Lately, there has been seemingly endless angst in Packerland, and it has led to an incredibly long two weeks. We’ve heard opinions on Lafleur, playcalling, offensive line coaching, WR usage, the tush push and too much more. I do feel that tensions have generally been higher than they need to be. Things are usually never as bad as they seem. But I will admit that there have been some team building mistakes made at 1265 Lombardi Ave that are tough to defend. I want to talk about these mistakes, but also about how the Green Bay Packers may be able to overcome them.
When a team builds a top heavy roster full of rich contracts it amplifies the importance of every other roster building move. Lots of money spent on star players leaves little left over for building depth or rounding out the roster. It forces the front office to draft well, utilize compensatory picks and find hidden gem values in free agency. If front offices with top heavy rosters aren’t able to do this, then the roster will inevitably decay and become incredibly susceptible to injuries ruining seasons.
Like it or not, this is the position the Green Bay Packers are in once again. Coming into this season the Packers already had multiple high priced contracts on their books. They would then add 3 more over the course of the offseason: Nate Hobbs, Aaron Banks and Micah Parsons.
The two big mistakes were the signings of Aaron Banks and Nate Hobbs. At this point it is hard to defend these signings no matter your level of optimism. Starting with the Banks signing, I struggled to talk myself into the move at the time, and I have written about it extensively on this site since. But never did I think that Banks would look this bad for the Packers. His season has been a true disappointment.
Nate Hobbs, sadly, has been equally as bad. I always felt he was an intriguing option as a slot corner, but that it was too much projection to expect him to step in on the boundary immediately. That is just a huge change for a player to make in the middle of their career. It’s been said that the Packers pro scouting department felt strongly that Hobbs could do this and that they’ve had their eye on him for years. Welp, I am afraid that department is going to have to take a massive L on this one because it is just not working out at all.
For years, fans of the Green Bay Packers have clamored for more involvement in free agency. Now they involve themselves this year, and we already have buyers remorse on both of our big purchases.
Yes, this is not good on the surface level for the Packers. But it also goes much deeper than that. These two players take up 31 million dollars of the cap this season, and they’re not contributing much for that hefty price tag. On a cap strapped team like the Green Bay Packers, that is something that just cannot happen. These two contracts have dug the team into a hole, and it will take great management from the front office to get out of it.
I know the tone of this has been negative so far, but there is great promise on this Packers roster. The real point of this article is that I want to highlight that promise. This is still the youngest team in the NFL, and they are full of budding talent. That young and cheap talent is going to prove important down the stretch in 2025, but also in the years beyond. Like I said earlier, when you carry a top heavy roster it becomes real important you can find cheap labor to round out the roster.
That being said, here are some of the players I would keep a special eye on for the rest of this season. They may seem like smaller and lesser known names, but I can guarantee the Packers are watching their progress closely. These are the players that may determine how far the Packers go over the next couple of seasons.
Disclaimer: Lloyd is one of my all time favorite draft prospects and I was absolutely elated when Green Bay took him in ‘24.
Let’s start this list out with a banger. Packers fans have rightfully grown frustrated with this player and his situation, but it is no fault of Lloyd’s own. Lloyd has been dealt one of the worst hands of injuries to start a career that I have ever seen. Multiple hamstring and groin injuries and an emergency appendectomy have kept him out of all but 2 games thus far in his career. So, yeah it hasn’t been great.
But let’s not forget what this guy was as a prospect. This guy was drafted to be the ideal change of pace with Josh Jacobs and I still think he can be just that. The level of elusiveness in space that Lloyd has when healthy is simply different from anything Green Bay has on the roster right now.
This type of player ramping up for the stretch run is big news for the Packers in 2025 and beyond. If Lloyd can stay healthy long term he will save the Packers money by negating the need to draft and/or sign another RB to shoulder some of Jacobs’ tiresome workload. All in all, don’t lose faith in the great Marshawn Lloyd.
Valentine is one of the most fun players on this Packers team. The level of energy he plays with never changes, and I find that truly impressive. Valentine has had to prove his worth to the Packers over and over again throughout his first 3 seasons. He has consistently played well, but has also consistently been benched for players that don’t play as well as he does. Eric Stokes and Nate Hobbs are the most recent examples.
However, Valentine is playing so well lately that the Packers just might not be able to ever bench him again. And he’s earning himself quite the nice contract while doing that. It’s my belief that Valentine has the goods to be the next CB1 in Green Bay, and I am hoping the Packers front office is catching on to that.
Keep an eye on this guy down the stretch. If he keeps playing this way the Packers may be less likely to spend extra money to extend Keisean Nixon, or they may be more likely to cut bait and move on from Nate Hobbs. Nonetheless, a Carrington Valentine breakout continuing for the rest of this season makes the situation at cornerback much less dire heading into 2026.
The offensive line has been a huge dark spot for this year’s Green Bay Packers team. Anthony Belton hasn’t really been any different. In limited action at right tackle Belton looked out of place, especially as a run blocker.
As I have written before, I feel that Belton is best cast as a guard and that I won’t judge him much on his performance at tackle. It’s really clear to me that Belton needs to be a guard in the NFL. But as far as I know, Belton hasn’t even gotten any real practice reps at guard, let alone in a game.
The injury to Elgton Jenkins and Jordan Morgan’s poor play at right guard may change that. Could the Packers be desperate enough to throw Belton in and give him a chance at right guard? Who knows. But I do know that the Packers are heavily invested in Belton’s success, and it would ease a lot of my future concerns if Belton could become the next mainstay for the Packers guard position.
This one is no surprise to anybody here, but the Packers need to get more out of Matthew Golden. Against Philadelphia, it was painfully obvious how certain Packers wide receivers struggled to separate from man coverage. The Packers need Golden to help fix that problem and add a little more dynamism to this offense.
The Packers are also going to be faced with a Romeo Doubs problem in 2026. Doubs has been especially vital to Jordan Love and this offense throughout the first half of this season. Doubs’ career year is great for the Packers right now, but it’s likely pricing the Packers out of his market going forward. Doubs will easily command north of 20 million dollars per year from some team flush with cap space next summer. With where the Packers are at right now, and the deal they already made for Christian Watson, Doubs is likely on his way out.
That means they’ll need somebody to step up and fill his void. That’s where Matthew Golden should come in. I believe Golden can and will elevate that role that Doubs fills now. But it would go a long way towards easing my concerns if we could see Golden step up now and gain Love’s trust a little more down the back half of 2025.
