Doubs’ left toe drag through the entirety of his reception till he could bring the right toe tap, backwards, was other level.

Romeo Doubs continues to show up with big catches. Great to see.

Good piece, Ken. The abundance of WR talent is remarkable. No tests for these young players to pass, save for CTFB when Jordan Love throws it to them… and Love has no problem throwing to all of them.

I have the Packers keeping 7 WR - and they STILL have to stash Melton on IR/PUP!:

WR (7) Watson, Doubs, Reed, Toure, Wicks, DuBose, Heath

This is looking to be an embarrassing wealth of riches at the WR position, which is more difficult to fill than RB. I wound up taking Deguara off my 53 to keep Heath and DuBose. I also have Wilson beating out Taylor at the #3RB.

Really hoping Tarvarius Moore wasn’t injured too badly and that he can return to action.

The Packers cleared a lot of “dead wood” off the roster, and IMO, Savage is the last of it. Possible trade at cut downs to 53 (Savage or Patrick Taylor for Micah Hyde?)… Another option is replacing Savage with Balentine, keeping 6 CB and 4 Safeties.

Trading for Hyde a temporary fix until GB can draft Safeties in 2024. I’ve studied the Hyde scenario, and it’s possible.

I’m perfectly happy rolling with the rookie, Johnson Jr. & Owens as our starters until Moore can return.

OFFENSE (25)
QB (2) Love, Clifford
RB (3) Jones, Dillon, Wilson
WR (7) Watson, Doubs, Reed, Toure, Wicks, DuBose, Heath
TE (3) Musgrave, Kraft, Allen
OL (10) Bakhtiari, Jenkins, Myers, Runyan, Tom, Nijman, Walker, Jones, Rhyan, Telfort

DEFENSE (25)
DL (6) Clark, Wyatt, Slaton, Ford, Wooden, Brooks
OLB (6) Gary, Smith, Van Ness, Enagbare, Hollins, Cox Jr.
ILB (3) Campbell, Walker, McDuffie
CB (5) Alexander, Douglas, Stokes, Nixon, Valentine
S (5) Savage, Moore, Johnson Jr., Sapp III, Owens

SPECIAL TEAMS
K Carlson
P Whelan
LS Orzech

I've gone off on this many times before, but I've been saying the 'first round superstar' idea is pure concocted hogwash spoken by overpriced media personalities and has little to do with reality.

Fans swallow this crap like it's manna from heaven. It sounds good: pick a wide receiver in the first round and it's off to the playoffs for sure!

The Vikings Justin Jefferson is a good example. He was a first rounder and is undeniably outstanding, but where are the Vikings? For every first rounder who is good there are many, many, lower round picks who are really good too.

The Packers all-time leading receiver is a 7th round pick, Donald Driver.

That's why 'tanking' drives me nuts. So a team is supposed to lose a bunch of games on purpose so they can draft one good player? When you're in that position you're better off trading back and getting more picks so you can rebuilt the WHOLE team.
Reed was poo-poo'd by the 'experts' before the draft and now it looks like he's going to be steal as slot receiver.
Anyone deny Christian Watson is going to be good? Romeo Doubs? Funny, but neither player was a first round pick.

Re: first round receivers: Who was it that said “god only made so many 300 pounders”? I think it stands to reason that there are fewer talented big guys than smaller guys (like receivers), so GB prioritizes big over small in rd 1. (And probably throughout the draft as well, but rd 1 is always under the biggest microscope.) BTW, “big microscope” is kinda akin to “jumbo shrimp”, but I’ve digressed enough here.

Also, colleges are throwing more than ever, so even non-first round receivers are more experienced and polished than years ago.

Thirdly, maybe receivers are a position that GB just has a knack for scouting well.

However it all adds up, GB looks to have replenished its receiver corps.

GPG!
AGNFB! (That’s for you, GG!😉)

Having talent is obviously a requirement and having good relationships with your teammates and good team culture is a very close 2nd. The talk all off-season has been around JLove’s ability and effort to work with his young receivers and do it in a motivational way.

I can’t help but think that this culture helps the youngsters just go out and do their thing and not worry so much about having to woo and impress a veteran QB like Rodgers.

