Five Positional Battles To Watch At Green Bay Packers’ Training Camp

The Green Bay Packers have won 13 regular season games for three straight years.

They’ve been to two of the last three NFC Championship Games and were the NFC’s No. 1 seed two of the last years.

After an offseason of change, though, that saw standouts like Davante Adams and Za’Darius Smith leave, the Packers have a number of positions up for grabs.

Green Bay will put on the pads for the first time this training camp on Tuesday morning. And over the next month, a handful of jobs will sort themselves out.

Here are five positional battles to keep an eye on.

Offensive line

Royce Newman vs. Zach Tom vs. Sean Rhyan vs. Jake Hanson

Analysis: Left tackle David Bakhtiari and left guard Elgton Jenkins are both recovering from ACL tears and are on the Physically Unable to Perform List. At this point, Green Bay can’t count on either one for the season-opener on Sept. 11 at Minnesota.

So for now, the only likely starters are Yosh Nijman at left tackle, Jon Runyan at left guard and Josh Myers at center. The right side of the line is wide open.

Newman, who started 16 games a year ago — but was benched for Green Bay’s playoff loss to San Francisco — has worked at right guard and right tackle early in camp. He’ll likely start at one of those positions.

Rhyan and Tom, who were taken in the third and fourth round of April’s draft, both played left tackle in college, but have versatility. Tom has played left tackle with the No. 1 and 2 offensive lines so far, while Rhyan has been at right guard with the No. 2 unit.

Hanson, a third-year player who has suited up for only five games in Green Bay, has worked with the No. 1 unit at right guard and the second-string line at center.

“You’re going to see a lot of different combinations, especially early on in camp, and just allowing guys to compete,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “We’ll try to find the best five to go out there and help us win.”

Predicted Week 1 offensive line: Nijman, Runyan, Myers, Newman, Tom

No. 2 and 3 wide receivers

Romeo Doubs vs. Sammy Watkins vs. Juwann Winfree vs. Randall Cobb vs. Amari Rodgers

Analysis: The only lock among this group is veteran Allen Lazard, who the Packers now consider their new No. 1 wide receiver. After that, this position is a crapshoot.

Rookie fourth round pick Romeo Doubs has been an early star in training camp. Doubs has made plays on a daily basis, but don’t forget, that came during non-padded practices. Things often change when the pads go on and players start getting hit in the mouth.

For now, though, Doubs has been a huge surprise and could be the Packers’ most impactful rookie wideout since Greg Jennings in 2006.

“I think the biggest piece is just his ability to go get the ball when it’s just thrown up and it’s between him and the DB to go up and make a play,” veteran wideout Randall Cobb said of Doubs. “That’s one thing you can’t coach. You can’t really teach that. You either have it or you don’t, and he has it. That’s special.”

Watkins set career-lows in catches (27), yards (394) and touchdowns (one) in Baltimore last season. He missed most of the first week with a hamstring injury and is no guarantee to make the team.

Winfree has ideal size (6-3, 215), has flashed early in camp and is a darkhorse in this race. But he also must prove that his two fumbles last season on just eight receptions are a thing of the past.

“I think he definitely is going to put himself in a position to have an impact,” Aaron Rodgers said of Winfree. “It’s just a matter of him staying healthy and making plays.”

Cobb finished the 2021 campaign with his fewest number of receptions (28) and yards (375) since his rookie year in 2011. But he’s a Rodgers-favorite and likely to man the slot to start the season.

Amari Rodgers had a dreadful rookie season in which he caught just four passes. Rodgers is in better shape this summer than he was in 2021, but likely has too much ground to make up to steal the slot receiver job from Cobb.

Rookie second round pick Christian Watson would be in this mix, too. But Watson had minor knee surgery in June and is out indefinitely.

Predicted starters: Lazard, Doubs, Cobb

Tight end

Tyler Davis vs. Josiah Deguara vs. Robert Tonyan

Analysis: Let’s be clear: if Tonyan (ACL) is healthy for Week 1, this is his job.

Tonyan had a breakout 2020 campaign in which he caught 52 passes for 586 yards. Tonyan also had 11 touchdowns that year, which tied Paul Coffman’s record for most TD catches in a season by a Green Bay tight end.

Unfortunately for Tonyan and the Packers, he tore his ACL on Oct. 28 in Arizona.

When asked last week the chances he’d be ready for Week 1, Tonyan said, “I couldn’t give you a number. Obviously, that is the ultimate goal, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself. But there’s no doubt, that is the overall goal.”

If Tonyan isn’t ready, Davis seems likely to be Green Bay’s Week 1 starter.

