The Green Bay Packers have to put more playmakers around Jordan Love. There are currently just five receivers on the roster, with only three having NFL experience, and the most-tenured pass catcher is Romeo Doubs, with 529 total snaps. At tight end, there are only four players rostered, with just Josiah Deguara having at least some experience on offense.
While Brian Gutekunst has to make multiple additions to each of these rooms in the draft, and preferably do so somewhat early on, any potential success that Jordan Love is going to have in his first year as a starter begins with the offensive line play.
The 2022 Packers offense is a prime example of how the offensive line play can impact the entire offense. Although early on in the season there were a multitude of issues, one of the bigger ones was the lack of continuity along the offensive line due to injuries.
As a result, the offensive game plan at times was completely changed, with a heavy reliance on the quick passing game in an attempt to avoid Aaron Rodgers being under constant pressure. Not to say that there can’t be success with this approach, but it’s limiting and somewhat predictable.
Then without an effective run game to lean on, whether that be due to there being few running lanes or the offensive play calls drifting away from it, the Packers’ offense ended up in predictable situations – not to mention that the passing game wasn’t good enough to shoulder the workload. With defenses also not fearing the passing game, they crowded the line of scrimmage, shrinking the field, which in general, makes moving the ball more difficult.
If the ripple effect of all of this was that it made things a lot more difficult for Aaron Rodgers, you can imagine what a similar situation could do to Love in his first year starting. An ineffective rushing attack, a lack of time in the pocket, and being put in obvious passing situations routinely is likely not going to end well.
On the flip side, from Weeks 10 and on, we saw a much-improved version of the Packers’ offense, and not coincidentally, that was also when the offensive line was at its healthiest. Over the final eight games, Green Bay scored at least 24 points in six of them, including 30-plus three times.
A strong run game will keep the offense ahead of the sticks and can create opportunities in the passing game. Success through the air will spread the defense out, helping to create opportunities in the run game.
When there is complimentary football, and both the running and passing games are feeding off each other as described above, there’s an element of unpredictability for the defense, which puts them in a bind, having to decide whether to defend the run or the pass. In turn, this should make things a bit easier for the quarterback and the rest of the offense, who will be the ones doing the dictating. But going back to the main point of this article, that cannot be achieved without strong offensive line play.
Green Bay’s offensive line for the 2023 season should be positioned well to provide a strong foundation for the offense as a whole. David Bakhtiari and Elgton Jenkins were both playing at high levels in the second half of last season and are going to be further removed from their ACL injuries. Hopefully, we will see Josh Myers and Jon Runyan continue to improve as they enter their third and fourth seasons, respectively. Whether it’s Yosh Nijman or Zach Tom, there should be added stability at right tackle as well. By ESPN’s pass block and run block win rate metrics, the Packers ended top 10 in each category last season.
That doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvements either. If the Packers really want to bolster the offensive line, they could spend an early-round pick on an offensive tackle who could potentially start on the right side, which would then allow Tom to compete at center, where earlier in the offseason, Gutekunst said that was where the team evaluated him to be at his best in the pre-draft process.
As LaFleur often says, it’s about putting the best five on the field, and the Packers’ ability to do so is going to be paramount to Love’s success this upcoming season.
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