The Green Bay Packers are in an excellent position as they get ready to start the 2024 season in Sao Paulo, Brazil against the Philadelphia Eagles. They surged at the end of last season and made the playoffs as a Wild Card team, beating the Dallas Cowboys on the road before suffering a narrow loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the divisional playoffs.
The Packers found their quarterback as Jordan Love played like one of the best quarterbacks in the league after serving a four-year apprenticeship to Aaron Rodgers. Love played well throughout the majority of the season and he improved dramatically as the season reached its most crucial points.
While the Packers earned quite a bit of respect for their achievements, they are considered an underdog in the NFC North Division. The division is supposed to belong to the Detroit Lions, and the Packers may have to battle the Chicago Bears for second place.
That means that expectations are fairly low. That should lessen the pressure on the team at the start of the season and could help the Packers play in a free and easy manner in the first couple of months of the season.
The Packers have a solid team, but there are a few surprise players that could be cut by the Tuesday deadline. Here’s a look at three of them.
PK Anders Carlson could find himself on the outside
The Packers appear to have their kicker. They brought Anders Carlson aboard last year, and he was basically solid. He connected on 27 of 33 FG attempts, but making 4 of 8 from 40 to 49 yards and 3 of 5 from 50 yards and beyond does not guarantee his position.
His work during training camp was good but not great. He made about 81 percent of the kicks he attempted. It has to give head coach Matt LaFleur pause. In a league where Justin Tucker is the gold standard at the position, why would LaFleur not want a kicker who is in the same category?
Carlson is not in that category. But when cuts around the league are announced, perhaps LaFleur will see another kicker who is better than Carlson. If that happens, he could say good bye and good luck to Carlson and bring in the next Green Bay kicker.
He has offered his kicker no guarantees to this point, saying he would see what happens around the league.
Wideout Malik Heath faces too much competition
Wide receiver Malik Heath made the Packers last year as an undrafted rookie free agent out of Mississippi. He played in 13 games last season, but he was not one of Love’s go-to receivers. Heath caught 15 passes for 125 yards and 1 touchdown.
He has followed that up with a strong training camp. Heath is a hard worker who excelled in a joint practice session against the Baltimore Ravens. Heath got the best of Baltimore’s first-round defensive back Nate Wiggins, who was one of the fastest defensive backs in last year’s draft.
He also caught 4 passes for 39 yards and a touchdown in Green Bay’s third preseason game against the Ravens. However, the problem is the competition. Since the Packers already have Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks, the opportunities are limited. Other receivers including Bo Melton and Grant DuBose may end up making the roster, and that could leave Heath looking elsewhere for a new employer.
OLB Kristian Welch has special teams ability, but …
The new dynamic kickoff initiated by the NFL makes a player with special teams abilities valuable to a team — or so the theory goes. Many observers who write about football or talk about it on television or radio will say that these players who have competed on coverage teams before will have an advantage.
That may not be the case. Instead, coaches are looking for the most athletic and toughest players, and they figure that first or second-year players are more cost effective than those entering Year 5.
Welch had six tackles last year for the Packers and he never had more than 13 in his three prior years with the Ravens.
Welch plays with maximum effort and is an example of the kind of player it hurts to cut. But these players end up getting tossed any way. That’s just what is likely to happen with Welch.
