PFF’s Roster Rankings Show Packers’ Offense Is Good, Not Great

How good is the Green Bay Packers’ roster? That depends on who you ask.

Pro Football Focus recently conducted its positional rankings, with the top 32 players at every position. It is about what you would expect for the Packers’ roster.

If there is a criticism to be had of general manager Brian Gutekunst, it is that he has found a lot of solid players but few blue-chip prospects to push them from a good team to a great one.

The Packers learned that the hard way a season ago, as they lost six of their seven games to Detroit, Minnesota, and Philadelphia. Those three teams finished with the best records in the conference, and Green Bay lost both matchups against all three teams.

The Packers were competitive in those games, but not nearly good enough when it counted.

What have the Packers done to get better this offseason? That remains to be seen.

To get back to the level of greatness that is expected in a city named Titletown, the Packers will have to rediscover their dominance in the NFC North. They were a fingertip away from taking a golden sombrero against their division rivals last year.

How does their roster compare to those around the division? Starting with the offense, here is at least a look at what PFF thought, with a comparison to who the top ranked player was from each division rival.

The Lions had the top player at four position groups on offense, the Bears had two, the Vikings had one and the Packers had none.

Quarterback

Detroit’s Jared Goff, 9th

Green Bay’s Jordan Love, 12th

Chicago’s J.J. McCarthy, 21st

Chicago’s Caleb Williams, 24th

Comments: The Lions have done nothing but win with Goff over the last two seasons. That’s true against Green Bay and the rest of the league. Sure, that has not resulted in a Super Bowl berth, but Goff has been excellent at the controls since being considered a throw-in in a trade that sent Matthew Stafford to the Rams.

McCarthy and Williams are wild cards. Both were first-round picks. Both are highly touted. Both teams are incredibly excited about their young signal-callers.

As the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, Williams started all season and went through some growing pains but also showed some flashes. McCarthy is the wild card for the entire division. If he’s good, the Vikings could improve on a season in which they were in contention for the No. 1 seed until Week 18. If he’s not, the Vikings could be a one-hit wonder looking at a long, painful rebuild.

For now, Love ranks ahead of those three. While he and coach Matt LaFleur scoffed at the idea he took a step back a season ago, the reality is the entire passing game plummeted as the calendar turned to December.

In the wild-card loss to the Eagles, Love threw three interceptions, and the offense sputtered. Not all of that is on Love. He was playing injured for most of the season, but that’s life in the NFL for a starting quarterback.

Love will need to play better, specifically in big games, for the Packers to reach the next level.

Running Backs

Detroit’s Jahmyr Gibbs, 4th

Green Bay’s Josh Jacobs, 5th

Minnesota’s Aaron Jones, 19th

Detroit’s David Montgomery, 21st

Gibbs earns the top spot on this list, but he does split carries with Montgomery to help form one of the best backfields in all of football. Individually, however, it’s hard to argue against Jacobs as the best back in the division.

In a shocking offseason swap that saw Jones released in favor of Jacobs, the Packers came out ahead. Jacobs was the heartbeat of Green Bay’s offense and emerged as one of the team’s leaders. For his part, Jones showed he was not done with another good season as the lead man in Minnesota’s backfield. He’ll share duties this year with Jordan Mason, who the Vikings acquired in a trade from San Francisco.

Receivers

Minnesota’s Justin Jefferson, 2nd

Detroit’s Amon-Ra St. Brown, 4th

Chicago’s D.J. Moore, 20th

Detroit’s Jameson Williams, 32nd

Perhaps this isn’t surprising to anyone, but the Packers did not have anyone ranked in the top 32 of PFF’s receiver rankings. All of their receivers were disappointing in one way or another a season ago, which is a reason why the Packers selected Matthew Golden in the first round of April’s draft. Their hope is he can pair with one of their four young receivers to eventually form a duo like the one in Minnesota or Detroit.

Minnesota only had one receiver make the list, with Jefferson finishing second to only the Eagles’ A.J. Brown. He is No. 1 in NFL history in receiving yards per game. Jordan Addison, who has been a nice complementary piece in Minnesota, didn’t make the cut.

Detroit had two receivers ranked with St. Brown, whom the Packers once passed on in favor of Amari Rodgers, coming in fourth after finishing second in the NFL in receptions. His teammate, the speedster Williams, was 32nd.

Moore, who has been up-and-down during his tenure in Chicago, made the list at No. 20.

Perhaps collectively, Green Bay’s receivers can challenge the overall receiving corps of these teams, but there’s no argument about having one player better than any of the other team’s top three receivers.

