Green Bay Packers: 6 Early Positional Battles to Watch this Summer

Offensive Guard

Candidates: Lucas Patrick, Jon Runyan, Simon Stepaniak, Royce Newman, Ben Braden, and Cole Van Lanen

To discuss this position properly, we really need to have two conversations. One where David Bakhtiari is ready to go Week 1 and another in case he isn’t. If Bakhtiari can play, that leaves one guard spot up for grabs with Billy Turner as the right tackle, Josh Myers as the center, and Elgton Jenkins as the left guard. If this is the case, then I believe that the right guard spot will come down to either Lucas Patrick or Jon Runayn–although any of the names mentioned above could be thrown into the mix.

Without Bakhtiari, that leaves both guard spots open, if we are under the assumption that Myers is the center while Jenkins and Turner are the tackles. I wanted to include rookies Royce Newman and Cole Van Lanen at guard because while I believe that Green Bay will give them every opportunity to make it work at tackle, many draft analysts see both players as better interior linemen.

On top of that, as LaFleur has told us repeatedly, he wants the best five offensive linemen on the field. Meaning, he isn’t going to pigeonhole someone to one position. If, for example, he feels that Newman is one of the top five linemen then he will put him out there at guard. Simon Stepaniak basically had a “redshirt” season last year while Ben Braden has an outside shot of even making the roster.

Final Wide Reciever Roster Spots

Candidates: Equanimeous St. Brown and Devin Funchess, Reggie Begelton, and Malik Taylor

The Green Bay Packers are returning their top three receivers from this past season and they also added Amari Rodgers in the draft to fill that slot/gadget role in this offense. Those spots are pretty well set, but depending on how many roster spots LaFleur devotes to the receiver position, there is one or possibly two spots up for grabs.

Although Devin Funchess is only 26 years old — almost 27 — due to an injury in 2019 and opting out of 2020, he hasn’t played in a regular-season game in nearly three years–he is far from a roster lock. And if it’s a close race and it comes down to choosing between Funchess and Equanimeous St. Brown, the Packers should choose the youth and upside that St. Brown offers. With that said, it would be nice to see more consistency out of St. Brown this season as he was credited with two drops on just 16 targets, according to PFF ($$). St. Brown is approaching that “now or never” territory.

Malik Taylor is likely the odd-man-out in this group, and Reggie Begelton faces an uphill battle as well when it comes to making the 53-man roster. Both could very well end up being practice squad players.