It seemed like all doom and gloom in Green Bay when Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams were traded. End of an era. But, thanks to some incredible drafting on the Packers part, this new era is actually looking better than ever! Not only do they have QB Jordan Love on the tail end of a rookie deal, but they have the enviable position of having almost too many cheap, young pass catchers. 

We’re going to take a look at the offensive weapons both from an NFL standpoint and free agency standpoint but there’s really not a whole lot the Packers need to do here. And the rest of the NFC North teams are probably looking at the Packers going from the Brett Favre era to the Aaron Rodgers era to the Jordan Love era and wondering when this ever going to end.

*The salary cap numbers referenced in this article come courtesy of our friends over at Spotrac.com*

Fantasy Relevant Depth Chart: Green Bay Packers

Quarterback

Jordan Love

Sean Clifford

  

Running Back

Aaron Jones

AJ Dillon

  

Wide Receiver

Christian Watson

Dontayvion Wicks

Samori Toure

 

Wide Receiver

Romeo Doubs

Bo Melton

  

Wide Receiver

Jayden Reed

Malik Heath

  

Tight End

Luke Musgrave

Tucker Kraft

Tyler Davis

Ben Sims

White = unrestricted free agent

Green = role is safe

Yellow = role could be in jeopardy

Red = could be traded or released

PROJECTED 2024 SALARIES: ~$250M

ESTIMATED 2024 CAP SPACE: ~$0

 

Quarterback

Jordan Love: There were some comments early to mid-season from the Packers front office that suggested they still needed to see more to commit to Jordan Love for the long term. Well, he must have taken that to heart as he was electric over the second half of the season and led the Packers to a playoff berth. 

Jordan Love is not only locked in, but he has a TON of young weapons on cheap deals for the next two years at the very least. He’s a buy in all dynasty fantasy football formats if you can get him.

Sean Clifford: The Packers took former Nittany Lion Sean Clifford and the fifth round of the 2023 NFL draft and he managed to beat out the competition to earn the Packers backup job. That’s a great deal for the Packers as they now how an affordable backup QB under contract for three more years.

PACKERS QB FREE AGENCY TAKE: Assuming they are confident in the ability of Sean Clifford, and it sounds like they are, the Packers really don’t have to do anything here.

 

Running Back

Aaron Jones: Folks have speculated on post-June 1 designation trades and all that for Aaron Jones but I really don’t see it. The Packers made the playoffs - they are competing to win now. Aaron Jones is an older back that only another team competing to win now would want. And the Packers would still carry a good chunk of dead cap doing that. I say you keep Aaron Jones here and, if anything, draft an RB to supplement him and possibly be the future.

AJ Dillon: Matt Lafleur brought in AJ Dillon hoping that he could be his next Derrick Henry. And though he was a serviceable short yardage back, he never quite panned out the way they had hoped. And, even when filling in for an injured Aaron Jones, he never really produced the way fantasy gamers wanted. I think Dillon lands with another team in free agency where he competes to be the early down or short yardage plodder for that team as a complimentary piece.

Patrick Taylor: Patrick Taylor has been hanging around the team for a while as an emergency pass-catching back but they have exhausted the number of times they can send him to the practice squad and call him back up. So he’s either on the 53 man roster or not. He’s a restricted free agent and I doubt they tender him at the $2.8 million number so he’ll have to earn his way back onto the team as a free agent.

Emmanuel Wilson: Wilson is an exclusive rights free agent so they can keep him for right around a million dollars. He doesn’t do much on special teams however so they might feel that roster spot is more valuable elsewhere. That said, if they do keep him and let AJ Dillon walk, now he has a potential path to more playing time. So he’s not a crazy deep league fantasy football stash.

PACKERS RB FREE AGENCY TAKE: The Packers have always been a team that likes homegrown players. And, given their recent success, I think the draft would be a good place to go after an RB. If they do look to bolster RB in free agency, I imagine they’d want another short yardage back to complement the pass-catching ability of Aaron Jones. The most fun one would obviously be a Matt LaFleur reunion with Derrick Henry if they could afford it.

POSSIBLE FREE AGENT OPTIONS: Derrick Henry, Gus Edwards, Ezekiel Elliott, AJ Dillon, D’Onta Foreman

 

Wide Receiver

Christian Watson: There has been some trade speculation around Christian Watson as well. But I personally don’t see the need for them to do that. They would need to get back another huge impact piece right away because Watson, on his rookie deal, is not a cap space issue. 

With so many teams around the league essentially losing because a key piece got injured and they weren’t deep enough, I would just hang onto all the young cheap pass-catchers that you have. And Christian Watson, when healthy, has been the leading target-getter on the team and he’s flashed his potential. If he gets hurt? Well, that’s what you have Dontayvion Wicks for.