The loop hole to your thinking is speed.
If they can't stretch the field. You Lose.
Cheap shots will happen. And injuries.
The packers have preferred big Wrs.
And good character is the main ingredient.
IMO it looks like TT started the trend.
Believing that draft mistakes happen at WR.
But the Hall of Fame guy still is a #1.
And the Wrs now days, are the best athletes.
So while our guys may have the chemistry.
It's still takes the right stuff to be a Legend.
And with a HOF qb the last 20 years.
The packers can take the unknown later.

The thing about Aaron Rodgers not having first-round receivers to throw the ball to was such a load of crap. He had a lot of talent to work with at that position throughout his career, at least until last year, when the bottom fell out. Watson and Doubs were rookies, which limited their impact, and both of them had injuries. It was a rare bad year for wide receiver talent in Green Bay, but it looks like they have bounced back quickly.

I'm getting the impression that Jayden Reed has a lot of poise for a rookie. He appears ready to play a big role in the offense immediately. I think he has already sewn up the punt return job. With Nixon returning kickoffs, Toure is being trained in as the backup for both the punt and kickoff return duties. I agree that he hasn't been particularly impressive. The coaches will be okay with him as long as he hangs onto the ball.

I've been hearing about Malik Heath ever since minicamps began, and now I can see why. He totally looks like an NFL receiver. I'd like to see him get some time with the starters, but the position may be too crowded for that to happen, and there probably won't be many starters from either team playing in the final preseason game. Heath belongs on the roster and so does DuBose. The Packers would really have a dilemma on their hands if Bo Melton was healthy. I don't want any of these guys going to the practice squad and getting snatched up by the Bears.

I’m not putting any of these guys in the HOF until I see them play in a few real games. I’ve seen too many of these “August All-Pros “fizzle out in September . Time to pump the brakes a bit.

Packers have done a tremendous job drafting 2nd round WR's from Thompson to Gutey.

The 2 newest 2nd round WR's from Gutey look like they are our present and future. Watson brings a very unique skillset that will give us someone teams will fear. Reed is slated to be the slot WR, but he has already shown that he can be a dynamic WR. There were some doubting the pick of Reed in the 2nd round. He is already proving those doubters wrong.

The WR position is stacked with talented players from top to bottom. The first 3 spots are set with Watson, Doubs and Reed. The question is who are the WR's going to be after them and what order. I think Heath is pushing for WR4. Wicks will be on the roster (assuming his hamstring is ok). That is 5 WR's. Toure, Dubose, and Melton are likely fighting for 1-2 spots.

Other thoughts about Saturday’s game:

offensive line play:
It was eye raising to me when they started Walker over Yosh at LT. I heard a few people talking about why. Some thought that it was to basically to see how Walker would do against starting caliber players. Umm, sorry but they wouldn't be starting him at LT with Love at QB just to see how he would do. They aren't going to risk anything to Love by experimenting. So my question is, if Walker has surpassed Yosh, are they considering trading Yosh?
Tom is the starting RT. I thought the OL as a whole was really good. Rhyan is a guy to keep an eye on inside.

Samori Toure’s audition for the kick return job:
Something I started to wonder during the game was are they giving Toure one last chance to earn a roster spot by having him playing return man? They already have their top 3 WR's. Wicks and Heath appear to be 4 & 5. DuBose has really emerged. Were they trying to get Toure to shine in some way?

It’s pretty clear Sean Clifford has won the back-up quarterback slot:
Clifford has a bit of Favre in him with the gunslinger mentality. He has looked really good in preseason games imo. He has quieted most doubters and has displayed the ability to make the game look fun. I have no clue what he will do against top level talent, but going into the season I am comfortable with him as the top backup. He has a gamer mentality that makes you feel like if he has to play you have a chance to win.

Anders Carlson:
"That 52 yard field goal would have been good from sixty."
I feel like that kick was majorly needed for him. He kicked a great game and absolutely nailed that kick. While he is a rookie and will need to keep working on his consistency, he has shown that he can drill any kick. How many kickers hit 50+ yarders and make it look as effortlessly as Carlson did on that kick. He looked like he was kicking an extra point and easily could have made that from 62.
Something to remember with Carlson is that the Packers are patient with Kickers. Crosby in his rookie year was 79%. After his rookie year he went 79%, 75%, 78%, 85% in his first 5 years. For his career he was 81%.

