Green Bay Packers offseason additions dominate week 1

The Green Bay Packers were able to beat the Chicago Bears in the season opener in large part because of their offseason additions.

To say the least, this was an uncharacteristically active offseason for the Green Bay Packers, but when you miss the playoffs two consecutive seasons and Aaron Rodgers is your quarterback, change needs to happen.

And that is just what GM Brian Gutekunst did. In January he would hire a new head coach in Matt LaFleur, in free agency he would make four big signings, and then in the NFL draft, he made some aggressive moves in the first round.

The hope was that these offseason additions would bolster this once weak roster and take some of the burden off of Rodgers. Although it’s only been one game, the players that were added to this Green Bay Packers team all dominated in week one.

Most of the offseason moves came on the defensive side of the ball, either at safety or at the EDGE rusher positions.

Up front, Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith stole the show as both pass-rushers lived in the backfield. Between the two of them, they would record 16 total pressures, including 2.5 sacks and eight tackles, two of which were for a loss.

When Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky dropped back to pass he was pressured 38 percent of the time and the Smiths were a huge reason why.

To put their performances into perspective, in 2018 Clay Matthews and Nick Perry would finish the entire season with a combined 43 pressures. The Smiths are over a third of the way there in just one week.

At safety, Adrian Amos was everything we thought he would be. Amos was not found out of position and didn’t give up any big plays. He was also up at the line of scrimmage making tackles in the backfield and blitzing off the edge to create pressure. While all of this may sound simple, it has been lacking in Green Bay at the safety position in recent seasons and is a welcomed sight.

As we watched the game live, it was evident that the Green Bay Packers new defensive additions in free agency played very well and Pro Football Focus agrees:

Even on the offensive side of the ball that did have their issues, the newest addition, Billy Turner was the highest-graded offensive lineman by Pro Football Focus. Turner was brought in to solidify the right guard position that was a revolving door in 2018.

Now as a whole, the offensive line did have some issues Thursday night but they were going against one of, if not the best front-seven in the NFL and for the most part, Rodgers had plenty of time to pass the ball. If a sack did occur it was often because he was holding on to the ball. But we should all feel very good about the performance from Turner at right guard.

As far as the first-round rookies go, we saw the potential of Darnell Savage and Rashan Gary on full display. Savage was flying all over the field making tackles and breaking up passes. It certainly looks like the Green Bay Packers have a game-changer at safety with Savage.

And although Gary’s snaps were limited, when he was on the field he did make an impact. Gary finished with one quarterback hit, a hurry and an overall grade from Pro Football Focus of 76.1. He was also in on the pressure with Preston Smith that led to Trubisky underthrowing a pass to the endzone as the Bears were driving in the final quarter.

Of course, it’s only been one game but right about now, Gutekunst has to be feeling pretty good about his offseason moves. I mean we could very well make the argument that these six players won this game.

As we begin to look ahead to week two for the Green Bay Packers there certainly is plenty to be excited about moving forward.