Romeo Doubs: In the fantasy football world there have been some discussions about who should start for this team, who should take a backseat for other players. But the reality is that Romeo Doubs played more snaps than Dontayvion Wicks and Jayden Reed in virtually every game. 

The configuration right now is Watson and Doubs on the outside with Jayden Reed in the slot and Wicks as the fourth man in and next man up if someone gets hurt or needs a breather. That’s a great setup. The window to buy Romeo Doubs in dynasty might have closed based on how well he played in the playoffs.

Jayden Reed: Jayden Reed is awesome. No doubt about it. And I think he’s going to have massive upside at some point when it’s time to start paying guys or not on this team. The trajectory I have for him is similar to a guy like Chris Godwin. Early on he was stuck behind Mike Evans and DeSean Jackson. In year three when DeSean Jackson (and Adam Humphries) were gone, Chris Godwin became a full-time player. And he went OFF. 

For now, Jayden Reed might be a part-time player out of the slot, but I think he has big upside in his future when he becomes a guy that plays slot in three wide but stays out to play flanker in two wide (like Keenan Allen or Cooper Kupp). So, buy and stash.

Dontayvion Wicks: The dream for Dontayvion Wicks is that the Packers trade Christian Watson and make Wicks the full-time split end. That could happen. For now, he’s the understudy that comes in when Watson is hurt. And so far, that has been fairly often. I like Wicks as a player but his window for big upside opportunity might not come for a bit.

Bo Melton: The success of ALL of these guys makes you wonder if they are ALL special or maybe Jordan Love is just an amazing QB. But, honestly, it could be both. Bo Melton is an exclusive rights free agent meaning they will almost certainly bring him back on the dirt cheap ~$1 million option available to them. And maybe even work out a long-term deal. 

Melton saw his most snaps in Week 18 when Romeo Doubs left the game with a chest injury. But Christian Watson also missed that game. So the question here is whether Melton is a direct understudy for Doubs the way Wicks is for Watson or whether Wicks would be the next man up regardless. Not every team treats it the same way - would be nice if a beat writer would ask…

Malik Heath: Malik Heath is the next man up in the slot - when Jayden Reed missed Week 16, he played 77% which was more than both Dontayvion Wicks and Bo Melton. So, if Jayden Reed goes down, you know exactly who to add off the waiver wire.

Samori Toure: With the success of all the other guys, Toure kind of ended up as the odd man out here. But that doesn’t mean he’s not a serviceable player. His contract is fairly cheap but they could release him for around $1 mil in savings with no dead cap so we’ll have to see how the depth chart settles out.

PACKERS WR FREE AGENCY TAKE: The Packers don’t need to do anything at all at WR in free agency. They not only have their split end, flanker, and slot guy but they have great backups for each spot. Which is why I’m surprised to many people look at that and say, “we have to shake this up”. Seems more like fantasy football wishing from people who want backups to play more, and I get that. 

But the cap hits for all of these WRs combined this year is less than the cap hit for Allen Lazard. And they are all under contract for at least the next two years. So, I say just enjoy the fruits of your incredible drafting. Honestly, if they were to trade someone like Christian Watson, they STILL might not need to add anyone.

 

Tight End

Luke Musgrave: The Packers drafted two tight ends in 2023. Luke Musgrave was seen as the “high risk, high reward” option as he has an athletic profile and NFL pedigree (his uncle is Bill Musgrave) but injuries kept him from playing much in college. Then Tucker Kraft was the “safe” option taken after. 

And guess what? As what seems to happen with all these Packers prospects, they are both good. The Ravens did something similar with Hayden Hurst and Mark Andrews before trading Hayden Hurst but the Packers have no obligation to trade anyone. They could just continue with Musgrave skewing pass and Kraft skewing blocking.

Tucker Kraft: When Luke Musgrave got hurt, Tucker Kraft came in and performed valiantly. As we said above, he skews a little more blocking with Musgrave skewing pass catching so they could easily mix and match them that way. And there should be ample opportunity for jumbo packages with both out there. 

That, along with a stable of WRs, could have them stepping on each other's toes for the first few years for fantasy football but you want to have guys like this stashed for the long haul in your dynasty leagues.

Tyler Davis: Davis missed the entire season with a torn ACL which stinks because he was a valuable special teams guy playing on FIVE different units in 2022. Unfortunately, Ben Sims might have taken over that role and Sims is under contract for 2024 while Davis is an unrestricted free agent.

Ben Sims: This seems pretty simple to me. They either cut Ben Sims and sign Tyler Davis or they keep Sims and let Davis walk. They’d both be looking at a veteran minimum type deal anyway.

PACKERS TE FREE AGENCY TAKE: Like at wide receiver, the Packers only need to add someone at tight end if they do decide to trade one of Luke Musgrave or Tucker Kraft. Until that happens, they don’t need to do anything at all. Not this year, not next year.

 

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