After waiting over six months for a taste of Packers football, fans were quickly reminded that the preseason is mostly not real football. Here are five takeaways from Green Bay’s ugly preseason opener:
Drops plague Packers receivers, except one
It is absolutely not time to panic regarding Green Bay’s drop issues from 2024 bleeding into the 2025 season, but it was still frustrating to see drops from Packers pass catchers, particularly when they came from more experienced players like Romeo Doubs, Mecole Hardman and Malik Heath.
The drops from other receivers made Matthew Golden’s impressive sticky hands, which have been the talk of training camp, look even better in contrast. Good things happened when he was targeted, which is hopefully a harbinger for things to come. Golden is ticking all the boxes so far.
Defensive front showing promise
If Saturday is any indication, the Packers could have some enviable depth at both defensive tackle and end, as Green Bay’s most promising performances of the night came from their defensive front.
From looking like he would be struggling to keep his job, Colby Wooden suddenly looks like a new player. Sporting a bulkier frame, he has earned positive reviews in camp and backed up the hype in the first preseason game as a consistently disruptive force.
Meanwhile, the rookie duo from Georgia of Nazir Stackhouse and Warren Brinson also made their presence felt on the interior, continuing their upward trajectory which has built throughout the summer.
At EDGE, Barryn Sorrell is already showing why he was viewed as a steal in the fourth round, rushing with power and professionalism to put the Jets quarterback under pressure regularly.
Brenton Cox Jr and Kingsley Enagbare made their own strong cases for roster spots and playing time with some notable plays. Lukas Van Ness only played one drive with the starting defense, but looked more confident and impactful, giving credence to the optimism around his camp.
Monk and Rhyan need to switch positions
There are no hard and fast rules with the Packers and how they use their offensive linemen. Players move around constantly and the team always seems to find a winning combination, but the way Jacob Monk and Sean Rhyan are being deployed currently does not seem optimal.
Monk, a college center, played at guard on Saturday, as he often has in practice, while Rhyan, a college tackle who has played guard for the last two years for Green Bay, played center.
Both players seemed to have some struggles, Monk more obviously so. The second-year player out of Duke seems more suited to play center in terms of his physical dimensions, while Rhyan’s more stout frame projects better to guard.
Rhyan is in a contract year, so training him to potentially play center is unlikely to yield any long term results, even if it means he is capable of playing there in a pinch this season. The Packers seem to be overthinking this one.
Linebackers struggle in coverage
It was not a banner night for the Isaiah’s – McDuffie and Simmons – who both looked a little lost at times at linebacker.
McDuffie was deeked by a running back (ironically named Isaiah) into thinking he was being thrown the ball downfield, while quarterback Justin Fields ran the ball in for a touchdown within shouting distance of the Packers linebacker.
Simmons bailed out of a zone in coverage which looked like the wrong decision as a Jets tight end caught a pass and galloped for a bunch of yards. He showed some of the issues which have caused him to fail to establish himself as a starting linebacker in the NFL.
Don’t sweat it
Around this time last year, when the Packers were whipped 27-2 by the Broncos in the second week of the preseason, I wrote: “The frustration of fans should come from having watched a truly pointless game of football more so than anything that happened during said game.”
The same applies here. There was little to no joy to be found in Green Bay’s performance on Saturday night, but it means next to nothing of significance for what the Packers will be once real football begins.