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Packers look to take the next step
Aaron Nagler
January 16, 2025
The 2024 Green Bay Packers didn't live up to expectations coming into the season, but the end result was still a playoff appearance. For being an up-and-down season chalked full of self-inflicted mistakes, it speaks to the talent and potential of the Packers roster to still finish fourth in offense by FTN’s DVOA (Defense-adjusted Value Over Average) and seventh in overall DVOA.
The Packers were able to find some players last offseason who contributed largely to the success, had some returning players continue to ascend, and others who struggled to rise up to the occasion this year. Heading into this offseason, General Manager Brian Gutekunst has some gut-check decisions to make, and thankfully, the Packers will have roughly $23 million in effective cap space to work with this offseason after signing draft picks. Of course, restructures, releases, and extensions can still all impact that number, but regardless, the Packers are in a great spot with having the flexibility to address the roster. To that, there are a few players on the team already who unquestionably will not be going anywhere, while the others all have some vulnerabilities that could impact their status on the roster.
There are a handful of players who are very obviously going to play tremendous roles on the Packers next season that, should any other team even think to place a call to Green Bay to inquire about, would be told to kick rocks. And that's if the phone isn't immediately hung up. As it stands today, they are the undisputed core of the Packers' roster, which will lead them into the 2025 season.
From McKinney taking home first-team All-Pro honors, Edgerrin Cooper displaying talent the Packers haven't seen at off-ball linebacker in decades, Zach Tom finishing as PFF's fourth-highest-graded offensive tackle in the NFL, Tucker Kraft leading all qualified tight ends in average yards after catch (8.8) while also excelling as a blocker, Josh Jacobs returning to All-Pro form, Jayden Reed posting top numbers out of the slot while also being the Packers most dynamic weapon, Evan Williams being named to PFF's All-Rookie team, to Jordan Love in a banged up season still developing into what appears will be an elite quarterback that's already locked up for a while; the Packers stack up a talented core of players to lead them into the future. Morgan, the Packers' latest first-round pick, is coming off a rookie season spent mostly on the shelf with injuries, but there's no scenario the Packers would already move off of him or sign or trade for an offensive lineman who would prevent Morgan from getting on the field. Morgan's status on the roster is as much a lock as anyone's.
Take a look at the team’s Untouchables and where the rest of the roster stands.
Packer Transplants 297: Time To Take The Next Step
CHTV co-founders Corey Behnke and Aaron Nagler deal with the end of another Packers season after a disappointing loss to the Eagles and look ahead to an offseason that includes the NFL Draft being held in Green Bay.
Packers Wide Receivers Did Not Live Up to Expectations in 2024
Coming into this 2024 NFL season, the Green Bay Packers were viewed as an ascending team. They overachieved from expectations in 2023, making the NFC playoffs and winning in Dallas over the favored Cowboys. The position group that many fans were excited about was the wide receiving corps. Including the tight ends, the Packers had six pass catchers on rookie contracts, all players drafted in 2022 or 2023. The upside even brought back memories of the group that helped bring the last Lombardi trophy to Green Bay.
In the 2024 NFC Wild Card game against the Philadelphia Eagles, the wide receivers were held to a combined 9 receptions for 114 yards. Injuries were partly to blame as both Romeo Doubs and Jayden Reed were both knocked out of the game in the third quarter and Christian Watson missed the game because of a torn ACL in week 18.
However, the performance in the playoffs represented the disappointment from the group in 2024. In fact, in the Packers’ last four games, they only had two touchdowns, with Dontayvion Wicks scoring against New Orleans and Malik Heath against Minnesota.
Take a deeper dive into the disappointment from the position group and what lies ahead for a group in flux.
5 Takeaways From Packers 10 - 22 Eagles: Big Decisions Ahead
Packers GM Brian Gutekunst has done a great job of constructing a roster capable of going to the playoffs, but at least this season, his team never made the step from good to great which would have enabled them to compete with the NFL’s best.
After the 2023 season, the arrow was clearly pointing up for the Packers. Gutekunst had few tough decisions to make regarding existing players needing to get paid, and could instead focus on making additions via free agency to improve his squad.
This offseason will be different. Some players, or entire position groups, did not show the growth Gutekunst might have expected this season, and now he has to decide who and what he believes in entering 2025. Which players does he trust will take a big step forward next season? Where does he feel he needs to act? These are the big decisions he faces.
The wide receiver position is one that could pose a particular dilemma, as none of the wideouts significantly pushed on this season to become a truly top tier player. Is the general weirdness that surrounded Green Bay’s offense due to Love’s injuries a large reason for that? This is again something Gutekunst needs to weigh up.
A year from now, Rasheed Walker, Zach Tom, Sean Rhyan, Quay Walker, Romeo Doubs, Christian Watson, Kingsley Enagbare and Devonte Wyatt will all be free agents. Besides Tom, who is a no-brainer to keep around, how ready is Gutekunst right now to make decisions on whether to offer extensions to any of the players on that list? How many have shown they are worthy of a second contract? And at what price?
More elite talent is needed to take this team to the next level, and Gutekunst found two excellent players in free agency last offseason, but is it realistic to expect he can do the same again? Would he be willing to explore the trade market and potentially give up premium draft picks when the draft is being hosted in Green Bay?
There will be an expectation of further improvement from within what is still a very young team in 2025, but armed with plenty of cap space, Gutekunst needs to be decisive and aggressive in trying to upgrade the roster ahead of next season.
Packers Daily: Tom Clements set to retire
Aaron Nagler chats with Packers fans worldwide after hearing from head coach Matt LaFleur during his end-of-season presser, which included the news that legendary Packers quarterbacks coach Tom Clements is set to retire.
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Cory's Corner: Creativity Is Missing Ingredient
It happened again. The Packers showed up to a game not ready to play and once again lost. This time it meant more as the 22-10 loss to the Eagles in the NFC Wild Card Playoff ended the season.
“Obviously we’ll comb through everything,” said Packers coach Matt LaFleur, who is now 3-5 in the playoffs. “I’m not making excuses or anything like that. We have a young football team, unfortunately, this is a tough lesson along the way.”
The fact that they were the youngest team in the NFL according to the 33rd Team with an average age of 25.11 years old doesn’t mean anything after a training camp, preseason, regular season and a playoff game. The Packers looked lethargic in the regular season finale vs. a bad Chicago team and the Bears celebrated at Lambeau Field like they won the Super Bowl.
Green Bay’s defense played very well and it was wasted. That side of the ball held Philadelphia to 2-for-11 on third down. Jalen Hurts was 6-for-13 for 39 yards at halftime. The offense looked timid once again. Instead of the presnap motion and play-action that we saw the Packers win with at the end of last year, Love was mainly in shotgun and he was under pressure on 15 of 36 dropbacks. This season, Love only completed 49 percent of his throws when under pressure — which includes seven touchdowns and six picks.
The Packers didn’t lose because their roster was significantly worse. They lost because the creativity for some reason left the canvas. It became easy to defend Love and Co., and that’s what LaFleur needs to prevent if he wants to win in the postseason going forward.
Let's Talk Football: When your offense falls apart
Aaron Nagler chats with Pack-A-Day Podcast host Andy Herman about the Packers Wild Card playoff loss to the Eagles and what it means going forward as the Packers head into the offseason.
