Biggest improvements for Packers may have to come internally

At 8-9 and now sitting at home for the playoffs, it was a disappointing season for the Green Bay Packers, to say the least. As we wonder how this team is going to get back to being a playoff team and potential Super Bowl contender, those improvements are likely going to have to come internally.

Usually, after an underwhelming season like this one for the Packers, one might expect some drastic changes to either the roster, coaching staff, or both, given how far from expectations this group was. But that just doesn’t seem to be the case.

Obviously, if Aaron Rodgers were to retire or be traded, that would be a major change for this Green Bay Packers team. But again, with Jordan Love already on the roster, there wouldn’t be any sort of significant addition to replace the four-time MVP.

Green Bay will again be limited by the salary cap. As I wrote recently, they lack significant salary cap-saving moves, which will likely limit their spending in free agency. When it comes to any roster cuts, the amount of cap space saved compared to the quality of player that they’d be losing just isn’t worth it in most cases.

I’d rather have David Bakhtiari on this team than $5 million in cap space. The same goes for Preston Smtih and Rasul Douglas and the $3 million that could be saved by cutting them. Aaron Jones is really the one player where this could be up for discussion, but Brian Gutekunst made it clear that they want him back in 2023.

So if the Packers won’t have much money to spend, and both Gutekunst and Matt LaFleur made it very clear that there will not be a rebuild — that’s just not the Packer way — this roster is likely going to look relatively similar once again next season.

This means that most major improvements will have to come from those already on the team. This includes several members of the 2022 rookie class taking the big step forward that often occurs for successful players between years one and two. There were also a number of players who will need bounce-back seasons after having down years. The return of Rashan Gary and Eric Stokes will certainly help as well.

"“Probably a couple of players away,” said Aaron Rodgers when asked about how many players away the Packers were from being contenders. “That could be guys that we have and develop into those players. But I think we’re really close, but a couple of players away.”"

The draft could very well end up being the Packers’ best chance to add another playmaker to this roster, but as we saw this past year, even with what looks to be a really good 2022 draft class for Green Bay, rookies can still be very inconsistent.

In addition to the roster staying the same, it sounds like the coaching staff is going to as well, for the most part. Following the season-ending loss to Detroit, LaFleur mentioned that he didn’t foresee many, if any, changes taking place to the coaching staff. Next season, this group has to be better about putting their players in positions to be successful because when so many underperform, that’s on coaching while also being quicker to adjust and make changes when needed.

As a whole, these likely aren’t the answers that many want to hear. When things don’t go well, change is often expected in return. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case for the 2023 Green Bay Packers, who roster-wise, may look somewhat similar to this year’s group. But hopefully, we see the play improve.

"“I believe in our group, I really do,” Gutekunst said via Packers.com. “I think every year’s new and this is a hard league, but I believe in the players – certainly there’s going to be change within our roster, there’s no doubt about that – but I believe in the organization, how we do things. I believe in the process.“Sometimes things don’t go your way and you look at it and you’ve got to be able to tweak things, but I believe in the people in this building and I’m excited for 2023.”"