Packers Q&A! The “Rebuild” Debate & Why It’s Complicated

Plus: Joe Barry's defense, More Jordan Love Talk

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Hey guys. This is now the second Q&A of the week. Right now I’m debating doing 2 per week going forward.

I enjoy answering questions and it allows me to go over multiple topics in the same newsletter which I enjoy. I appreciate all of you who have been subscribing recently and I plan to continue to improve this newsletter in any way that I can.

“Would you say we're in a rebuild year? Because Keisean Nixon got offended that people were asking him that on his timeline. I believe we are, but am I missing something?” Sammy Dennis

I think the debate about whether or not the Packers are in a rebuild can be confusing to debate only because people are operating with different definitions and beliefs of what a “rebuild” year is. 

Many times if someone says “This NFL Team is in a rebuild” they usually are inferring that the team in said rebuild will not be competitive because of the changes taking place on the roster and in the organization, and that it will likely take more than a year for the team to be competitive again. I think Keisean Nixon could be coming against that idea that the Packers are not going to be competitive solely because the team is much younger and looks much different than they did last year. 

Of course there will be two different sides, one side believing the Packers will be bad in 2023 and the other who think they will be good. I bet Nixon believes the Packers will be good and considering many fans see a “rebuild” year as a year where you are not competitive, Nixon is basically addressing Green Bay doubters saying No we can still be competitive in light of the recent changes. 

But by it’s definition I’d say the Packers are “rebuilding” their roster. They lost Aaron Rodgers, Robert Tonyan, Allen Lazard, and Randall Cobb. If you rebuild something it’s because something has been broken in some way. In a sense the Packers offense took a hit with those veterans leaving and the Packers have to rebuild the holes created by this hit. 

The real question is has the rebuilding that has already taken place this off-season been enough to make the Packers competitive in 2023?  I don’t see why not. The Packers have already filled in many of the holes that were left by players leaving. Lots of these holes were filled in the NFL draft. The biggest hit is losing Aaron Rodgers and the Packers way of filling in that hole is Jordan Love. 

So I think the rebuilding debate is the idea of whether the Packers will be good in 2023 or if it will take more time. You can believe the Packers are rebuilding their roster while also believing they could be one of the better teams in the NFL in 2023. I don’t think those 2 ideas have to be separate. 

“Given how much influence it seems Rich B has over roster building and how well liked he is by players and how well respected he is by fellow coaches, and how there's clearly outside interest from other organizations. As well as the fact MLF has said ‘I will do anything to help this team win’ do you think there's a chance, even a remote one, that MLF willingly takes an OC position and gives the HC job to Rich at some point? 

If I'm the front office, I DO NOT want Rich leaving under any circumstances, especially after paying so much. And would despise to see Rich B HC for another squad, while still paying him, and looking for another top ST coordinator” RedMo46 

Hey Mo. I appreciate your out of the box thinking but personally I give it a 0% chance of happening. I think the only way Rich Bisaccia would become the head coach in Green Bay is if the Packers are so bad the next 2 years that Matt Lafluer gets fired.

 In that scenario there could be a chance they give Rich an interview to see if they think he could be good for the Packers. I don’t think it would be good for the team for Matt Lafleur to step down from his leadership role and hand it over to someone else. There have been scenarios in the past where when teams are struggling the head coach will give up their play calling duties, but I don’t see him giving up his head coaching job to help the team. 

Rich Bisaccia has made a name for himself over the years because of his special teams expertise and there’s a chance he gets a head coach offer in the next couple years. If he did, the Packers would let him go to pursue that opportunity because that’s any coach's dream. Pretty much every year the Packers lose some kind of coach to another team and they have to find a way to fill the hole. 

If Rich does leave the Packers know a little more about what it takes to build a solid special teams unit. They could use the knowledge they learned from Rich when signing the next coach. The Packers do have an assistant special teams coach and a special teams quality control coach so maybe there’s a chance that if Rich does leave one of these guys could take over knowing exactly how to implement what Bisaccia has already done so far in Green Bay. 

“Do you think if Jordan love is bad this year that Sean Clifford could start?” Cherry Yogurt Gaming 

I think the only way Jordan Love doesn’t start every game this year is if he’s hurt. Even if he is bad through the first stretch of the seasons I believe the Packers will and should keep letting him play.

Too often people want to move off of a guy before they’ve had the opportunity to grow. Unless he’s absolutely terrible this year I also belive he’ll get the chance to start next year. Even if he’s average in 2023 there’s a chance he takes a big leap forward in his second year starting.

I don’t think they’ll need to move off of him after year 1 or 2. I believe he’s a top 15 QB as a floor and has the chance to be top 5. That’s just my belief in him from what I’ve seen so far. 

“Luke, now that it's official that Marcedes Lewis won't be back in Green Bay, do you think N.York will pick him up? Thanks kid, The Lord be with you!” Kevin M. Bodey 

Thanks Kevin! If I had to guess the Jets make the most sense right now, but the fact that he hasn’t already signed with them makes me question why that would be. 

Around the time that Rodgers disclosed that he intended to play for the Jets on the Pat Mcafee Show there was a report that came out that the Jets were interested in both Randall Cobb and Marcedes Lewis. Randall Cobb has already been checked off the list and Lewis still remains unsigned. 

There was a rumor that came out stating that Lewis didn’t want to pay the New York tax rate but I’m not sure if I buy it. I don’t know if this is happening, but there’s a chance he’s in contract negotiations with the Jets. These things don’t always resolve right away. It’s also possible that the Jets decided they are no longer interested.

I still think Lewis will play one more season even if the Jets don’t sign him because he’s discussed in the past the fact that he’d break the record for most seasons by a tight end if he plays one more season in 2023. 

“Do you think Joe Barry and the defense plays a bigger role than the offense this season?” Troy Robertson 

I sure hope so! That would make it much easier for Jordan Love. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that the best thing for a quarterback is having a great defense. It’s harder for any offense if you have to play from behind. It makes you pass more often causing you to become one dimensional and more predictable. 

I’d say our offense and defense will both be in the #10-#15 range overall. I don’t think one will be drastically better than the other.  If I had to guess I would say the defense will be slightly better than last year. We were the 15th ranked scoring defense allowing 21.8 points per game. 

Our Dline should be much improved. Devonte Wyatt will be a difference maker in 2023, more so than either Dean Lowry or Jarran Reed were last season. He started making some noise later last season when he finally got more snaps. Because Lowry and Reed are both gone he should be starting from day 1. 

Then you add in Lukas Van Ness and you have a pretty solid defensive line. I believe it’ll be the best Dline we’ve seen in Green Bay for years.  The fact that Lukas Van Ness can play inside and outside gives the Packers a lot of flexibility. They can give Preston Smith and Gary a breather and let Lukas take snaps outside. Or put them all on the field at the same time. When Rashan Gary is back and fully healthy the Dline could look something like Preston Smith, Devonte Wyatt, Kenny Clark, Lukas Van Ness, Rashan Gary. I like the sound of that. 

Then you add in Quay Walker liking taking a year 2 jump at middle linebacker. That should make our MLB group solid in 2023 alongside De’vondre Campbell. The only concern for me is what is going to happen at safety with Amos gone. There’s a chance it all works out fine, but we won’t know until it’s all put together.