The Packers will be patient with Carlson.
Us fans need to be as well!

I’m not as impressed with our starting OL in the run game, except that I did think Runyon was better. The real run success came after all but Walker left.

It seems I’m not the only one with those doubts. PFF reflects them. Runyon was rated our best run blocker and OL by far, grading at 87 overall. Walker did well, particularly in the pass game, but Jenkins scored well below expected in the run game.

However, the standout from PFF was an atrocious grade on Tom in the run game and a just average pass rating. PFF rated Tom at 32 overall and his run performance well below that, for them he was our worst player on offense by some way.

Once Nijman came in with the power house of Newman/Hanson/Myers. things actually improved. All of Wilson’s plays and Taylor’s TD were behind that line. Interestingly, given the Pats largely being unchanged initially, the pass pro remained good.

This bears some looking at further to review, but I think Saturday makes it harder to justify Tom at RT as the best use of him, or our best RT. We may be buying a narrative here and not looking at what’s actually happening acutely enough.

The good news is Runyon, Rhyan holding up in pass pro and Walker generally. The bad news is that this game raised real questions about perceived personnel wisdom. It seems to suggest RT isn’t the best place for Tom and he certainly wasn’t our best RT on the night, or even the second best T.

I am glad that we have this much optimism about these young receivers. And, I agree that first round price tags on these guys and RBs is not good value. I will curb my enthusiasm on the crop until at least two bona fide NFLers emerge. At this stage, every fan base is giddy with their rough diamonds and draft steals. I expect to hear about the lack of separation and raw route running as we get into the regular season. Let's just hope that we have good enough coaching to develop these guys into weapons for Love.

"The Packers secondary is having a problem defending slants" Come to think about it- I can't remember the last time we fielded a defense where the slant was not a liability.

The situation has not improved since Barry took the wheel- keystone cops secondary, followed by finger pointing...

I thought the players met with Barry, and agreed to adjust the system? No?

I'm looking for more playing time for Grant DuBose. I think he has a bright future. He'll probably make the PS, this season, due to all the WR talent we now are blessed with. Malik Heath, IMO, just made the 53. Samori Toure being called "one of the most improved players in camp," doesn't mean much when he was doing all the return duties, in the last preseason game. To me, it looks like the Packers are searching for a way to keep him and STs may be his home rather than being, primarily, a WR. Again, look at all the WR talent Green Bay has acquired. Anyone hear from Jadakis Bonds, Bo Melton, Dre Miller, Duece Watts or Dontayvion Wicks, lately?

If we look at 'best at their position' and draft pick number, there is some truth that at least the top 5 players at WR weren't all #1s:

JJ - round 1
D Adams - r2
Stefon Diggs - r5
Tyreek Hill - r5
AJ Brown - r2

What I wouldn't have thought is that if you want to have one of the top 5 players in the league at his position, use you're #1 pick at RT (while top qbs are likely r1 picks -- all but r2 Hurts -- there are more r1 qb bust picks). Top 5 RTs in the league:

Lane Johnson - r1
Tristan Wirfs - r1
Penei Sewell - r1
Ryan Ramczyk - r1
Brian O'Neill - r2

I'm pretty excited about this year's roster options. At this point, I think it would be wise to only have Jones, Dillon and DeGuara as RBs on the 53, with several more on the PS, in order to keep the top 7 WRs. However, I could easily see Wicks going on IR/PUP with the hamstring. To me, that would be PERFECT. He could eventually overtake one of the starters, but needs more time.
I'm SUPER excited to see that DuBose is looking just like he looked on his college tape. I honestly think he could be the best of ALL of our WRs--he just looks so incredibly smooth and athletic while also having perhaps the best hands of all of them. We seriously have the ability to field three starting-level pairs.
Toure is like the "sixth man" in basketball (or offensive line); he's going to be Mr. Reliable.
Rasheed Walker is sort of like Brenton Cox in my opinion. He was a flyer on a boom-or-bust. So far, both are booming! Walker has incredible physical tools for an OT; it's a huge bonus if he gets everything else squared away.

Watson certainly looked like he belonged in the 2nd half of last year and now we'll see how he adjusts to being the focus of opposing defenses. 16 players had 17 or more explosive receptions last year with Jefferson leading the pack with 28. George Pickens was one of the 16. Watson had 8. With his skill set he needs to get into that 17-20 range of explosive receptions in order to be considered a true #1 WR.

