10 bold predictions for Green Bay Packers 2022 season

Green Bay Packers Prediction: Aaron Rodgers still passes for at least 4,000 yards

Last season, Rodgers finished the season with 4,115 passing Yards. His last fully healthy season where he didn’t reach the 4,000-yard mark came all the way back in 2015.

Understandably so, there are question marks about what this offense will look like without Davante Adams, specifically, how will this wide receiver unit perform? There is also speculation that the Packers will lean on the run game more, which could be true some weeks–it’s just all dependent on the matchups.

However, at the end of the day, both Matt LaFleur and Rodgers love to move the ball through the air, so the passing game is still very much going to be apart of this offense.

Despite the uncertainties at the receiver position, Rodgers still has three proven veterans that he can lean on in Randall Cobb, Allen Lazard, and Sammy Watkins. Hopefully, we see the emergence of Romeo Doubs and Christian Watson as well as the season progresses.

But in addition to the receivers, the running backs and tight ends are also going to be heavily featured in the passing game.

Just because Adams is in Las Vegas doesn’t mean those 169 targets are going away; they’ll just be dispersed among everyone else.

Of course, no one can replace Adams, but with a quarterback of Rodgers’ caliber, if the ball is being spread around more and defenses aren’t sure where he is going with it, that can be very taxing as well–even with less talented pass-catchers. We may also see LaFleur lean more heavily into his offense, which does a very good job of getting players in space.

At the end of the day, the offense is going to look a bit different than it has in previous years, but that doesn’t mean Rodgers still can’t be effective and put up numbers.

Green Bay Packers Prediction: The offensive line bounces back with more yards per carry and fewer pressures given up

All things considered, the Packers 2021 offensive line unit held their own with all of the injuries that took place. However, as expected, they weren’t nearly as good as they were in 2020.

As I mentioned previously, the run game ranked 21st in yards per carry with 4.2, which was down from 4.8 yards the year before. The play of Jones and Dillon very much helped get that figure to 4.2 as well.

Aaron Rodgers was also pressured more often, 158 times compared to 104 times in 2020 per PFF, despite getting the ball out more quickly than what he did during the previous season.

Obviously, a healthy Elgton Jenkins and David Bakhtiari will go a long ways in helping this unit improve. Not to mention Jon Runyan and Josh Myers both having a year of experience under their belts.

For this Packers offense to be able to find success this season, it doesn’t begin with the receiver position, but rather it’s the play of the offensive line. This group has to improve if the Packers are going to make a Super Bowl run–which means more yards per carry and fewer pressures allowed.