GREEN BAY, Wis. – Good players win games. Great players win championships.
The Green Bay Packers have a lot of good players. They might rank among the deepest teams in the NFL. While there are some position groups with question marks, they really don’t have a weakness.
But do they have the great players necessary to even compete in the NFC North, let alone win the Super Bowl?
Pro Football Focus recently ranked every position group on offense and defense. Its player rankings shouldn’t be treated as gospel, but they do present an interesting launching point in the good vs. great discussion.
For the sake of this story, we looked at the NFC North rosters and how many players ranked in the top one-third of starters. That means the top 10 quarterbacks and other positions in which a team has only one starter, the top 20 players at every position with two starters (guards, offensive tackles and every defensive position other than cornerback) and the top 32 players at positions with three starters (receiver and cornerback).
NFC North Offense
Quarterbacks (top 10): Detroit’s Jared Goff is ninth. Green Bay’s Jordan Love fell just short at 12th.
Running backs (top 10): Detroit’s Jahmyr Gibbs is fourth and Green Bay’s Josh Jacobs is fifth.
Receivers (top 32): Minnesota’s Justin Jefferson is second and Detroit’s Amon-Ra St. Brown is fourth. Plus, Chicago’s D.J. Moore (20th) and Detroit’s Jameson Williams (32nd) made the cut. No Packers receiver made the rankings.
Tight ends (top 10): Detroit’s Sam LaPorta is fifth and Minnesota’s T.J. Hockenson is eighth. At No. 18, Green Bay’s Tucker Kraft seems underrated, especially being only five spots ahead of Chicago rookie Colston Loveland.
Offensive tackles (top 20): Three of the four teams in the NFC North have a top-tier tackle. Detroit right tackle Penei Sewell is sixth, Minnesota left tackle Christian Darrisaw is seventh and Green Bay right tackle Zach Tom is ninth. The Vikings have strong bookends with right tackle Brian O’Neill being 18th.
Offensive guards (top 20): Four NFC North guards are in PFF’s top 32; all are new to the division. Only All-Pro Joe Thuney, who was acquired by the Bears from the Chiefs for a fourth-round pick, made the top 20, though.
Centers (top 10): Three of the four NFC North starting centers are new to their teams. The exception is Green Bay’s Elgton Jenkins, who is (relatively) new to the position. Chicago’s Drew Dalman is fifth, Minnesota’s Ryan Kelly is eighth and Jenkins is ninth.
NFC North Standings on Offense
Detroit has six high-quality starters on offense, while Minnesota has four and Green Bay and Chicago have three.
NFC North Defense
Edge (top 20): Detroit’s Aidan Hutchinson is fifth, followed by the Minnesota tandem of Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel. Green Bay’s Rashan Gary snuck under the wire at No. 19.
Defensive tackles (top 20): The only player in the division to make the grade was Detroit’s Alim McNeil at No. 12. Green Bay’s Kenny Clark failed to crack even the top 32.
Linebackers (top 20): The NFC North is well represented at the top of the list. Detroit’s Jack Campbell is eighth, Green Bay’s Edgerrin Cooper is ninth, Chicago’s T.J. Edwards is 10th and Minnesota’s Blake Cashman is 12th.
Safeties (top 20): Once again, the NFC North is well represented. Green Bay’s Xavier McKinney is the best in the division at No. 2, while Detroit has a top tandem with Brian Branch fifth and Kerby Joseph sixth. Chicago veteran Kevin Byrd made it at 18th.
Cornerbacks (top 32): The division has three top-10 players. Chicago’s Jaylon Johnson is fourth, new Detroit starter D.J. Reed is sixth and Green Bay’s Jaire Alexander is ninth. Also making the cut is Minnesota’s Byron Murphy at No. 29.
NFC North Standings on Defense
Detroit has six high-quality starters on defense, followed by Green Bay and Minnesota with four and Chicago with three. The Packers’ tally includes Alexander, who may or may not be on the Week 1 roster.
Total High-Quality Starters in NFC North
The Lions lead the way with 12, followed by the Vikings with eight, the Packers with seven and the Bears with six.
Detroit is so dominant that it has eight players ranked in the top six of their position group: Gibbs and St. Brown are fourth, LaPorta, Hutchinson and Branch are fifth and Sewell, Reed and Joseph are sixth. That’s more than the rest of the division combined. Green Bay has only two: McKinney is second and Jacobs is fifth.
How will the Packers be able to overcome that talent gap – or perceived talent gap – to get back on top of the NFC North? A lot of that will ride on Love staying healthy and playing at a consistently higher level and some of productive young players – Kraft, receiver Jayden Reed and Cooper, to name a few – elevating their games.