Packers Q&A! Pros & Cons Of Signing Jarvis Landry, New Look offense with Jordan Love + Young Talent

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Good afternoon everybody. Time to get into this weeks Packers Q&A. These are some of my favorite newsletters to send out. I appreciate everyone who sent in questions.

Let’s get into it!

“I know you talked about it a few weeks ago but do you think we should go and get a guy like Jarvis Landry now that we have all these young guys in the room? If you don't think so why, and if you do think so, how likely would it be that we could make such a move?” Groose101 

I did bring that idea up a month or so ago before the Packers had drafted the young talent in this room. There are some pros and cons to either decision. The pros are that Jarvis Landry knows how to play in the NFL and has years and years of experience. A guy with his knowledge and talent could be very helpful for a first year starter in Jordan Love who is currently surrounded by young inexperienced players. 

The other pro is that he could teach the receivers a few things, especially Jayden Reed how to play the slot position. Because Cobb and Lazard are now on the Jets the most experienced players at wide receiver are Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs. 

The con is that if Jarvis Landry came to Green Bay he’d take snaps away from a young player who could use those to develop more quickly in 2023. For example if the Packers don’t add any more weapons it’s very possible Jayden Reed could start in the slot. Playing time and experience take you farther than practice ever will. 

If Landry came in it would take reps away from Jayden Reed. If Jayden Reed gets a ton of snaps in 2023 he’ll be much more ready for 2024. The Packers could decide to save money by not signing a guy like Landry and let the young guys get that experience. If the Packers hadn’t drafted Jayden Reed I’ll still probably have a stronger desire for Landry to sign with us. I’m not against it after this draft, but with this new talent I don’t think it’s as important as it was before the draft. 

If I had to take a guess it would be that the Packers don’t end up signing him. I think Gutekunst wants to see the young guys compete and get lots of playing time with Jordan Love in 2023.

“Luke, do you envision a possibility of the Packers starting Watson Doubs and Toure at the wide receiver spots along with deguara and one of the newly drafted tight ends? Also, I hear Amos may resign😎 thanks” Johnny O 

If I had to guess Johnny, I would say that in 3WR sets the Packers will go with Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs on the outside and rookie WR from Michigan state Jayden Reed in the slot. Samori Toure should be able to get playing time as well but I think that Jayden Reed has game breaking speed and the route running ability to create separation and be a top target for Jordan Love. 

Reportedly the Packers clocked Jayden Reed at a 4.37 40, so there’s no doubt he has the speed.

The only determining factor is how quickly Reed can learn the offense and know his assignments. The advantage that Watson, Doubs, and Toure have is that they’ve been in Matt Lafleur's offense for an entire season and already have a better grasp on the offense than the rookies do. 

Another guy to watch out for is Bo Melton. The Seahawks drafted him in the 7th round last year. The Packers signed him late December last season. He has crazy speed. He’ll be a guy to watch in camp no doubt. Over the next few months these young rookies will start putting things together but it could take a little while to get all things figured out. 

When it comes to tight ends I think that both 2nd round TE Luke Musgrave and 3rd round TE Tucker Kraft have a much higher ceiling than Josiah Deugra. Again, the question will be how quickly can they learn their assignments and be able to be depended on when it’s time to show up. WIth Robert Tonyan gone and Marcedes Lewis still not on the roster the door is wide open for Musgrave and Kraft to take over at Tight End. I wouldn’t be surprised that as the season goes by that those guys push ahead of Josiah Deguara and Tyler Davis. 

Tight end is one of the harder positions to learn because of all the different assignments they have to keep track of. Because of that many tight ends take a couple years to develop before they are able to perform at the highest level. But, because there is not much competition with the Packers moving on from veterans, I believe that Musgrave and Kraft have the ability to become the go-to TE's pretty quickly in this Packers offense.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Packers go with more 2 tight end sets in the future with this new talent added in the draft. This young offense will be exciting to watch as they put it all together. 

Regarding Amos, I did hear Brian Gutekunst say in his post draft press conference that he wouldn’t close the door on Adrian Amos returning. There’s still no new updates so I’m not sure if it’s going to happen. Safety is still a big need. The Packers added Anthony Johnson in the 7th round and it looks to me like he has a chance to be a huge value pick that late in the draft. He plays with intensity and has great speed and tackling ability.

