Packers Rookie Power Rankings, Midseason Addition
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers’ enormous rookie class made an enormous impact in Sunday’s victory over the Rams.
Lukas Van Ness had a tackle for loss and quarterback hit. Luke Musgrave scored his first touchdown. Jayden Reed had two 20-yard plays. Colby Wooden had a big fourth-down stop. Dontayvion Wicks caught four passes. Karl Brooks batted down two passes. Carrington Valentine broke up three passes and played air-tight coverage. Anthony Johnson had an interception.
Their play will be a huge key to the second half of the season. Of the 13 players drafted in April, 11 made the roster. Along with four undrafted rookies and punter Daniel Whelan, who isn’t officially a rookie, the Packers have 16 first-timers on their roster. That’s 30 percent of the team.
Here is an updated version of our Packers Rookie Power Rankings.
Not Ranked: RB Lew Nichols, seventh round
At Central Michigan, Nichols led the nation in rushing yards and scrimmage yards in 2021 but looked nothing at all like that player with the Packers. He was released at the end of camp and is on the Eagles’ practice squad. Of Green Bay’s 13 draft picks, he’s the only one no longer with the team.
No. 17: WR Grant DuBose, seventh round
DuBose was sidelined from rookie camp through the start of training camp with a back injury. All that time on the sideline was too much to overcome. DuBose was beaten out by undrafted Malik Heath for the final spot at receiver and is waiting his turn on the practice squad.
No. 16: OLB Brenton Cox, undrafted
A touted high school recruit and college prospect, Cox went undrafted due to a checkered past at Georgia and Florida. He made the 53 based on upside but has played only nine snaps (four on defense, five on special teams) in three appearances. If this season drifts away into the ether, expect Cox to get a lot more snaps to see if he can be a contributor in 2024.
No. 15: WR Malik Heath, undrafted
Heath is a bit like Cox: A talented college player with some character red flags that prevented him from being drafted. A physical receiver with good-enough athleticism, Heath has been targeted five times. He’s caught zero. After three consecutive games as an inactive, Heath was up for Sunday (instead of Samori Toure) and dropped his only chance.
No. 14: TE Ben Sims, undrafted
The Packers claimed Sims off waivers from the Vikings after final cuts. He’s played 46 snaps on offense, mostly as an in-line tight end, and 34 snaps on special teams in eight games. He’s caught two passes for 14 yards and provided decent blocking.
No. 13: RB Emanuel Wilson, undrafted
The Division II All-American lasted a couple days in Denver and landed in Green Bay, where he led the NFL in preseason rushing. The preseason, to state the obvious, is different than the regular season.
In the first five games, he played in three and rushed five times for 11 yards. The last three games, he had a 14-yard run at Denver and a 31-yard run late against the Rams. The Packers have parted ways with veterans Patrick Taylor and James Robinson, so perhaps Wilson has shown that he’s ready for a bit more.
No. 12: QB Sean Clifford, fifth round
Clifford was the 11th of 14 quarterbacks selected after a prolific career at Penn State. Whatever he lacks in arm strength and athleticism – and it’s not much – he makes up for in smarts, know-how and feel.
Clifford hasn’t played a meaningful snap in the regular season but that could change at any moment. Quarterbacks get hurt. That’s just the way it is in the NFL. At the midpoint of the season, 47 quarterbacks have started at least one game. That simple fact means there’s at least a decent chance Clifford will play critical snaps this season. Based on his preseason, the team probably feels pretty good about the backup plan.
No. 11: P Daniel Whelan
Officially, Whelan is a first-year player because he entered the NFL in 2022, but he didn’t even make it to training camp with the Saints as a rookie, so we’ll add him to the list.
Of 31 qualifying punters, Whelan is 14th in average (47.9 yards per punt) but 30th in net (thanks to a punt-return touchdown vs. the Saints). Of note, he ranks fifth in hangtime, according to Pro Football Focus and 10th in percentage of punts not returned. On the other hand, his seven inside-the-20 punts vs. four touchbacks must improve; Pat O’Donnell was 24-1 in those categories last year.
No. 10: S Anthony Johnson, seventh round
Anthony Johnson had an interception in his first NFL start.
Photo by Mike De Sisti/USA Today Sports Images
Johnson was inactive for the first five games and played a total of eight defensive snaps the next two games. Due to injuries to starters Darnell Savage and Rudy Ford, Johnson made his first NFL start against the Rams. He showed ball skills with his interception and his toughness with a big hit on tight end Tyler Higbee that forced an incompletion.
It’s worth noting that Johnson is the only safety under contract beyond this season.
No. 9: TE Tucker Kraft, third round
Kraft has had a quiet start, though that’s mostly because he’s not at all a thought in the passing game. That doesn’t mean he’s not making an impact, though. The first four games, Kraft played 38 snaps. The last four games, he averaged 25.5. Blocking NFL edge defenders is – in the most obvious comment ever put into print – different than blocking FCS-level defenders.
The growth has been significant enough to suggest he could put an end to the Packers’ third-round follies.
