For one of the few times in the past 30 years, Packers fans don’t have a lot to be thankful for on the fourth Thursday of November. Their favorite team is in the midst of a losing season and saddled with an old quarterback, Joe Barry, and an unsightly cap. So when you gather with family later today, give thanks for those three decades, and of course, for not being a fan of the Vikings or the Bears. Anyway, here are a few more thoughts that ran through my mind recently:
1) As soon as Justin Hollins was released by the Rams, I was hoping he’d wind up in Green Bay. Sure enough, general manager Brian Gutekunst claimed the veteran outside linebacker off waivers on Wednesday. I’ve had my eye on the former Oregon Duck since his rookie season with Denver in ’19. While Hollins is never going to be a star at this level, he’s a quality backup and an effective special teams player. With Rashan Gary’s availability for the start of next season very much uncertain due to a torn ACL suffered a few weeks ago, the Packers will need to improve the depth behind steady Preston Smith and impressive rookie Kinglsey Enagbare. None of the other young players on the roster have stepped up this season, so there’ll be some room for a few new faces at outside linebacker in 2023. If the Packers like what they see from the 26-year-old Hollins in the next month and a half, one of those “new” faces might very well be his.
Hollins (#58) is solid vs. the run, often using his strength and quickness to disengage from blockers and make tackles near the line of scrimmage.
2) Anybody who doesn’t think special teams are significantly better under first-year coordinator Rich Bisaccia either hasn’t watched the Packers play this season or doesn’t understand football. Forget statistics; after a year of absolute mayhem under Maurice Drayton, things look professional again. The coverage units have been very good, and while there have been a few hiccups on field goals and punts, they’ve been isolated incidents and not weekly occurrences. The 63-year-old Bisaccia has done wonders with what he was given to work with, but if the Packers are to go from competent to very good on special teams, Gutekunst needs to be better. He’s the one who handed roster spots to a noodle-legged kicker, a long snapper who kills worms half the time, and a punt returner so bad he’s now a Houston Texan.
3) The lack of talent at wide receiver is obvious – even with the occasional flashes of brilliance from rookies Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs – but the situation at tight end is even worse. Mediocre starter Robert Tonyan continues to prove that 2020 was a fluke. Sure, he scored 11 touchdowns, but many of them came against broken coverages, and of his other 41 receptions, nearly half were on bootlegs. Defensive coordinators aren’t stupid – well, most anyway – so they took that route away. The result is a player averaging only 3.1 catches, 28.7 yards, and 0.16 touchdowns in the past 19 games. The former Indiana State star would be a backup for the majority of teams in the league. Gutekunst needs to upgrade this position in the offseason. Almost all the elite offenses have a quality tight end. Green Bay hasn’t had one since 2016 when Jared Cook caught 31 passes for 407 yards in a six-game stretch that helped vault the Packers to the NFCC.
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Getting players like Hollins and Abram makes sense. They have talent and they’re free agents after the season, so there’s no future monetary obligations. Gutey is taking advantage of the Packers being in a good position to claim players off waivers.
Tonyan will alway be limited because he lacks the ability to make a cut without coming to a complete stop, that includes both running a route and carrying the pigskin…..great hands though. You would also think we could make better use of the 4 million dollars that we pay a backup one dimensional blocking tight end considering the cap situation.
This team will look markedly different next season. So many longtime faces likely to be on different teams or retired.