Will Packers Reach Playoffs? PFF Agrees With Sportsbooks

With an incredibly young passing attack, the Packers could face an uphill battle to reach the playoffs in 2023.

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
May 22, 2023 11:58 AM EDT

In this story:

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Sportsbooks say the Green Bay Packers won’t reach the playoffs in 2023. Pro Football Focus agrees.

In a story citing “one reason” why each team will or will not make the playoffs, PFF’s verdict envisioned an early offseason for a second consecutive season.

Why? Green Bay is, well, green. The youth surrounding the passing game will be tough to overcome with first-time starting quarterback Jordan Love throwing to a group of receivers and tight ends much younger than Aaron Rodgers inherited in 2008.

Receivers Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs and Samori Toure are second-year players at the heart of the youngest receiver corps in the NFL, and receiver Jayden Reed and tight ends Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft are rookies who might be thrust into early roles.

“It's tough to project a group that young making it to the postseason,” PFF’s Trevor Sikkema wrote.

Packers receivers coach and passing game coordinator Jason Vrable, of course, downplayed the youth factor as much as possible.

“I would say the challenge is getting someone caught up to the playbook because you don’t want to hear a route and go out there and thinking about what the route actually is,” Vrable said on Thursday, a few days before the start of OTAs on Monday.

“That’s why guys usually play slow. You want to go out there and say, ‘OK, I know the route. How can I beat this man at the highest level of my ability?’ and play the same way Jayden did in college. We want him to play the same way in the NFL when we hit Sundays when we’re playing preseason game 1. Just feel comfortable in his own skin. The challenge is just so much mentally to understand what we’re trying to be taught and do it on the field at a high level.”

Sportsbooks unanimously agree that the Packers will not reach the playoffs. However, if you’re bullish on the young receivers, the power of the running backs and the potential strength of the defense – and live in a state where sports gambling is legal – the biggest payoff for a Packers postseason berth is at DraftKings Sportsbook.

Green Bay is +200 to reach the postseason at DraftKings. That’s an implied probability of 33.3 percent. A $100 bet at +200 odds would produce a payout of $300.

To win the NFC North, the Detroit Lions are a sizable favorite at +130, followed by the defending champion Minnesota Vikings at +275, the Chicago Bears at +380 and the Packers a distant +500.

Also, the Packers are +6500 to win the Super Bowl, longest among NFC North teams and eighth-longest overall. By implied probability, that’s 1.52 percent.

Click here to sign up at DraftKings to take a shot on the Packers’ playoff odds, or anything for that matter, to claim a $150 bonus with just a $5 bet.