Packers One of ‘Winners’ of 2023 NFL Season
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers were one of the NFL’s “winners” in 2023, according to Sports Illustrated’s Gilberto Manzano, following a transformative season in which:
- They traded Aaron Rodgers to the New York Jets to start a new era and help clean up their salary cap.
- They acquired the 42nd and 207th picks of the 2023 draft as part of the Rodgers deal, which were used on tight end Luke Musgrave and kicker Anders Carlson, and a second-round pick (No. 41 overall) in the 2024 draft.
- They handed the reins of the offense to Jordan Love, who was one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL down the stretch. Love had a “special” debut season as the starter, Manzano said.
- They drafted four instant-impact playmakers with the aforementioned Musgrave and receiver Jayden Reed in the second round, tight end Tucker Kraft in the third round and receiver Dontayvion Wicks in the fifth round. Along with Romeo Doubs, Christian Watson and Bo Melton, the stage is set for Green Bay’s offense to be one of the most dangerous in the NFL.
Wrote Manzano: “Love will need to cut down his turnovers in crunch time, but he has the skill-set to be a stud quarterback for many years to come. What makes Green Bay more intriguing is the abundance of promising skill players to help Love. Also plenty of credit to coach Matt LaFleur, who proved he could win without Rodgers.”
While the Packers were one of eight “winners,” the Jets were one of eight “losers.”
The Jets’ season crashed and burned before it even got a few yards down the runway, with Rodgers suffering a torn Achilles on the opening drive of the season.
The Packers rolled the dice with rookie Sean Clifford as their backup quarterback, but it didn’t matter because Love emerged unscathed through 17 regular-season games and two playoff contests. The Jets rolled the dice with Zach Wilson with disastrous results.
“People in that building knew Wilson wasn’t up to the task, yet they decided not to add a quality backup because of how highly they drafted Wilson,” Manzano wrote.
Back to the “winners,” the list included two of Green Bay’s NFC North rivals.
The long-downtrodden Detroit Lions won two playoff games behind coach Dan Campbell. Now, can they earn back-to-back playoff appearances for the first time since losing in the wild-card round in 1993, 1994 and 1995?
The Chicago Bears posted their third consecutive losing season and haven’t won a playoff game since 2010, but they scored a huge win by sending the No. 1 overall pick of last year’s draft to Carolina in exchange for premier receiver D.J. Moore and “boatload” of draft picks that include the No. 1 overall pick of this year’s draft.
Chicago also has its own pick, No. 9 overall. The Bears could potentially trade Justin Fields for a premium pick and select USC quarterback Caleb Williams.
Click here for all the winners and losers.