Tight Ends

Detroit’s Sam LaPorta, 5th

Minnesota’s T.J. Hockenson, 8th

Green Bay’s Tucker Kraft, 18th

Chicago’s Colston Loveland, 23rd

Chicago’s Cole Kmet, 29th

Kraft could be the player on this list for Green Bay who rises the most after 2025. After last season ended, his name has consistently been at the forefront of the coaches’ minds. They want to get him more involved.

He’s a good blocker in the run game, and a demon after the ball is in his hands after leading the NFL in yards after the catch per catch by a wide margin. The problem in 2024 was the ball was not in his hands enough. As Green Bay’s receivers struggled, there was not more of a concerted effort to feature Kraft in the passing game. It appears that could change in 2025.

Loveland is a projection, but Chicago did use a top-10 pick on him, and the tight end position has a dearth of talent across the NFL. He’ll be flanked by the veteran Kmet, who is a solid starter with 258 receptions and 19 touchdowns in five seasons.

The top of the list, however, is occupied by two of the top tight ends in football.

LaPorta was drafted in the same class as Kraft and Luke Musgrave, but has been more productive than both in Detroit’s dangerous offense.

Hockenson, who essentially was replaced by LaPorta in Detroit, has been one of the better two-way tight ends in football. He’ll be a long-term fixture in Minnesota after receiving a contract extension and is likely to serve as a security blanket for McCarthy.

Offensive Tackles

Detroit’s Penei Sewell, 6th

Minnesota’s Christian Darrisaw, 7th

Green Bay’s Zach Tom, 9th

Minnesota’s Brian O’Neill, 18th

Detroit’s Taylor Decker, 24th

Chicago’s Braxton Jones, 25th

Chicago’s Darnell Wright, 26th

Green Bay’s Rasheed Walker, 31st

Based on the totality of PFF’s offensive line rankings, the front is probably Green Bay’s strongest position. Of their five projected starters, four made the list, including both of their projected starting tackles.

Tom is in line for a contract extension after emerging as one of the best right tackles in the league. Walker has consistently had to fight for his job but has passed every test since David Bakhtiari’s career in Green Bay ended with a knee injury.

Tom is a good player, but the two ranked ahead of him, Detroit’s Sewell and the Eagles’ Lane Johnson, are great, which goes with the theme of the Packers’ roster as a whole.

Sewell is one of the best offensive linemen in football and the heartbeat of the strong point of the Lions’ roster.

Darrisaw’s injury a season ago did not cripple Minnesota’s offense, but did force them to make a trade for Cam Robinson.

Chicago’s tandem of tackles ranks toward the bottom of the list but do rank ahead of Walker.

Guards

Chicago’s Joe Thuney, 2nd

Minnesota’s Will Fries, 25th

Chicago’s Jonah Jackson, 31st

Green Bay’s Aaron Banks, 32nd

If these rankings are to be believed, the Bears came out as big offseason winners after acquiring the All-Pro Thuney for pennies on the dollar with a mere fourth-round pick. The Chiefs decided to move on before his contract situation became tenuous.

Banks was the other big addition in free agency. Being considered a middle-of-the-pack starter did not stop the Packers from giving him $77 million this offseason.

While the interior line probably is better than the one they had in 2024, is the addition of Banks and moving Elgton Jenkins to center worth the extra $73.5 million in total contract value? That’s a question that Banks is going to have to answer in a big way. If the addition works, the Packers run game, which was borderline dominant a season ago, could reach new heights in 2025.

Centers

Chicago’s Drew Dalman, 5th

Minnesota’s Ryan Kelly, 8th

Green Bay’s Elgton Jenkins, 9th

Detroit’s Tate Ratledge, 32nd

Center is an interesting position in the NFC North because all four teams will be breaking in a new pivot man in 2025.

Jenkins is the only player who was on his team a season ago. He’ll slide inside to center with the addition of Banks to play his old position of left guard.

Dalman and Kelly were free-agent additions, with Dalman being one of the prizes of the 2025 veteran class. He should fit well in Ben Johnson’s offensive scheme. Kelly is an appreciable upgrade from Garrett Bradbury, the Vikings’ first-round pick in 2019.

The biggest change, however, comes in Detroit. Ratledge, a rookie from Georgia, will get a chance to be the starter starter after Frank Ragnow, one of the heartbeats of the team, retired last week.

Whether Ratledge wins the job or the Lions look elsewhere, the loss of Ragnow is significant as he had an argument to be the best player at his position.