Instant Takeaways from Packers preseason finale against Chiefs

The Green Bay Packers 2022 preseason has come to a close. Next up are the final roster cuts next Tuesday.

Here are my instant takeaways from the Packers’ performance.

-Christian Watson went through warmups, but he did not play. Matt LaFleur said it was a possibility earlier in the week. There were 25 inactives in total, including Tipa Galeai. We don’t know why he was held out, but he is competing for a roster spot at edge rusher.

– Starting next to Jonathan Garvin at edge rusher with Galeai out was La’Darius Hamilton, who has seen a number of snaps with the second-team defense this season. Kobe Jones saw some early snaps as well.

– Again, you would have liked to see more pressure from the edge rushers. The depth behind Smith and Gary will be one of this team’s biggest question marks entering the season.

– Shemar Jean-Charles continues to look really good this preseason.

– Chris Slayton has had a very productive preseason against both the run and the pass, and he got the start in Kansas City. We also saw Jack Heflin come up with a big fourth down stop and Jonathan Ford, known as a run-stuffer, had a nice pass rush rep–although the Chiefs running backs did average over 5.0 yards per carry. Do the Packers keep a sixth interior defensive lineman? My guess is still no.

– Quay Walker looked really impressive tonight. He was in on five tackles on the first two Kansas City drives. He was all over the field and a sound tackler.

– Kiondre Thomas saw some early playing time at cornerback ahead of Rico Gafford. Coming into the game, he had allowed just one completion on six targets and has been stout against the run.

– The special teams unit had several miscues, including missed blocks on kickoffs and questionable lane integrity on punt coverage as well as missed tackles. Rich Bisaccia has his work cut out for him, but our expectations shouldn’t have been that things would be fixed in the blink of an eye.

– Matt LaFleur has mentioned on several occasions the importance of pass protection and special teams play for that RB3 role, but Tyler Goodson has made such an impressive impact on offense that keeping him off the roster isn’t going to be easy. Goodson also had opportunities as a kick returner — which included a drop — and he did get run over as a pass blocker. Patrick Taylor had a few nice runs of his own. I think this battle is closer than what may be assumed because special teams and pass blocking are so important to this role.

– On back-to-back plays, Juwann Winfree was blocking downfield for Goodson — we all know how important that is for the Packers receivers — and then he made a catch in traffic. Winfree is going to be on this final roster.

– Amari Rodgers had his best performance and filled that gadget role well, lining up all over and with a contested catch over the middle.

– It was another quiet performance, for the most part, for Devonte Wyatt. When he can use that speed, he has been effective; however, he has struggled to get any consistent push.

– Typically, Zach Tom has been at right tackle, but he was at left guard against Kansas City. If without David Bakhtiari and/or Elgton Jenkins, Tom should have the opportunity to start, but it’s interesting that he’s been at left guard when playing inside. That, of course, is where Jon Runyan lines up.

– Overall, I would say this was the best performance for the offensive line—although early on it was tough sledding against the Chiefs starters. There were more consistent running lanes, and Jordan Love had time, for the most part. With that said, Royce Newman and Jake Hanson seemed to have their ups and downs once again.

– Jordan Love was confident in the pocket and was firing the ball confidently into some tight windows. As Rob Demovsky would note, Love would struggle on downfield passes, going 0-5 on passes of 20-plus yards. He was good there last week, but as we’ve seen, consistency is still an area of improvement.

– Do the Packers keep eight receivers? No, they won’t do that. Or would they? Samori Toure joined Winfree and Amari Rodgers with a big night of his own. He also can be a special teams contributor as well.

– Linebacker has often been a weakness for this Packers’ defense, but with Campbell, Walker, Barnes, and McDuffie, this is the best and deepest unit they’ve had in a long time.

– Despite the ups and downs throughout training camp early on, Jack Coco performed well in the preseason. He very well may have earned the long-snapping role.

– Pat O’Donnell had a very good night as well, averaging over 55 yards per punt.

– Rookie seventh-round pick Rasheed Walker had his first extended action. He opened up a nice running lane for Patrick Taylor.