Green Bay Packers: Offseason wish list, team needs

The Green Bay Packers have a long list of to-dos this offseason. Here are some of their top needs heading into the offseason.

The Green Bay Packers have a lot of work to do this offseason and they kicked it off by hiring new head coach Matt LaFleur. LaFleur hasn’t wasted any time on his end getting both an offensive and defensive coordinator in place already. However, this is only just the beginning for Lafleur and the Packers.

Green Bay has a lot of reloading to do. I won’t use the term rebuild because that assumes Green Bay will tank for a couple of seasons and they can’t afford to waste any time with Aaron Rodgers at quarterback.

The Packers will have a plethora of salary cap money to spend thanks to the departure of Clay Matthews and Randall Cobb. Other veterans such as Nick Perry, Bryan Bulaga and Jimmy Graham are also in danger of being cut in order to maximize the Packers’ money. It will be a very interesting offseason from that standpoint alone.

Even better, the Packers will also have a bunch of draft picks to remedy the situation. General manager Brian Gutekunst has racked up an extra first, fourth and sixth round picks for 2019. That gives Green Bay 10 total picks to work with. A great way to spark a quick reload especially considering the depth of needs Green Bay has.

The Packers’ roster has been exposed in recent seasons due to Rodgers’ suffering a couple of injuries. When Rodgers broke his collarbone in 2017, the Packers failed to do much of anything without him. They showed a complete lack of playmakers on both sides of the ball. Davante Adams is the lone exception.

That carried over into this past season when Rodgers got hurt in Week 1 against the Chicago Bears. With Rodgers needing help, the Packers were unable to find enough players to step up. Adams had his moments and was nearly uncoverable and Aaron Jones was good when he got the ball. Other than that the Packers were depleted in the playmaking department.

Defensively, Mike Pettine was forced to find creative ways to get after the quarterback since his front seven seeped incapable of doing so. In turn, that sacrificed a lot from his young secondary.

With all that being said, here are the top needs the Packers have heading into the 2019 offseason (in no particular order):

Wide receiver: Adams is a straight stud. Other than that there are a bunch of question marks. Cobb is also likely gone so the Packers have a special need for a slot receiver next season.

Tight end: Jimmy Graham was supposed to be the missing link, but was a complete dud in his first season. I’m not sure why things would be different if he comes back next year. Green Bay needs to find their tight end of the future.

Guards: The Packers got decent play from their guards, but could still use an upgrade at the position.

Outside linebacker: Matthews and Perry are likely both gone and Kyler Fackrell can’t be trusted. The Packers need to find a difference-maker at this position.

Safety: This is, perhaps, the Packers biggest position of need. Green Bay got next to nothing from the safety position in 2018. They have a couple of internal options next year, but they would also be wise to go out and get a playmaker.

If the Packers can address most of these needs they should be in good shape in 2019. Thankfully, they will have plenty of assets to address each and every need. Now we just have to see how it shakes out.