No. 8: DT Colby Wooden, fourth round
Wooden had a quiet training camp and a quiet start to the regular season, which is why his snap count went from 36 each of the first two games to less than 20 the last six. But he made a huge play on Sunday.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, with the Packers protecting a 10-3 lead and playing without their standout defensive lineman, Kenny Clark, the Rams lined up for a fourth-and-2 from the Packers’ 47. Wooden blew into the backfield and dropped Royce Freeman at the line of scrimmage.
No. 7: WR Dontayvion Wicks, fifth round
Dontayvion Wicks is fourth on the Packers with 14 receptions.
Photo by Mark Hoffman/USA Today Sports Images
Who did the Packers draft? The Wicks who was a star at Virginia in 2021 or a flop in 2022? Time will tell, but the Packers love Wicks, which is why he’s played 44 snaps the last two weeks even with a full-strength receiver corps. For the season, he’s caught 14-of-23 passes for 189 yards. He has only one drop (a potential game-changing touchdown vs. Minnesota last week) and one fumble (vs. the Rams on Sunday).
“I’m very excited about him,” receivers coach Jason Vrable said. “I think everybody on our offensive side of the ball has watched it. Defensive coaches have said stuff to me, DBs have said stuff to me. I feel great with where he’s at, and I think it’s only going to get better for him, I really do. So, we’re ecstatic about him right now.”
No. 6: K Anders Carlson, sixth round
Remember all that talk about Carlson’s erratic career at Auburn? Or his miss-filled training camp? Of course not. Who knows if Carlson will enjoy even half the career of the man he replaced, Mason Crosby, but the Packers haven’t looked back for a second.
He’s 11-of-13 on field goals and made all 15 point-after attempts. Yes, he’s missed a field-goal attempt each of the last three weeks – a penalty gave him a mulligan vs. Minnesota – but he’s a reason why the Packers rank second in opponent field position after a kickoff.
No. 5: DT Karl Brooks, sixth round
Mostly an edge player at Bowling Green, Brooks has adapted quickly to live on the interior in the NFL. He is fifth on the team with two sacks and, rather shockingly, tied for second with Jaire Alexander and Rudy Ford with four passes defensed. He swatted aside two against the Rams.
“That was just something when I was young,” Brooks said. “You rush hard, when you see the quarterback with the one hand off with the football – if you’re not there, you know you’ve got to get your hands up. It’s like the same thing as getting a sack.”
No. 4: OLB Lukas Van Ness, first round
The Packers drafted Rashan Gary in the first round in 2019, knowing that it would take time for traits to become production. They viewed Van Ness similarly.
With one sack, three tackles for losses and 10 tackles in eight games, Van Ness hasn’t been much of a force. Against the Rams, he had a 5-yard tackle for loss and a quarterback hit.
It’s worth noting that, among rookie edge defenders, Van Ness is fifth with seven pressures. So, while the Rams’ Byron Young (31) and the Texans’ Will Anderson (24) have been superb, Van Ness isn’t the only rookie figuring things out.
No. 3: CB Carrington Valentine, seventh round
There were 36 cornerbacks selected this year. Valentine was No. 30. According to Pro Football Focus and its judgment of coverage responsibilities, 16 rookie cornerbacks have played at least Valentine’s 120 coverage snaps. Valentine trails on Pittsburgh’s Joey Porter with a 42.9 percent completion rate allowed.
The trade of Rasul Douglas has made Valentine a full-time starter. How would he respond? PFF charged him with one catch out of eight targets vs. the Rams. He broke up three passes, including a dropped interception. Sure, that came against Brett Rypien; it also came against Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua.
“Once you get that feeling, you want more of it. He’s going to be hungry for more,” Alexander said.
No. 2: TE Luke Musgrave, second round
In a star-studded tight end class, Musgrave was the fourth off the board behind Buffalo’s Dalton Kincaid in the first round and Detroit’s Sam LaPorta and Las Vegas’ Michael Mayer in the second round.
With 27 catches for 249 yards and one touchdown, Musgrave in the entire tight end class ranks third in receptions, yards and yards after the catch and tied for second in touchdowns. He’s dropped only one pass.
Musgrave is on pace of 57 receptions. Among all tight ends in Packers history, that would rank third all-time behind Jermichael Finley (61) and Richard Rodgers (58). Already among rookies in Packers history, he ranks second in catches and yards behind Bubba Franks, who had 34 catches for 363 yards in 2000.
No. 1: WR Jayden Reed, second round
Jayden Reed bursts into the open field vs. the Rams.
Photo by Wm. Glasheen/USA Today Sports Images
Reed isn’t always in the right place on his routes. He’s dropped too many passes. He’s 0-for-7 in contested-catch situations.
But what Reed has done is show some eye-popping potential because of his athleticism and knack for making things happen. He’s third on the team with 23 receptions and first with 333 receiving yards. The sixth receiver off the board, he’s 10th in receptions and eighth in yards among rookies.
The Packers have been looking for a Randall Cobb-style slot receiver for years, which is why they brought back Cobb in 2021. In Cobb’s 25 games with the team in 2021 and 2022, he averaged about 32 yards per game. Reed is averaging about 10 yards more per game. Reed is averaging 14.5 yards per catch, a number Cobb surpassed just once in his 10 years with the team.
Against the Rams, Reed caught three passes for 19 yards. He also had a 21-yard run and a 22-yard punt return.
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