PFF Believes Packers Lack Top-10 Roster
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers, who went 13-3 and reached the NFC Championship Game last season, have the 12th-best roster in the NFL entering the 2020 season. So says Pro Football Focus, which used a combination of its 2019 player grades and career player grades and statistics to rank the rosters of all 32 teams.
Receiver Davante Adams was listed as the team’s biggest strength. “Adams' 23 receiving touchdowns from inside the red zone since 2017 are more than any other player,” PFF’s Ben Linsey wrote in part of his summation.
Linebacker was listed as the Packers’ biggest weakness. While fans might have packed Blake Martinez’s bags and defensive coordinator Mike Pettine seemed giddy to plug veteran Christian Kirksey into the lineup, Linsey was more dubious. Looking beyond the injuries, Linsey wrote Kirksey, “has been a liability in coverage stretching back even further. Kirksey hasn't recorded a PFF coverage grade above 60.0 since he did so all the way back in 2015 with the Browns.”
With Devin Funchess being the only notable addition to the receiver corps, the X-factor was receiver Allen Lazard. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers is a big believer in Lazard, which is a good starting point. But it will be up to Lazard to show the Packers didn’t make a gigantic blunder in not using a premium draft pick on a receiver.
“You look at the development of a guy like Allen Lazard, what he did last year, and his versatility,” Rodgers said in a conference call last month. “He was cut at the end of training camp and then quickly put back on the roster Week 1. By the end of the season, he was called upon many, many times in important situations to make big plays and he did. He’s just a great teammate, and ascending player, loved his approach every week and he made some big-time plays for us.”
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