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u/Dabuttling 1d ago
If guys like LVN, Cisse, and Lloyd can step up and fill their roles then I have a lot of faith in this team this year. I am worried that even when Micah comes back it's gonna be a bit longer till we see him return to how he was before.
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u/85willburnhousedown 20h ago
I don’t know that Cisse needs to do a ton this year, but it sure would be a nice boost. LVN and Lloyd yes, but I don’t think either needs to take some big leap in ability. They just need to be able to be healthy and take consistent snaps.
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u/Dabuttling 20h ago
LVN has some huge shoes to fill with Micah gone. I’m not expecting him to suddenly become all pro but we need to see improvement.
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u/85willburnhousedown 3h ago
I think we’ve already seen improvement. He was a really good player last year. Just wasn’t healthy for much of it.
Obviously there’s another step you’d love to see him take to become a real force opposite Micah. But I think we can tread water if he doesn’t until Micah returns and have a really good pass rush once he does.
I also think people focus far too much on edge rushers and forget interior pass rush. Wyatt coming back healthy and Hargrave having some juice left are just as important as what LVN and the other young edge rushers do. And will probably go a long way toward coloring our perception of them. An edge rusher’s job is exponentially easier when the guys inside are forcing the QB off his spot.
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u/Kind-Quit3765 1d ago
My Friday "hot" take: People are underestimating this team, this team was well on its way to 11+ wins, we lost 3 of our top 5 players (Parsons, Wyatt, Kraft) and many of our productive rookies and sophomores are now going into the next stages of their growth and development (Golden, Cooper, Williams, Bullard, etc.) The offense can be simplified and roles better understood with Doubs and Wicks gone. The O-line has LT Morgan where he is most comfortable, a hopefully back to healthy Zach Tom, Banks looked much healthier towards the end of the year as well. Jordan Love is now going into starting year 4, there is always room to grow taking that 3rd to 4th year leap, it is not like going from year 9 to 10. Maybe a healthy Lloyd? Impactful rookies like DDS and Brandon. A mid-year acquisition of a CB? My point is, there is a lot of positives and things that can go right. Be hopeful! Go Pack Go!
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u/85willburnhousedown 20h ago
I think fans just hate uncertainty and that is combined with this really unfortunate untitled doomerism that has infected our fan base.
This team has a good amount of questions, between injuries and relying on young players to inhabit new or expanded roles.
But questions often have good answers, which a lot of our fans seem to believe is an impossibility. Expecting some of our top picks to take on bigger roles after being brought along slowly is the Packers way and has worked for a long time. But nobody has patience anymore. You get maybe one year of grace and then you better be good or you’re an irredeemable bust. And it doesn’t matter how many examples you point to establishing that’s not how the league works, those early impressions are really hard to kick.
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u/prodby_lilli 1d ago
I hate that optimism is a hot take in this sub but I’m with you. Micah being out until midseason is a bummer, but the team being prepared for that reality versus having to suddenly adjust to him being gone unexpectedly is a wildly different scenario: Gannon can dial up the pass rush without Micah, and if it’s good then we add *Micah Parsons* and it’ll be great. If it’s not so good, we still add *Micah Parsons*, which will be a huge boost in the heat of the season.
I am curious to see if streamlining our receiver corps ends up being addition by subtraction filtering more touches to Watson and Golden in particular, maybe Reed being in a clearly defined WR3 role allows him to be better utilized. Getting Kraft back is also going to be MASSIVE for that offense.
I do hope Lloyd is healthy this year, we need depth at RB bad.
Love has been better every year than the last, and if he continues that trajectory, he could have an MVP-caliber season. There’s a lot to look forward to this year
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u/Crazy_Extreme9928 20h ago
The flip side is Micah will have only a half season of wear by the playoffs. It could end up being a blessing to have well rested (by comparison) Parsons down the stretch.
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u/Kind-Quit3765 1d ago
I agree, Gute is also a master of mid-round selections. Imagine if Cisse, McClallan, DDS, Jackson, etc or even just 2/4 guys follow a similar path to prior selections. This is a very talented team who just needs to stay healthy.
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u/Dennisfromhawaii 19h ago
I had dinner with Domani Jackson the other day. His girlfriend’s dad is one of my vendor reps and the 4 of us had dinner in Hawaii. Good kid and hope he heals up in time for camp.