The Jordan Love era officially begins Friday when the Green Bay Packers face the Cincinnati Bengals in their first preseason game since trading Aaron Rodgers to the New York Jets. Love will naturally be a major component of the night. But with such a young roster going through a transitional year, the Packers have several other interesting questions to answer during the game in Ohio. It’s an evaluation season for Green Bay, and preseason games are the perfect territory to make these judgements, from the top of the roster to the bottom.
Exhibition wins don’t count, but the game isn’t meaningless. There are factors to keep in mind for this phase of Green Bay’s roster construction. The first one is avoiding injuries, a frequent theme during the preseason. But the other ones are specific to what the Packers want to be in 2023.
Operation of the offense
Jordan Love‘s major challenge tonight is to keep the unit afloat. It’ll be interesting to watch how he calls plays in the huddle, how he executes basic concepts, and how he puts players in position to succeed. Left tackle David Bakhtiari most likely won’t play, but he mentioned something important to Sports Illustrated. The Packers need normalcy at quarterback, even after trading Rodgers.
You want to have normalcy. I’ve had guards drop out, and you bring in another guy, and I’m noticing a lot of ‘Yo, come on’. If you have a guy that just steps in and the chemistry is there and we have good fits on our blocks, good communications, he’s seeing the adjustments, that’s exactly what you want from someone stepping in. For him coming in and having a full offseason with him and even getting through this bit of camp to start off, [the normalcy at quarterback] is what I appreciate the most.
Correctly operating the offense isn’t just a Jordan Love matter, though. Center Josh Myers needs to stop fumbling snaps, a recurring theme through training camp with multiple quarterbacks. Young receivers must run routes as designed, and Luke Musgrave hopefully avoids drops.
The Bengals’ experienced defense brings an exciting challenge for the Packers’ young offense. Green Bay’s ability to do the right things would be an important first step in showing what they are truly capable of doing later in the season.
Lukas Van Ness and the young front
Considering how conservative the Packers tend to be with rookies, it was fair to expect Lukas Van Ness behind Kingsley Enagbare on the depth chart. But he isn’t. That’s a good sign, and he should see a lot of action in Cincinnati because Rashan Gary won’t play and Preston Smith doesn’t need to.
According to Bengals analyst Joe Goodberry, who was at the joint practice on Wednesday, Van Ness showed good things. Now in a game setting, it’s important to keep the positive trend.
And it’s not just Van Ness. The Packers have other young pieces in their front, and players like Colby Wooden and Karl Brooks will have plenty of opportunities to show they can be significant contributors during the regular season.
RB3 clarity
There’s no chance Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon see the field tonight, so the game is a major opportunity for depth running backs fighting for the third spot. They are battling among themselves, but they are also just trying to ensure there will be three running backs on the 53-man roster. Last year, the Packers decided to keep only two, elevating a third RB from the practice squad for the first games of the season.
The big name to watch is Tyler Goodson. He was a promising undrafted player last year. After a full season as a de facto RB4 and on the practice squad, he seems to be more ready to contribute now. He’s a more talented runner than Patrick Taylor. If he can show the ability to pass block and catch out of the backfield, he consolidates himself as the favorite to win the job.
Taylor and seventh-round rookie Lew Nichols will get their chances too, as Matt LaFleur indicated.
“We’ll have a featured back in each one of those games, maybe done by a half, but we haven’t gotten that far yet,” LaFleur said.
Whoever is featured against the Bengals might give fans a glimpse of who is ahead in the competition.
Defensive back depth
On a roster with so much youth, the cornerback group is impressively experienced — so much so that both starters, Jaire Alexander and Rasul Douglas, probably will not even play. Keisean Nixon might not play, either. Therefore, the game becomes a big stage for seventh-round rookie Carrington Valentine, who has run with the first-team defense when Alexander is out. Corey Ballentine, Innis Gaines, and Kiondre Thomas, a darling in past training camp editions, will also battle for their places.
At safety, where the Packers are so thin, training camp and preseason will decide who starts opposite Darnell Savage. Initially, it was Rudy Ford‘s position to lose, but free-agent addition Jonathan Owens, a former Houston Texans starter, has had more chances with the ones lately.
Carlson getting it right
Rookie kicker Anders Carlson has had a strange trend during training camp: He misses the first kick of a series, then converts the other two. Unfortunately for him, real games don’t allow the best-of-three method, so Carlson will have to settle in right away. However, it’s natural for young kickers to struggle early in their careers, and the Packers seem confident that he will develop.
“No concerns right now,” general manager Brian Gutekunst stressed. “It is the National Football League, you have to perform at every position. At the same time, we went into this year knowing rookie kickers will have some struggles, with the thought process that there will be some patience.”
Green Bay moved on from Mason Crosby after 16 seasons, but the veteran clearly hadn’t been as effective late in his career. It makes sense to go for Carlson’s upside. Now the rookie has to show he is capable of being more consistent.
The Packers must evaluate everything this year, and those conclusions will be imperative in their shaping the future beyond 2023. Because of these circumstances, preseason football hasn’t been so relevant for Green Bay in a long time, and this perspective should go beyond the scoreboard.
