’s the case then one would hope that bringing in someone with that kind of knowledge would help return the pass rush to a more viable state.

There are reasons to be excited. Players like Rashan Gary and Devonte Wyatt both flashed at times. It’s a make or break year for third year player Lukas Van Ness, and Edgerrin Cooper has proven to be an effective rusher as well. The team did add three DL players in the mid to late rounds of the draft, with Barryn Sorrell being the most notable.

Given the uncertainty on the offensive line to begin camp, a strong start for the DL should be expected if the coaching change is the answer.