Heading into week 9 we are right at the midpoint of the NFL season. That means there’s no better time to go back and re-visit my pre-season thoughts and predictions for this version of the Green Bay Packers. I remember feeling pretty darn confident in a lot of these picks, so I am hopeful I won’t look too silly after this exercise. All my predictions will be included here. If you are interested to see what I wrote at the time, all my thoughts can be found in an article I wrote on September 6th. 

  1. 1. Matthew Golden will quickly emerge as the WR1

This one hasn’t necessarily come true, but I would not rule this out for the second half of the season. On film Golden has looked the part. He is consistently one of the smoothest separators the Green Bay Packers have on the field. The data backs this up too, PFF charting gives Matthew Golden a passer rating when targeted of over 100 against both man and zone coverage schemes. 

Tucker Kraft is the best pass catcher on this team. But Golden, Doubs, Watson and Reed have all had their big moments and big games so far this season. Add in a few other mouths to feed on this offense and the nature of this beast becomes clear. There isn’t going to be a clear and consistent no. 1 performer in this offense. Although, I would still bet that Golden has games where he is the guy more often throughout the second half. 

For those of you that are concerned with Golden’s rookie year stats, I will leave this here for you. 

Davante Adams’ receiving yards total through the first 7 games of his rookie season: 253 yards. Matthew Golden’s receiving total after his first 7 games: exactly 253 yards.

  1. 2. The Packers have one more notable roster move in them

We’ll find out this week! I would not rule out another trade coming from this team, although I do feel it’ll be a relatively smaller one. I’ve heard some rumblings about a move to bring Denzel Ward to Green Bay, and I’ve also heard some rumors about the Packers taking offers for Luke Musgrave. 

I’d be more interested in the second move. Musgrave likely still holds some value around the NFL, but he has slipped to third string tight end in Green Bay. 

  1. 3. Jordan Morgan will be the third most valuable offensive lineman in ‘25 

I’m gonna take the L on this one so far, but I will say that most of my reasoning for this take came from seeing Morgan play so well at LT. Morgan has spent the season once again playing out of position, and it hasn’t gone too incredibly well. I will reiterate that to me Morgan needs to be a tackle. 

The interior of the offensive line is the Green Bay Packers biggest problem right now, especially in the run game. Morgan’s play in the run game has been average at best as a guard. Improved play from him could help the situation, but I also wonder if the Packers may settle on Sean Rhyan down the stretch. Rhyan packs more punch in the run game and has more experience at the position. 

  1. 4. Carrington Valentine breakout season 

It took us a while, but we finally made it here. It’s my opinion that if Valentine was a higher round draft pick he wouldn’t have had to compete for this position at all. It’s been clear to me all year that Valentine is the best corner on this team, but since he’s competing with 2 high priced free agents, he’s had to continually earn his spot. 

Jeff Hafley has traditionally played a lot of man coverage throughout his career. But in Green Bay he’s played a huge percentage of zone coverage. Part of this is because his corners for the most part lack ball skills but are great tacklers. Zone coverage fits those tendencies well. Zone schemes allow defenders to have eyes on the QB, but put stress on team tackling, especially in the short areas. Guys like Keisean Nixon and Nate Hobbs are zone cover corners and the data backs this up. Nixon and Hobbs both have rough grades in man coverage according to PFF. 

Valentine on the other hand is the opposite of this. Valentine is sticky in coverage, has much better ball skills, but struggles to tackle consistently. He’s built to play man coverage and has by far the best man cover grade on the team with an 84.7. 

I know that deep down Hafley wants to play man coverage looks more often. Maybe this is why Denzel Ward is in the rumor mill. Ward and Valentine together give you that opportunity. Nonetheless, Valentine has proved himself time and time again and he’ll be a huge part of this team down the stretch. 

  1. 5. Tucker Kraft will push for an all-pro spot

I got this one right. So much has been spoken about Tucker Kraft and his dominance and I don’t feel I could add any more to the discussion. He is so incredibly valuable to this team. I think he’s the second most important offensive player, behind only Jordan Love. 

  1. 6. Tyron Hopper will play a big role in 2025

I underestimated how much the Green Bay Packers value Isaiah McDuffie when I made this prediction. That’s not to say that Hopper has been bad though. Hopper has been productive on special teams and seemingly makes plays every single time he’s on the field defensively. I thought he filled in admirably in Arizona when Quay Walker missed a few plays mid game, and he made a huge game sealing play on the 2pt conversion attempt last week in Pittsburgh. Having a guy like Hopper as your no. 4 linebacker is quite the luxury! 

  1. 7. Micah Parsons and Rashan Gary will be the league’s most productive edge rushing duo

This wasn’t the boldest prediction in the world but I did nail it. Gary and Parsons have combined for 14 sacks through 7 games. They are tied with Nik Bonitto and Jonathan Cooper from Denver as the most productive duo. It is worth noting that those guys from Denver have played 8 games. 

It is hard to overstate how much Parsons has impacted the Green Bay Packers. His play has been otherworldly good, but he’s unlocked Gary/Van Ness/Enagbare/Wyatt/Brooks at the same time too. This defensive line is the strength of this team, and Parsons is an all pro lock. 

  1. 8. The Packers run defense won’t suffer too severely after losing Kenny Clark and TJ Slaton

I feel like what I wrote in September continues to hold true, so I am just going to include it here. 

NFL fans often over-simplify what goes into defending the run. I’ve fallen victim to it myself in the past. Going forward, let’s remember that defending the run takes all 11 players working together. Especially with the way Hafley uses nickel backs and strong safeties on early downs. Every player on the field plays a role when defending the run. It takes a lot more than just a good nose tackle to defend the run! 

Think about all the guys Green Bay has brought in since Hafley took over as DC. McKinney, Bullard, Cooper, Williams, Parsons and Hobbs all come to mind. Each one of these guys plays the run with force from a non defensive tackle position. While the Packers may feel a void on the interior of their D-line, this is only one part of the overall run defense. Look for strong defensive ends, rangy linebackers and sure tackling safeties to help pick up the slack and power this run defense to at least an average finish. 

  1. 9. Losing Josh Myers will prove to be addition by subtraction

Man I wish this one had come true. Like I said earlier, the interior of this O-line has been the biggest weakness of the team. Elgton Jenkins is a huge part of that. Is he annoyed he couldn’t get an extension, did the age cliff sneak up on him, or is center just not his position? I am not sure which it is, but he has had a tough start to the season. 

Some of the other lineman on the team are starting to make incremental improvements. Banks has been better this month, Zach Tom is getting healthy and Sean Rhyan is slowly working his way back into the lineup. The Green Bay Packers need Elgton to make those same jumps if they want to go anywhere in January/February. 

  1.  10. The Packers finally reap the rewards of the youngest roster in the NFL 

Two specific games stick out to me when it comes to this. The week 2 game against Washington and last week against Pittsburgh. Those teams are among some of the oldest rosters in the league, and the Green Bay Packers made them look that way. 

Green Bay’s young roster is very good at many things, but two of the most important are breaking tackles on offense and making tackles on defense. The Packers have a young track squad that doubles as a WR corps. Combine that with Tucker Kraft and Josh Jacobs on offense and this group of skill players is so tough to tackle. You saw that on full display against the older Washington and Pittsburgh rosters. 

Look for this trend to continue in the second half of the season as the Green Bay Packers continue to overpower teams with their athleticism and team speed.