Green Bay Packers: 3 Concerns Entering Training Camp
By Paul Bretl
Will Enough Young Players Make a Leap?
As good as this Green Bay Packers team was in 2019, the NFC Championship Game was a reality check showing how far they still have to go if they want to bring the Lombardi Trophy back home.
In an offseason where the Packers didn’t add any high-profile free agents or address any of their perceived needs early on in the draft, Green Bay is relying heavily on the internal development of their young players. And that’s not a bad thing by any means, in fact, it’s what the good NFL teams do; they draft and develop.
However, in order for the Packers to improve, there are quite a few young players who need to take a step forward in 2020.
At receiver, we hope that Allen Lazard can build off of his 2019 success while Marquez Valdes-Scantling hopefully bounces back. Not to mention that Equanimeous St. Brown will be returning after missing all of last season with an injury.
Then at tight end, this unit belongs to Jace Sternberger, but with this being such a difficult position at the NFL level, we’ve seen even second-year players struggle to produce. And joining Sternberger is the unproven Robert Tonyan, who should get some opportunities in the passing game as well.
On defense, as I’ve already mentioned, Kingsley Keke has the potential to give the Packers’ run defense a boost, and Rashan Gary is going to see more playing time as well. Meanwhile, Oren Burks and Josh Jackson have had disappointing starts to their careers, but a step forward in 2020 by either player would be a welcomed sight for this defensive unit.
On top of that, while uber-talented, this young secondary made up of Darnell Savage, Chandon Sullivan, Raven Greene, and Jaire Alexander needs to find more consistency and limit the big plays.
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Now, there’s absolutely a lot of potential in this group. However, that’s also quite a few second and third-year players that the Green Bay Packers are banking on this season and by no means are all going to hit. But if Green Bay is going to get past the NFC Championship Game and make it to another Super Bowl, certainly more of these players than not are going to have to make a leap this season.