Davis played just 121 snaps last season — or 10.84% of Green Bay’s total. In that time, he caught a modest four passes for 35 yards.

But Davis received several first-team repetitions this offseason and that’s continued in the early days of training camp.

“Tyler Davis … I think we might have something there,” Green Bay general manager Brian Gutekunst said.

LaFleur echoed a similar sentiment.

“He’s a guy that’s going to give you great effort each and every snap,” LaFleur said. “And he can really run.”

After tearing his ACL in 2020, Deguara caught 25 passes for 245 yards and a pair of touchdowns last season. When you remove Deguara’s 62-yard touchdown reception against Detroit, though, he averaged just 7.6 yards per catch.

When the Packers drafted Deguara in the third round in 2020, they hoped he would become their version of San Francisco jack-of-all-trades Kyle Juszczyk. That hasn’t happened yet.

Deguara lacks the ability to stretch a defense down the middle of the field. And he doesn’t seem to bend well enough to play fullback.

There’s still time for Deguara to make his mark in Green Bay. But there’s no question the next month will be a critical.

“As the season progressed last year, it seemed like he was playing faster,” LaFleur said of Deguara. “Definitely knew what to do. Anytime you’re coming off a pretty significant injury like that, it takes some time. We were really happy with him at the end of the year and hopefully he can build upon that.”

Predicted starter: Davis

Defensive end

Jarran Reed vs. Devonte Wyatt

Analysis: Reed, who has 21.5 sacks since 2018, was one of the NFL’s under-the-radar free agent signings this offseason. But he could turn out to be a huge piece of the Packers’ defensive puzzle.

The 6-foot-3, 313-pound Reed was a second-round draft pick in 2016 who’s been a workhorse throughout his career. Reed played his first five seasons in Seattle, then spent the 2021 campaign with Kansas City.

Reed’s finest season came in 2018, when he had 10.5 sacks, 12 tackles for losses and 24 quarterback hits. And over the last four years, he’s played an average of 71.3% of the snaps every season.

Reed worked with the No. 1 defense in the first week of camp, and could be hard to dislodge.

“Pretty excited to add a guy like that, next to Kenny, next to Dean,” Green Bay defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery said of Reed. “That will be pretty exciting.

“He’s been a dominant player in this league. Was really, really productive in Seattle and I think he had an O.K. year last year. But I’m excited to work with him and he brings a lot to the table both in the run and in the pass.”

Wyatt, a first round draft pick in April, may need some time to get up to speed.

The 6-foot-3, 304-pound Wyatt began his career at Hutchinson Community College, then transferred to Georgia in 2018. Wyatt was primarily a back-up his first two years with the Bulldogs, moved into the starting lineup as a junior and had a breakout senior season.

In 2021, Wyatt had 39 tackles, including seven for loss, with 2.5 sacks and two forced fumbles while helping the Bulldogs win the national championship. Then he ran the 40-yard dash in a blazing 4.77 seconds at the NFL Combine, one of the fastest times by a defensive lineman.

“I think he’s such a disruptor on the line of scrimmage,” Gutekunst said of Wyatt. “He can play the 1, he can play the 3, he’s a dynamic pass rusher. He’s a dynamic pass rusher. His ability to scrape and get to the ball in the run game is almost linebacker-like.”

Predicted starter: Reed

Kick and punt returner

Rico Gafford vs. Amari Rodgers vs. Romeo Doubs

Analysis: Green Bay averaged a paltry 17.7 yards per kick return last season, its lowest mark since the strike year of 1987. The Packers also averaged a dismal 8.0 yards per punt return.

Amari Rodgers was Green Bay’s primary returner last season and averaged a disappointing 18.1 yards per kickoffs and 8.3 per punt.

Green Bay needs better. Much better.

Rodgers is leaner and quicker now, but he’ll be pushed by newcomers Gafford and Doubs.

Gafford, who went undrafted in 2018, is already on his sixth NFL team. He’s played in just eight games in four years, but those came with the Raiders under special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia from 2018-2020

Bisaccia, of course, now holds that title in Green Bay and knows Gafford well. Gafford ran the 40-yard dash in a blazing 4.22 seconds at Wyoming’s pro day in 2018, and if he makes the roster, he could give Green Bay’s return units a much-needed jolt.

“He’s a very explosive guy,” LaFleur said of Gafford. “He can really run. And I think he’s a guy that definitely can give us some speed on special teams, and that’s what you typically need your fourth and fifth corners for.”

Doubs averaged 12.5 yards on his 37 punt returns at Nevada. But if he wins a starting wide receiver position, it’s unlikely the Packers will use him in the return game.

Predicted returner: Gafford