Now that the Green Bay Packers have set their Week 1 53-man roster, I compared this year’s roster to the one they brought into their opening contest against the Chicago Bears last season.
For this exercise, we will only look at new players at each position group (no 2023 Jordan Love vs. 2024 Jordan Love) and compare them to their counterparts from last year who they replaced on the roster to see which group positions the Packers to have the most success possible.
The goal of each offseason is to field a better team than you did in the previous campaign. Did the Packers do that? Let’s take a look.
Quarterback – Sean Clifford vs. Malik Willis
Sean Clifford spent all of last season as a backup and only ended up throwing one pass. He had an underwhelming summer, forcing the Packers to send a seventh-round pick to the Tennessee Titans for Malik Willis. Although Willis has had mixed results in the NFL, he was a rumored first-round pick with intriguing tools, so we’ll give him the edge.
Winner: 2024
Running Back – Aaron Jones & A.J. Dillon vs. Josh Jacobs & MarShawn Lloyd
The Packers swapped out Jones for Jacobs this offseason to be their bell cow. It was a close call because Jones is as good as it gets when he’s healthy. The issue was whether he could stay healthy, which he has proven he can’t do over the course of a full season.
Jacobs was the 2022 rushing leader and has played in 88% of his career games. Even though Lloyd might struggle in pass protection early, he has so much more burst and wiggle than Dillon that we must give him the edge.
Winner: 2024
Wide Receiver – Samori Toure vs. Bo Melton
Samori Toure started last season as WR5 in the young wide receiver room. A 2022 Packer draft pick, he didn’t quite take the jump people expected, and he quickly fell out of favor, even ending up as a game-day inactive for Bo Melton later in the season when he exploded onto the scene.
Toure ended camp no higher than eighth on the depth chart and is now on the Chicago Bears practice squad. Melton is expected to play legitimate snaps this year on offense and special teams and could have a big impact.
Winner: 2024
Tight End – Josiah Deguara vs. Ben Sims
As a third-round pick, Deguara never quite fit the mold the Packers hoped he would when they drafted him and had a very underwhelming four years in Green Bay. He finds himself in Jacksonville now, and they made no effort to bring him back as a free agent. Sims is a young player who the Packers seem to trust. He was claimed just after final cuts last season and quickly showed he can block and showed some ability in the passing game when called upon, so 2024 wins again.
Winner: 2024
Offensive Line – David Bakhtiari, Royce Newman, Caleb Jones, Yosh Nijman, Jon Runyan, & Luke Tenuta vs. Kadeem Telfort, Jacob Monk, Travis Glover, Jordan Morgan, & Andre Dillard
The Packers kept one fewer new player along the offensive line in 2023 than in 2024, and they are missing a future Packers Hall of Famer in David Bakhtiari. That alone will likely give 2023 the nod, even though we know he missed the entire season after Week 1. The 2024 group has more flexibility because Telfort, Morgan, and Monk can play multiple positions. However, losing Bakhtiari is going to be tough to overcome.
Winner: 2023
Defensive Line – No New Players
Technically, Jonathan Ford made the 53-man roster last season, but they released him before Week 1. They placed him on injured reserve designated to return this year, so this position group is almost the same. We will call this a draw.
Winner: Draw
Edge Rusher – Justin Hollins vs. Arron Mosby
Shout out to the people who remember Justin Hollins was on this team last year. He was a good role player with special teams ability, but the Packers cut him in October because they needed more running backs.
Arron Mosby had a monster camp and preseason and should expect to get on the field at some point this season and make an impact either on defense or special teams. Green Bay kept him for a reason. Even though Mosby doesn’t have the experience Hollins did, we never saw Hollins dominate like Mosby did in the preseason.
Winner: 2024
Inside Linebacker – De’Vondre Campbell vs. Edgerrin Cooper & Ty’Ron Hopper
Out is the oft-injured De’Vondre Campbell, who missed big chunks of the last two seasons. Replacing him is the young athletic duo of Cooper & Hopper. The Packers got younger, faster, and more athletic at inside linebacker this offseason. While they don’t have someone with an All-Pro on their resume like Campbell, the upside is much higher than last year’s unit.
Winner: 2024
Defensive Back – Rasul Douglas, Dallin Leavitt, Rudy Ford, Darnell Savage, Jonathan Owens, & Anthony Johnson Jr. vs. Eric Stokes, Corey Ballentine, Xavier McKinney, Javon Bullard, Evan Williams, & Kitan Oladapo
We are going to lump together the entire defensive backfield here. Cornerback is essentially the same group, save for swapping out Douglas with Stokes, who started last year on the PUP list. If he can get back to his rookie season form, that’s a pretty even swap. The 2024 safety group is hands down the most improved unit on this football team and easily bests the 2023 group.
Winner: 2024
Specialists – Anders Carlson vs. Brayden Narveson
The Packers finally cut ties with Carlson at the end of camp. In is undrafted rookie Brayden Narveson, who is an unknown commodity. However, he made 85.7% of his field goals and 100% of his extra points in preseason for the Titans, so we are going with the upside here and hopefully the end of the teams kicker woes.
Winner: 2024
On paper, it’s a pretty decisive victory for the 2024 squad. However, they don’t play games on paper, so the Packers must go between the white lines and prove it. The 2023 season was a whirlwind, but that team finished strong and was a few minutes away from an NFC Championship game appearance. Although this team may appear more talented and deeper as a unit, they must prove it on the field.
