Heading into 2024, the Green Bay Packers will have multiple players primed for a big season.
The Green Bay Packers are coming off a very successful 2023 campaign, with surprising play from a litany of players. The transition from future hall of famer Aaron Rodgers to Jordan Love had some setbacks and growing pains, but in the second half of the season Love stepped up and led the Packers to the playoffs. There, he helped lead the team to an upset win over the Dallas Cowboys in the wildcard round before going neck and neck with the San Francisco 49ers in the divisional round. The Packers still have some growing to do, as they were the youngest team by average age to ever make the playoffs last season. And if they want to build off of last year’s success, these three players are really gonna need to step up.
Green Bay Packers – Three Key Players for 2024
Jordan Love, QB
I may be in the minority here, but I’m not entirely sold on the Love experience. Do I think he will be able to lead the team? Yes absolutely. Do I think he’s the franchise guy already? That’s where it gets a bit dicey.
Love is a good quarterback who had a great second half of the season last year. However, we have to remember that in the first half of the season there was a four-game stretch where he had seven of his 11 total interceptions (with three in one game).
Love had the ability to learn underneath Rodgers which will help him long term. With that said, he’s still a relatively raw talent on the field, which is evident in the two playoff games from last season.
Against the Cowboys we saw Love at his best. He was torching one of the top defenses in the league on his way to a nearly perfect QB rating of 157.2. Against the 49ers we saw the rust, throwing a season-ending cross body interception.
Love will continue to develop and build camaraderie with his young receivers, and could become the franchise’s long term quarterback. Yet for the Packers success in 2024, it’ll heavily rely on the arm of Love.
Josh Jacobs, RB
Josh Jacobs signed with the Packers early in free agency, and for about thirty minutes it seemed like Green Bay was going to have one of the best running back rooms ever. That was quickly shattered by the announcement of Aaron Jones signing with divisional rival Minnesota Vikings. However, Jacobs still comes into a fun room with AJ Dillon as his secondary punch alongside MarShawn Lloyd. Jacobs also seems to fit what the Packers want from their running back – a true bell cow.
In the final five games of last season (three regular season and two postseason), the Packers starting running back averaged 20 carries per game. That is something that Jacobs has been doing for a while in Las Vegas.
Jacobs power running is going to be a versatile addition to the Packers offense. However, the hope is that he plays more like his 2022 self, than his 2023 campaign, which saw Jacobs put up career-lows in yards, touchdowns and YPC. If Jacobs perform closer to his 2022 averages (1653 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns), it will take pressure off of Love and could see the Packers have a very successful 2024 campaign.
Quay Walker, LB
Not so often you see a player as young as Quay Walker anchor a team defensively. However, that’s just what we saw last season, which was a huge improvement from his rookie year. In his inaugural season, Walker constantly received penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct and getting kicked out of games. Yet in 2023 he became a leader on the defense.
It may not have shown in Walker’s stat sheet for box score watchers, but on the field Walker was not only hyping up his teammates, but keeping his own composure. That led to him being named a defensive captain during the 2023 season.
Walker is still young (he just turned 24), and still has a way to go before he’s amongst the elite tacklers in the league. However, seeing the maturity glow up in one season is definitely something the Packers are happy about. The stats will come, but having a mental leader to not only keep the team composed but also welcome in future draft capital will be vital to Packers success in 2024 and beyond.
Conclusion
Overall, this Packers team is in a similar spot as last season – young. Yet now this youth has experience, a playoff win under their belt, and confidence in their quarterback. The Packers should be a wild card team this season, but their ceiling could be division champions with a possible conference championship appearance. The future is bright for the Packers, and 2024 looks to be another building block!
Randy Vuxta
Randy Vuxta (@RandallVuxta) is a beat writer covering sports picks and dynasty/redraft content for The League Winners with a little over a decade playing fantasy football. Before joining the staff, he studied Journalism and Sports Business management and created The Randy Report, a YouTube channel dedicated to covering all things sports. When he’s not watching game film or the latest Marvel release, he can be found on Twitch streaming everything from Spider-Man to NBA2K. Randy looks to not only win every league he joins, but help others achieve that goal as well.