If the season started today it seems like Rudy Ford and Darnell Savage would start at safety. If the Packers weren’t in transition mode I’d be more confident in them bringing back Amos, but because the Packers are going young this year I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t bring him back. If there is poor safety play from the Packers this next season they could target a safety early in next year's draft or sign a free agent next off-season. 

“Today I finished the 2007 Green Bay Packers Season. 😢 Next week I am starting the Packers 2010 Season. GO PACK GO!” The Germanator

Wow, that's fun! That’s one way to keep yourself busy during the off-season. I may have to start checking out old games. 

“From what I’ve gathered, the Packers now have a young offense with a high ceiling. If all these guys work out, this offense could be insane in 2-3 years. The question now becomes, how likely is it that they work out, and what should the Packers do to influence the results?” Dalton Pederson

Dalton, I agree with you 100%. This young offense has a very high ceiling. Of course most of this comes down to the play of Jordan Love. I was just with a friend eating lunch who is also a Packers fan and we were discussing how there's lots of excitement entering the 2023 season mainly because of the unknown. For years and years we’ve entered the season knowing exactly what we have at QB. This year we have no idea. Now I’m very confident that Jordan Love can be a great QB, but at the same time we won’t know until he starts playing real life games. 

The fact that Brian Gutekunst selected 3 new pass catchers in the first 3 rounds also adds to this excitement.

Love has a plethora of young incredibly talented weapons. Now it’s just putting it all together. Matt Lafluer has a lot of weapons to work with that all offer different things. Christian Watson has that 6’4 size with insane speed and the ability to go up and get it. Jayden Reed has the speed and ability to get open against man coverage in a hurry. Luke Musgrave offers 6’6 size with speed. Tucker Kraft has the size and strength to carry guys on his back after he catches the ball. There’s definitely a lot to be excited about. Now we’ll see how it all comes together. 

“Did anyone else notice the Vikings arguing amongst themselves in the war room on the first night? 🤣” Zach Tornow

Haha no I didn’t. This season will have the rest of the NFC North organizations sitting on the edge of their seats. If Love is legit then that spells doom for those teams for years and years to come. 

“Two questions: What’s the status for Bakhtiari? Two, what’s the D-Line lineup looking like? Thanks for all your draft coverage and all the updates! Great work! 👍” Joe Peters

I appreciate it Joe! 

It looks like Bakhtiari should be healthy and ready to go when the 2023 season comes around. He finished off the season last year playing in the final 2 games. Hopefully his knee doesn’t flare up again and cause him more problems. If it does, the Packers do have multiple guys who could fill in at LT if needed: Elgton Jenkins, Yosh Nijman, Zach Tom. He will have a $40 mil cap hit next season and the Packers will likely have to cut or extend him. 

Our Dline is looking waaay better after the draft. Edge and interior Dline were a few of the bigger needs for the Packers entering the draft outside of pass catchers. The Packers biggest move was drafting Lukas Van Ness at #13 overall. He’s got an insane mix of speed and power. He has the ability to bulldoze through guys. The Packers will refine his techniques and add more pass rushing moves to his arsenal in the next few years. The sky truly is the limit for him. Once Rashan Gary is healthy the Packers have the ability to move Van Ness inside as well. That in itself should take the Packers Dline up a notch compared to last season.

Then you throw in new draft picks DL Colby Wooden and DL Karl Brooks, both players who have the ability to play outside and inside. That’s much needed depth behind guys like Kenny Clark, Devonte Wyatt, and TJ Slaton on the interior of the Dline. I assumed with the Packers letting both Dean Lowry and Jarran Reed leave this off-season it signaled the Packers intention of drafting more young talent for the Dline. Just like the off-season has been built up in this past draft with new young weapons, the Packers Dline has added more young talent on the defensive side of the ball. 

That’s all for today’s Q&A. I’ll be out with another one likely some time next week. We’re getting closer and closer to the goal of 1,000 newsletter subscirbers. We are now at 772. Feel free to share this with any Packers fan you know. I would greatly appreciate it. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

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