The Green Bay Packers 2024 season didn't live up to expectations coming into the season, but still resulted in a playoff appearance.

For being an up-and-down season chalked full of self-inflicted mistakes, it speaks to the talent and potential of the Packers roster to still finish fourth in offense by FTN's DVOA (Defense-adjusted Value Over Average) and seventh in DVOA.

The Packers were able to find some players last offseason who contributed largely to the success, had some returning players continue to ascend, and others who struggled to rise up to the occasion this year.

Heading into this offseason, General Manager Brian Gutekunst has some gut-check decisions to make, and thankfully, per Packers' cap guru Ken Ingalls, the Packers will have roughly $23 million in effective cap space to work with this offseason after signing draft picks. Of course, restructures, releases, and extensions can still all impact that number, but regardless, the Packers are in a great spot with having the flexibility to address the roster.

To that, there are a few players on the team already who unquestionably will not be going anywhere, while the others all have some vulnerabilities that could impact their status on the roster. 

Untouchables

• Jordan Love
• Edgerrin Cooper
• Xavier McKinney
• Josh Jacobs
• Zach Tom
• Elgton Jenkins
• Tucker Kraft
• Jayden Reed
• Evan Williams
• Jordan Morgan

There are a decent handful of players who are very obviously going to play tremendous roles on the Packers next season that, should any other team even think to place a call to Green Bay to inquire about, would be told to kick rocks. And that's if the phone isn't immediately hung up.

As it stands today, this is the undisputed core of the Packers' roster, which will lead them into the 2025 season.

From McKinney taking home first-team All-Pro honors, Edgerrin Cooper displaying talent the Packers haven't seen at off-ball linebacker in decades, Zach Tom finishing as PFF's fourth-highest-graded offensive tackle in the NFL, Tucker Kraft leading all qualified tight ends in average yards after catch (8.8) while also excelling as a blocker, Josh Jacobs returning to All-Pro form, Jayden Reed posting top numbers out of the slot while also being the Packers most dynamic weapon, Evan Williams being named to PFF's All-Rookie team, to Jordan Love in a banged up season still developing into what appears will be an elite quarterback that's already locked up for a while; the Packers stack up a talented core of players to lead them into the future.

Morgan, the Packers' latest first-round pick, is coming off a rookie season spent mostly on the shelf with injuries, but there's no scenario the Packers would already move off of him or sign or trade for an offensive lineman who would prevent Morgan from getting on the field. Morgan's status on the roster is as much a lock as anyone's.

Untouchable, but barely

• Rashan Gary
• Javon Bullard

Gary is coming off a season that was equally successful and as disappointing, especially considering his paycheck. 

Disappointingly, Gary again failed to eclipse 10 sacks this season, and most databases have yet to register him with a single 10-sack season in his six-year career.

Despite a stronger finish to the season after a concerningly sluggish start, Gary still finished 31st among edge rushers in pressures (47) and 26th in sacks (8). It was undoubtedly not the season the Packers had hoped from Gary after excitement about what a new system could mean for his production. However, what a new system instead meant for his production was more geared towards his success as a run defender this season.

Still extremely important is a team's run defense. Without it, don't ever expect to bring home a championship; the ghosts of Packer defenses past would be the first to tell that to anyone.

With Jeff Hafley in town as defensive coordinator, Gary turned in his best season in run defense in his career. His 22 stops in run defense were 10th among edge rushers, and 10.5% of his snaps in run defense resulted in him registering a stop, the second-highest clip among edge rushers.

That type of run defense is far from a guarantee out of edge rushers, no matter how elite, and having that production from Gary is invaluable to the team's defensive success and the Packers' run defense improving to its best in roughly a decade.

The improvements in run defense and being the model of "carrying the G" on and off the field as a locker room leader definitely helped secure Gary's place on the roster. But it's non-Gary factors that make him more of a lock on the roster than anything else.

Given his dip in pass rush this season, his inability to ascend to the next level in sack production, and his contract, it's miscalculated to think any team will expend much to acquire Gary in a trade. Atleast not to the extent that the Packers will be willing to entertain, given their recent lofty investment in Gary's future on the team and their unlikely willingness to accept anything less than premium capital in return for Gary that simply isn't a viable reality at this time.

Secondly, if the Packers were to add any type of pass rush help this offseason, presumably to take over as the team's top pass rusher, it would be others like Van Ness, Enagbare, or Cox who face greater risk than Gary.

The goal of adding another pass rusher would not be to continue having one side not produce much, as happened this season. The goal would be to put someone across from Gary to give the Packers a real chance of having total domination on both sides of the line of scrimmage.

