Carter Bahns of CBS Sports recently broke down several of the NFL’s top “dynamic duos,” but sadly, no Packers made the cut.
That’s not to say there aren’t dynamic pairs of Packers. Plenty of high-performing Packers players come in pairs, and their partnerships could power positive…outcomes (okay, I ran out of words that start with p) on both sides of the ball this year. Here are four dynamic duos worth watching on this year’s Packers’ team.
1 – Xavier McKinney and Evan Williams
The Packers have one
of the best safety rooms around, and this pairing is a big reason why. McKinney is one of the league’s best deep safeties, ballhawking the deep middle with aplomb, while Williams ranges underneath as a versatile, moveable piece, plugging whatever gaps the Packers need filled in their secondary. It remains to be seen exactly what their roles look like in Jonathan Gannon’s safety-heavy defense, but Gannon would be foolish to change things too much. He’s got a good thing going with these two; McKinney is an All-Pro, Williams is headed that direction, and Gannon seems smart enough to not fiddle around with a good thing too much. Plus, we haven’t even mentioned super slot Javon Bullard (which, I suppose, would break the entire point of doing dynamic duos, but we’re about to do that in the next one anyway).
2 – Pick two: Christian Watson, Jayden Reed, or Matthew Golden
If you want to restrict this to just the two receivers who signed extensions this offseason, that’s fine with me, but the point is, the Packers have three interesting playmakers at wide receiver. Watson, Reed, and Golden all have game-breaking speed and are a threat to go the distance on any given play, and we’ve seen them all produce explosive plays in their own unique ways. Pair any two of these players together and you’ve got an interesting combination. Use all three and the Packers’ passing game should be in great shape.
3 – Edgerrin Cooper and Zaire Franklin
I’ll fully admit, this is aspirational, but hear me out. Dating back to De’Vondre Campbell’s unexpected All-Pro season, the Packers have spent quite a bit of time and treasure trying to create a dynamic duo at linebacker. First they paired Campbell with early career Quay Walker, which didn’t pan out as first Campbell’s body and then his attitude failed him. Then, they lined Edgerrin Cooper up next to Walker, which was better than the Walker/Campbell pairing, but still not quite what you would expect given the physical talents of the involved parties. Now, the Packers have moved on from Walker and traded for old Gannon standby Zaire Franklin, hoping he can recapture the magic of his best years, which coincided with Gannon’s presence in Indianapolis.
Can it work? There’s no reason it can’t, other than Franklin’s possible age-related decline, the challenges of recapturing past success, and a whole host of other factors. But aside from that, there’s real possibility here. Franklin is wearing the green dot for the Packers, turning Cooper loose to be his fast and free-flowing, playmaking self. If it works, the Packers could finally have found the linebacker pair they’ve been trying to create for more than half a decade now.
4 – Jordan Morgan and Zach Tom
Okay, this duo may not be dynamic in the same way that the track star wide receivers or twitched-up linebackers are, but it’s crucially important. The Packers have a ton of depth at guard. At tackle? Not so much. And the guys they’re counting on have plenty of question marks.
Zach Tom is one of the league’s best when healthy. But right now, he’s not. He’s coming off major knee surgery, and while it looks like he’s on track to be ready for the start of the season, that’s hardly a guarantee. Having lived through the David Bakhtiari experience, Packers fans should know that better than most.
Jordan Morgan, meanwhile, has spent the last two years unable to unseat seventh round pick Rasheed Walker at left tackle. Maybe he never had a true opportunity to compete for the job; it’s certainly possible the Packers thought he was more versatile than Walker and thus more adaptable to moving around the line. But the fact remains he’s now starting for the first time at the NFL level, and the Packers have no real depth behind him.
If the Packers really have Super Bowl aspirations this year, and there’s no reason to think they don’t, Tom and Morgan had better be as dynamic of a duo as two tackles can be.
