Jordan from Des Moines, IA
Speaking of depth, I think Gutey’s commitment to the OL has been a huge factor in getting to the playoffs so frequently. We also had a few years where injury pileups on the OL ended playoff runs. “You need seven” has gone a long way, and the Packers just didn’t have seven quality players healthy in the wild card game. Do the Packers have their seven for this year? Do we maybe need eight in the playoffs? Is there a reserve from last year who is ready to step up?
We’ll find out, but you never truly know if the reserves are ready until they’re thrown into game action. As a young, inexperienced player, Rasheed Walker held his own right away when thrust into action at left tackle for David Bakhtiari in Week 2 of 2023. Others tossed into similar spots haven’t gotten it done. You want eight guys on the active gameday roster who are capable, but at least one or two of those guys is usually unproven.
Herbert from Palm Desert, CA
Good morning to all of II. I’ll make a statement that really isn’t that bold: Depth is more important than health. There will be injuries on every team in the NFL. Does your favorite team have the depth to overcome the losses? I think this is the deepest Packer team I’ve seen in at least a decade. Bold or obvious statement?
This feels like one of the deeper 90-man offseason rosters that I can recall. But you can’t keep everybody, and stuff will happen. I need to see how the 53 shakes out.
Mike from New Orleans, LA
Excellent question about practice squad players from Luke from Port Alsworth, AK. It makes me wonder, couldn’t the QC coaches call the opposing team’s play in Packers terminology? Surely LaFleur and Hafley have lingo for every type of move out there. That way the PS players could both mimic the opponent, and rep on the Packers playbook.
They don’t know the other team’s terminology. Only what they see on film of the scheme. I’m sure some of that is translated into what the Packers label something, but nobody’s “calling” an opponent’s play verbally the way they would call it.
The question regarding performance-based incentives got me wondering, how does the NFL monitor salary caps? An honor system with penalties invoked if caught bending the rules, a league office full of accountants and investigators pouring over every NFL player’s contract, or some other combination of checks and balances?
Every contract must be filed with, and approved by, the league, and its specifics are then plugged into the cap equations.
Margeaux from Tallahassee, FL
After reading “Weekend hangouts,” thank you Wes for the superb story by the way, it occurred to me that all players come from diverse backgrounds which affects how they watch film. Is there a Packer way that is part of the new player training process? If so which member of staff is assigned the task?
Players usually turn to a position coach or a peer if they want any help or guidance with film study. I remember Sam Shields talking about how he learned to watch film from Charles Woodson, and how Rasul Douglas learned from Jerry Gray.
Ian from Kirkwhelpington, UK
Mike, following on from Wednesday’s II, the Jaguars played two games per season in London in 2023 and 2024 – a “home” game at Wembley and an “away” game at Tottenham’s stadium. So the Vikes are following in the Jaguars’ footsteps.
True, but as an organization, the Jaguars have played in London every year since 2013 (except ’20). This is doing that with a club much less accustomed to going overseas, which makes it feel even more like a trial balloon to me.
