Ian Hartitz takes a hard look at the Green Bay Packers team needs going into the NFL Draft and 2025 season.

The Packers didn't lose to anyone other than the Super Bowl champs and NFC North rivals in 2024. And yet, that still wound up leading to seven total losses, the last straw being a 22-10 L to the Eagles in the Wild Card Round that never seemed overly competitive.

Of course, Jordan Love and Co. still resembled one of the league's better teams on their way to winning double-digit games for the fourth time in six years. Their +122 point differential was good for the third-highest mark in the NFC and reflected the reality that Green Bay fielded one of the league's better combinations of great offense and defense.

 

Today we'll recap some of the good and bad of 2024 before getting into potential offseason injuries to monitor as well as team needs ahead of the 2025 offseason.

As always: It's a great day to be great.

GREEN BAY PACKERS 2024 RECAP

  • Record: 11-6 (10.5 preseason win total)
  • Points per game: 27.1 (8th)
  • EPA per dropback: +0.182 (7th)
  • EPA per rush: -0.03 (9th)
  • Points per game allowed: 19.9 (6th)
  • Leading passer: Jordan Love (3,389 pass yards, 25 TD, 11 INT)
  • Leading rusher: Josh Jacobs (301 carries, 1,329 yards, 15 TD)
  • Leading receiver: Jayden Reed (55 receptions, 857 yards, 6 TD)

Biggest surprise: TE Tucker Kraft

The Packers' 2023 third-round pick worked well behind Luke Musgrave throughout their rookie seasons, but an early-season ankle injury kept the latter TE off the field for a large portion of the 2024 regular season.

This allowed Kraft to run away with the starting job—and at this point it's hard to imagine Musgrave ever getting it back. After all, the South Dakota State product proved to be one of the league's most-efficient players at the position.

Kraft among 31 TEs with 50-plus targets in 2024:

  • Yards per route run: 1.63 (No. 9)
  • Yards per target: 10.1 (No. 2)
  • Yards per reception: 14.1 (No. 2)
  • Yards after the catch per reception: 9.1 (No. 1)

The latter YAC figure was where Kraft really made his money. Overall, Kraft's +3.1 yards after the catch over expected easily led the position, while ESPN advanced receiver ratings also dubbed him as the top dog at TE when it came to pure YAC ability.

Unfortunately, not all of the Packers' young pass catchers were overly impressive in 2024.

Biggest disappointment: WR Dontayvion Wicks

There was a LOT of hype surrounding Wicks entering last season, especially as a later-round sleeper in the fantasy community. And why wouldn't there be? He flashed again and again while creating all kinds of separation as a rookie and at worst looked like someone capable of providing immediate upside if any of the Packers' starting three WRs got injured.

Well, Wicks had more than a few chances to show his stuff as a full-time player with Romeo Doubs and Christian Watson missing a combined six games, but unfortunately his previous sky-high efficiency was nowhere to be found.

Wicks among 89 WRs with 50-plus targets in 2024:

  • Yards per route run: 1.43 (62nd)
  • Yards per target: 5.5 (85th)
  • Yards per reception: 10.6 (76th)
  • Passer rating when targeted: 78.6 (81st)

Not great, especially when considering Wicks ranked 24th, ninth, 22nd, and ninth back in 2023.

Of course, the often-discussed culprit: Drops. Wicks' 8 total drops were tied for the eighth-highest mark in the league, while ironically only former Packers WR Allen Lazard (17.8%) had a higher drop rate (17%, up from 4.7%). He also posted the league's third-worst contested catch rate (21.4%, down from 42.9%). Not great!

Key injuries

There are two key WR injuries for Green Bay to handle this offseason:

  • Jayden Reed said in January that he will NOT need surgery on his dislocated shoulder, presumably putting him firmly on track for offseason activities.
  • Christian Watson suffered a Grade 3 ACL tear on Jan. 5, putting him at risk of missing significant action. Watson's Dad himself said he should be back "around Week 12," making it awfully difficult to imagine the rising fourth-year WR making too big of an impact in the 2025 regular season.

What Are The Biggest Needs of the Packers Ahead Of 2025?

Team Need No. 1: Wide Receiver

Annoyed fantasy managers aren't the only ones feeling like this WR room needs a jolt: Packers RB Josh Jacobs stated in early February, “I think we need a guy that's proven to be a No. 1 WR already.”

We already discussed Wicks' issues, but he was hardly the only one with a case of the butterfingers. Overall, no group of WRs had more total drops than the Packers (25), and their drop rate (8.4%) also led the league.

Kudos to the Packers for managing to hit on some talented young receivers in recent drafts, but at some point a real investment might be needed here. After all, the Packers have the fifth-fewest 2025 dollars devoted to the position at the moment, and with all due respect to their various baller second-round receivers over the years, the last WR they took with a first-round pick was Javon Walker all the way back in … 2002.

Team Need No. 2: Linebacker

Starter and second-leading tackler Isaiah McDuffie is hitting free agency, as is Eric Wilson (12 starts in 2024). This has the Packers sitting as one of just eight teams with under $8 million devoted to its LB room ahead of 2025.

Even bringing back both free agents might not be enough here considering the defense's problems with defending RBs (3rd most receiving yards allowed) and TEs (9th) last season. Just ask Eagles TE Dallas Goedert (4-47-1 in the Wild Card Round).

Overall, Edgerrin Cooper (No. 4) was the only Packers linebacker to rank inside PFF's top-40 options at the position last season. Their status as the league's fourth-most expensive defense entering 2025 makes it tough to add too many more resources here; just realize the second level sure seems like the one weak spot of the league's reigning fourth-ranked defense in EPA allowed per play.

Team Need No. 3: Interior offensive line

PFF's reigning sixth-ranked offensive line faces the prospect of losing only C Josh Myers to free agency, but an upgrade might be needed anyway. The same goes for the team's guards.

One of just five offenses with under $35 million devoted to the offensive line ahead of 2025, Green Bay better devote some serious cash here, or hope 2024 first-rounder Jordan Morgan really comes into his own in Year 2. It might be time to draft some more early-round big men either way: Morgan joins Rhyan and Myers as the only top-100 draft picks in the room over the past five drafts combined.