Are the Green Bay Packers fantasy football's next powerhouse offense?
Move over Detroit Lions, your NFC North neighbor is about to give you some company among the best offenses for fantasy football production in 2024. All the ingredients are there for an explosive attack, starting with the signal-caller.
Jordan Love went from being a preseason question mark — QB23 and going in the 11th round according to Yahoo ADP — following in the gigantic footsteps of Aaron Rodgers, and emerged as one of just four quarterbacks to throw for at least 4,000 yards and 30 touchdowns in 2023. His season was a roller coaster, starting with six touchdown passes in the first two games, followed by six games where he threw for more than one touchdown just once. There was a lot of chatter during that time as to whether the Packers might be looking for a quarterback in the offseason.
Love put that commentary to rest with a fantastic nine-game closing kick to the season with 2,439 passing yards and 20 touchdowns against three interceptions to finish as the QB3 in that span. Under the bright lights of the playoffs, Love torpedoed the Cowboys in Dallas for 272-3, and had Green Bay sporting a fourth-quarter lead over the 49ers before a late interception ended the Packers’ season. Still, Green Bay has its quarterback for the foreseeable future, and he has a young and talented group of pass-catchers to throw to.
As Andy Behrens and Matt Harmon explain in the video above, the only problem for fantasy managers is there's such an embarrassment of riches at receiver it’s hard to decipher whether there is an alpha in the group. No Packers receiver drew 100 targets, with Romeo Doubs leading the team with 96. And over the entire season, only three times did any pass-catcher draw 10 targets. Yet at various points in the season these wide receivers shined and gave a glimpse of more to come.
Rookie Jayden Reed may emerge as the first player from the group off draft boards this summer, as he flashed dual-threat ability with 912 total yards and 10 touchdowns. He finished the regular season with a flourish, totaling 201 receiving yards and two touchdowns in much-needed victories to clinch a playoff spot. Doubs caught eight touchdowns, and was at his best in the playoffs with a combined 10 catches for 234 yards and a score in the two contests. Of the two, Reed may have the most room to grow.
Christian Watson is an enigma, playing just nine games because he was limited with injuries. But in Weeks 12 and 13, he put his speed and athletic ability on full throttle totaling 12-165-3. Stay healthy, Mr. Watson. This group can go five deep, as Dontayvion Wicks caught both touchdowns in a 17-9 season-finale victory over the Bears. Bo Melton didn’t register a catch until Week 15, then two weeks later put up 6-105-1.
"I'm really excited about this Packers receiver room, and part of me is also like, is it a cautionary tale?" Harmon said, "For how many guys they have, that we can't really get too far over our skis with, like, one or two of them, because how much opportunity is there really gonna be there, even if Jordan Love is a stud, and I think Jordan Love is a stud."
And the receiving talent isn’t relegated to the wideouts. Rookie tight ends Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft were a 1-2 punch, catching a combined 65 balls for over 700 yards. With another year in Matt LaFleur’s offense, they could take this unit to a new level.
And we have yet to cover the player who may be the most important outside of Love. Aaron Jones missed six games and saw more than 10 rush attempts twice before Week 15. Though in his last five games — including two in the playoffs — Jones surpassed 100 rushing yards each game and averaged a whopping 5.7 YPC and was the main cog in the Green Bay offense. He may be going into his age-29 season, but Jones should be back, though probably with a new running mate in the backfield to assure Jones is not worn down by the end of the season.
It’s no wonder that optimism for the future of this high-octane offense has replaced those question marks just six short months ago in Cheesehead Country and the fantasy football community.