The Green Bay Packers confirmed some of the usage rates they debuted in Week 1 against the Minnesota Vikings, but they also made some hard changes to their units in other situations. Notably, the offensive line and running back rotation saw significant changes. Let’s go position-by-position to explain what is or isn’t changing in Green Bay.
All snap counts below are just for offense or defense.
Quarterback
- Jordan Love: 50 snaps
- Tyrod Taylor: 0
This is a no-brainer. Jordan Love is the starter, as long as he’s healthy.
Running Back
- Chris Brooks: 22 (59 on season)
- Kaleb Johnson: 14 (14 on season)
- MarShawn Lloyd: 14 (44 on season)
We came into the year thinking
that MarShawn Lloyd would be the Packers’ RB1, as long as Josh Jacobs is out, but that is simply not the case. While Lloyd is in the mix, he was tied for last at the position on Sunday with 14 snaps, sharing that spot with Kaleb Johnson, who played zero offensive snaps against the Vikings. If anything, it’s a stock-up situation for Johnson and a stock-down situation for Lloyd. Chris Brooks, who was best known as a blocking back for the Packers, has been the player on the field the most for Green Bay this year.
Receiver
- Christian Watson: 46
- Matthew Golden: 42
- Skyy Moore: 18
- Bo Melton: 7
- J. Michael Sturdivant: 6
- Jayden Reed: 2
Jayden Reed got injured on the second play of the game, and he left the game on a backboard. The Packers had a really strict positional placement for receivers in the preseason, and that trend has carried over during the regular season. Christian Watson (Z), Matthew Golden (X) and Reed (slot) are the starters, with J. Michael Strudivant (Z), Bo Melton (X) and Moore (slot) being their direct backups, respectively. Players are not being moved around to multiple positions, as they have been in the past. Whenever Savion Williams comes back, he will probably displace Sturdivant as the top backup behind Watson for the Z position. If Reed is out for a significant amount of time, we’re probably going to see a lot more Moore (or multiple tight end sets) moving forward.
Tight End
- Tucker Kraft: 50 (94 on season)
- Mark Redman: 17 (38 on season)
- Jonnu Smith: 12 (44 on season)
- Josh Whyle: 0 (11 on season)
Josh Whyle continues to be clearly fourth in the pecking order offensively. He’s played about six percent of the team’s total tight end snaps through two weeks, and those all came against the Vikings.
Also, so much for that Tucker Kraft pitch count that was brought up by the Packers. He played every snap this game, and Kraft played 44 of 67 (66 percent) last week.
Offensive Line
- Jacob Monk: 50
- Sean Rhyan: 50
- Jordan Morgan: 50
- Anthony Belton: 47
- Aaron Banks: 20
- Jager Burton: 19
- Donovan Jennings: 11
- Zach Bako-Bewele: 3
The Packers played all eight offensive linemen against the Jets, partially against their own will. Left guard Aaron Banks left the game with a toe injury, while Zach Bako-Bewele, the starting right tackle, was carted off in an air cast after just three plays. Head coach Matt LaFleur said that Bako-Bewele’s injury could be long-term.
Donovan Jennings, who started last week at left tackle after Banks missed the game with knee tendinitis, replaced Banks before being pulled in favor of fifth-round rookie Jager Burton. Anthony Belton took over at right tackle for Bako-Bewele.
The preferred starting offensive line, if Bako-Bewele and Banks miss Thursday Night Football next week will probably be: Jordan Morgan, Burton, Sean Rhyan, Jacob Monk and Anthony Belton. Jennings, John Williams and Travis Glover (Williams and Glover were both healthy scratches today) will probably have to be called up to the 48-man gameday roster if that’s the scenario the Packers are facing.
Defensive Line
- Karl Books: 48
- Devonte Wyatt: 41
- Chris McClellan: 34
- Jonathan Ford: 30
- Anthony Campbell: 9
With Javon Hargrave and Warren Brinson out, Anthony Campbell got his first taste of NFL regular season action. He was kept on a pretty modest snap count.
Edge Defender
- Lukas Van Ness: 52
- Barryn Sorrell: 31
- Brenton Cox Jr.: 30
- Dani Dennis-Sutton: 29
Lukas Van Ness was on the field a lot, but the position generally rotates pretty eventually between the other three options, besides Van Ness.
Off-Ball Linebacker
- Zaire Franklin: 72
- Edgerrin Cooper: 72
- Isaiah McDuffie: 0
- Ty’Ron Hopper: 0
- Nick Niemann: 0
You were sold a bag of lies about the defense being a 3-4/4-3 hybrid. Zaire Franklin and Edgerrin Cooper have played every snap of defense so far this year, and four other linebackers (Isaiah McDuffie, Ty’Ron Hopper, Nick Niemann and Kristian Welch) have combined to play one snap of defense total, a third-and-extra-long where the Packers played a three-linebacker set with McDuffie to play against an obvious screen/draw situation.
Cornerback
- Keisean Nixon: 72
- Brandon Cisse: 72
- Carrington Valentine: 2
- Benjamin St-Juste: 0
- Kamal Hadden: 0
Keisean Nixon has played every snap at left cornerback this year, and Brandon Cisse has played every snap at right cornerback when he’s been healthy. I need to check when Carrington Valentine got on the field, because the team might have played their first snaps of dime all year on Sunday. Last week, Benjamin St-Juste got one snap, but it was on a kneel-down.
Safety
- Xavier McKinney: 72
- Evan Williams: 72
- Javon Bullard: 54
- Kitan Oladapo: 0
This is nothing new. Xavier McKinney and Evan Williams are the starting safeties, and Javon Bullard is the slot defender. Last week, Bullard was on the field 52 percent of the time. This week, he was on the field for 75 percent of defensive plays.
