Packers opt to lean on young players on offense over a veteran addition

At the quarterback, wide receiver, and tight end positions, the Green Bay Packers are opting to go with youth, at least for the time being, rather than trying to make a veteran addition in the midst of a lot of inexperience.

In need of a backup for Jordan Love, rookie fifth-round pick, Sean Clifford, and Danny Etling, who has no NFL snaps, will be battling for that role.

Green Bay currently has 10 receivers on the roster, nine of which were either drafted or signed as UDFAs within the last two offseasons. Only three of those 10 receivers have any NFL experience, with Romeo Doubs being the most tenured on the team with his 529 career snaps.

The tight end room, meanwhile, which is one of the more challenging positions to transition to, is made up of Josiah Deguara, rookies Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft, special teams player Tyler Davis, and two 2022 practice squad players.

"“That’s going to be interesting to work through in regards to there is a ton of youth,” said Matt LaFleur after the draft. “If you look at the skill position rooms in particular, obviously, up front we’ve got some experience, our RBs we’ve got some experience, but it’s going to be interesting to see how much we can really put on these guys plates. Typically I would say the more veteran you are, the more volume you can carry in your offense. So that is going to have to be one of those things that we figure out throughout the course of OTAs and training camp, and just see where this offense goes.”"

Within each position group, there are going to be inconsistencies from game to game and even snap to snap when there is that much inexperience on the roster. A young set of skill position players could also impact the depth of the playbook, as LaFleur alluded to, which is why a veteran addition at tight end and receiver, in particular, could be justified.

A veteran would hopefully provide some stability, with fewer highs and lows, but along with the coaching staff, be another set of eyes on the practice field, in the film room, and on the sidelines on Sundays for the young players.

However, that isn’t the path the Packers are going to go down at this time. After the draft, Brian Gutekunst said that he wanted Clifford and Etling to get as many reps as they could to see how they perform. Matt LaFleur said on Saturday that while the team won’t close the door on adding a veteran wide receiver, the Packers first want to see the young players compete. Then on Sunday evening, Bill Huber of SI would report that Marcedes Lewis won’t be returning to Green Bay.

Perhaps the Packers’ salary cap situation is a factor to some degree. According to Spotrac, Green Bay has just $9.6 million in available cap space and will need about half of that amount to sign their draft class. Not that any free agent addition at this stage of the offseason is going to break the bank, but for a team with very limited spending power, giving the young players on this roster a chance before spending cap space that the Packers don’t have is the prudent financial move.

With that said, the likely bigger factor in this decision to go younger is Green Bay planning ahead. Now, of course, the Packers want to win games this season, and in order to best evaluate Jordan Love, they need to put good players around him. But realistically, they do find themselves in a transition as they move to quarterback Love.

That doesn’t automatically mean they will be bad, however, they very likely aren’t Super Bowl contenders either. By having these young offensive players go through the ups and downs during the 2023 season, that experience will hopefully shrink their learning curve and put them in a better position to make a greater impact in 2024 – when the Packers may be better equipped to make a deep playoff push – than if they were sharing time with a veteran.

It’s also worth noting that it’s not as if the free agent market at this point is full of impact players. What Green Bay needs to avoid is giving a veteran reps and snaps over a young player when that veteran isn’t making a significant impact on Sundays. This scenario somewhat played out last season with Sammy Watkins.

We saw in 2022 with Doubs and Christian Watson the uncertainty that can come week to week when leaning heavily on rookies. As a whole, there will be more of that this season from the receiver and tight end position groups . However, the expectations within the building aren’t going to change and by taking these lumps early on, the pay off for the Packers’ offense will hopefully be sooner and potentially greater than if these young skill position players were splitting time with a veteran.

"“The expectations are to put in the work each and every day and to get better, and better, and better,” said LaFleur. “Never going to limit what we can and cannot do, just need to find out what works best. Certainly having a lot of youth is exciting because you really don’t know until you get these guys in here and start to work with them. I do think we’ve got some talented players to work with and we will see what they can handle.”"