5 Reasons for Optimism with 2022 Green Bay Packers
By Paul Bretl
Green Bay Packers with an added emphasis on special teams
I mean, the only place for this Green Bay Packers special teams unit to go is up, right?
Following the Packers’ disappointing playoff loss to San Francisco, I wrote that in order for the special teams unit to truly turn around, it was going to take an organizational shift in how Green Bay viewed this phase of the game.
While last year’s overall performance was very poor, the Packers have been bad on special teams for over 10 years. Rather than being an afterthought, it needed to be a point of emphasis, which I do believe it has this season, and that is reason for optimism.
It all started with the hiring of Rich Bisaccia, who is a terrific leader; in fact, many members of the Las Vegas Raiders team wanted him to be named their new head coach. He also brings a wealth of special teams experience and a no-nonsense mentality.
It would also appear that the Packers have given him a voice in some of the decision-making, signing free agents Pat O’Donnell and Keisean Nixon, two players that we know Bisaccia thought highly of. This draft class is also loaded with special teams potential–although I doubt Bisaccia had a ton of say in who was selected, special teams ability was front of mind.
We’ve also seen Green Bay experimenting with some of their starters taking special teams snaps during OTAs and minicamp.
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At the end of the day, we don’t know how all of this will translate to their on-the-field performance. But there have been several decisions made this offseason around the special teams unit that I don’t believe would have been made in previous years–and that is very much a positive as Green Bay tries to turn this group around.