I also wouldn't poo-poo using 1st round picks on WRs. Of those 16 players 9 of them were 1st round picks and one was Travis Kelce(TE). The Packers have done a great job finding talented WRs in the 2nd round but that's not a normal track record around the league. Either way it's hard to generate explosive plays without explosive players and the Packers certainly look better stocked in that department than they have in awhile.

The General Manager of Player Personnel has again delivered a solid roster for O, D, and STs to the Head Coach to make into a football team. The young WR room has to be one of the most talented since the heady days of 4 wide with Jennings, Jordy, Cobb, Driver.

However, to pump the brakes a bit on the WRs, my sense is this year the ground attack will have increased priority including plentiful snaps with 12 personnel. I see the need to bolster the roster at OL, RB and TE. And the run D MUST improve its bottom of the barrel standing from last season.

So with the 53 I can see 3 RBs, 4 TEs and 10 OL and 6 DL in the rotation (keep the big boys fresh to plug the run lanes in the 4th quarter!).

7 WRs would be a luxury for team that figures to pass less, run more. They could probably get by with 5 WRs but expect 6. Right now Watson, Doubs, Reed, Heath and Toure (STs add to his value). But if Wicks hamstring is ready he could be #6.

I could be wrong but I believe Walker starting at LT may have been a confirming move to see if moving Tom to C would be less risky in case of an injury at either T spot.

Walker answered he's ready to be the #3 T behind Bakh and Yosh. I remain concerned the IOL with Myers and JRJ as the weakness of the line...and Tom at C could make it much stronger with synergies with Jenks and JRJ (or Myers if he is the better RG).

This is certainly an exciting group; Doubs is showing the growth we'd hope after a promising display of talent as a rookie. Watson as well. The rest we shall see about. GB has had a ton of guys show up in preseason that faded out when games began. Preseason defenses are not game-planning to stop anyone in particular, so it will be some time before we truly know what we have. But it sure seems like Gutekunst made the right choice in not bringing in veterans at WR/TE so they could see how the young players grow into their roles and perhaps even shine.

I come from the mindset, players with size, speed, agility, and strenght that played in Div I at the top schools come into the league being coached up by the best so they have a better knowledge of the game, conditioning and played against top talent so why not pick them first?
I aslo think and its just my opine that once you get beyond that 15th pick your beyond the creme of the crop for that year. The very best choices are gone. To me a receiver picked at 26 isnt much better then the 10th in round two. Thus it comes down to where you pick in a round as much as who. Your not getting a premier pass rusher with the 29th pick.
Undrafted and 7th rounders are there for a reason. If you truly need them to fill holes your in trouble, usually money trouble.

Doubs' catch on that long ball was pure talent. Now he needs skill.

Skill is learned, and John Kuhn got it right in talking about that play during the broadcast: Great catch, yes, but a bad route. He is supposed to take it up the outside of the numbers and then fade to the boundary as the ball comes down in order to give himself room to make a comfortable grab and keep the CB away. He made it really hard on himself.

Beautiful throw, by the way.

Who needed 1st round WR's...."WE DID" from 2018 to now...when AR and GB was in the Super Bowl window. The general idea is a #1 WR is ready to produce with a savvy route tree day 1. Sometimes a raw WR with high up-side will out produce these #1's over a career as their skills and abilities mature. The biggest thing GB was missing on offense the last several years is a legit #2 WR who had an ascending skill set to be an outright #1 WR himself along side DA. I am presently more than happy to roll with what we have at WR and we have a group that will be able to burn a lot of teams defenses. We have a lot of speed and athletic ability and a QB1 who will spread the ball around. Doubs will be the primary possession WR and may even be a #1 WR. Watson will be a special #1 WR when he gets his routes polished a bit and gets more separation from breaking off his routes more crisply than pure speed. Reed be looking good also. A couple late round fellas really showing something also. I'm really looking forward to these fellas making their mark on the NFL with JL. I think we could roll out any of the 5-7 anytime and move the chains at will. Gute has really been working the prospect list and getting some great looking WR's. Add the TE's and RB's into the mix and this is going to be a formidable offense. GPG