As the Green Bay Packers transition to their new-look offense in 2023, how many top defenses will Jordan Love and Matt LaFleur have to face during the regular season?
It’s not only the quarterback position where the Packers are transitioning, with Love taking over as the starter, but the skill position groups have experienced an in-flux of young players who are going to dominate the playing time this season.
At tight end, Josiah Deguara, and his 600-plus career snaps, is the most experienced player at that position. At receiver, meanwhile, nine of the 10 players on the roster entered the NFL either in 2022 or 2023, and Romeo Doubs has seen the most playing time with 529 career snaps.
By not adding a veteran to either position group — or at least they haven’t yet — the Packers are willing to whether the inconsistencies that come with relying heavily on young players. The hope is that through that experience, the learning curve will shrink, and their impacts can be far greater sooner. Love, the receivers, and tight ends also have the opportunity to grow together as well, an important aspect when it comes to chemistry building.
Naturally, much of the attention has been fixated on these inexperienced position groups, but any success that Love is going to have begins and ends with the offensive line play. If the run game can’t get going and Green Bay becomes one-dimensional, or Love simply doesn’t have time in the pocket, not much else is going to matter.
On paper, the Packers have the ninth easiest strength of schedule in football this season, but specifically, how will this young offense stack up against opposing defenses? Using 2022 metrics, I’ve broken Green Bay’s schedule into five key defensive categories, highlighting the top and bottom defenses from their schedule within each.