But Gary's rope is wearing thin, and next season will again test his ability to become the premier pass rusher he recently looked like he was becoming before injuries knocked him down, and a new scheme set him up to play more of a contain role at times than in past seasons.

As for Bullard, he is coming off a rough rookie season where he was picked apart at times in coverage. That said, he was tremendous playing up at the line of scrimmage, making frequent big tackles against passes behind the line of scrimmage and contributing in run defense. As one of the Packers' two second-round picks last season and taking over as their new slot defender, Bullard's role on the team is certainly not going anywhere after an up-and-down rookie season.

However, with Williams looking like the top option as McKinney's running mate at safety and the Packers likely having a big shake-up at cornerback this offseason, there will certainly be new competition brought that could result in Bullard's role being impacted if his coverage doesn't take a step forward next year. That said, and like Gary, it would take something pretty massive for Bullard not to have a firm starting role on the team to open next season. But the leash extended might not be as long as it is for the more untouchable players on roster right now.

Nothing Guaranteed

• Kenny Clark
• Keisean Nixon
• Quay Walker
• Sean Rhyan

Kenny Clark is entering his age-30 season and arguably coming off the worst year of his career. Yes, it's true that Clark is the type of defensive lineman who makes life easier for an off-ball linebacker, but something was very clearly off this season, and it creates a situation the Packers will need to take into consideration for a player now in the later years of his prime.

The 2025 draft class is stacked at defensive tackle, and as proven last year by getting in the action of a loaded offensive tackle class, Gutekunst is not afraid to get his slice of the pie at one of the top-heavy positions in the draft.

With dropping to only one sack this year and having a tough time executing against both double teams and one-on-ones in either run defense or pass rush, Clark's play opened the door for the Packers to consider drafting his replacement. While Devonte Wyatt was drafted to be the Robin to Clark's Batman, the combo has not been able to string together any real dominance in the middle of the Packer's defensive line. When play is good, but not great, there's room to upgrade. 

To make matters worse for Clark, the Packers have an out in his contract after the 2025 season, and with even the best rookie defensive tackles normally taking a year to come into their own, the Packers may be interested in investing premium capital to recreate what Clark has given them for many years prior. And draft history suggests that if a team wants a great defensive tackle, the first round is the place to invest. This year is as good as any to take a swing.

For Nixon, his play vastly improved this season with kicking out to the boundary and he was arguably the top blitzing cornerback in the NFL this past season with how Hafley deployed him in that role.

But like the defensive tackle play, overall, he was good but not great, especially not to the extent that is required from a team's top cornerback in coverage.

The writing seems to be on the wall with Jaire Alexander likely not returning to the Packers next season after injuries cost him most of his 2024 campaign and many games across recent seasons. Even if he did, who really knows at this point with his injury situation.

To that, the Packers don't currently have what should make anyone feel great about their top option at cornerback.

Carrington Valentine certainly looks promising, with only one touchdown allowed in his first 769 pass coverage snaps in his career, but has still struggled enough to the extent that he isn't a sure thing to take over top cornerback duties.

Eric Stokes had his fifth-year option declined, and despite a promising late-season stretch, there's no guarantee he's on the roster next year himself.

Naturally, that leaves Nixon as the top cornerback on the Packers but this unit is far from settled. If the Packers want to entertain a trade for a top-flight cornerback, there's no reason why Nixon, or any of the Packers' current group of corners, would be left out of the conversation if it would result in a meaningful upgrade.

The Packers may also choose to address the position in free agency and/or the draft, which could very well jeopardize even Nixon's spot if they could move off him to help build at other positions if they feel better about a new top cornerback and Valentine as the number two.

Point being, while Nixon will very likely start next season as one of the Packers' top two cornerbacks, and while his play as a boundary corner is sufficient in a number two role, there's a plethora of ways Green Bay may look to build up their cornerback room, and there's currently no premier presence that should be kept out of considerations when making necessary moves to put the best 11 players on the field.

In the case of Quay, it's quite simple: There are now three years of tape and stats to show that he's the definition of expendable, and there's a better chance than not that, especially with Cooper's emergence, the Packers may decide to not pick up Walker's fifth-year option.

Sure, late this season, he started to show some signs of improvement. But he remains one of the lowest-rated linebackers in all of football in pass coverage in each of his first three seasons, and he continuously struggles to make an impact in run defense. 

Not only that, but he's most certainly been passed up by Cooper on the depth chart heading into next season. And while they could end up making a strong one-two punch, linebacker is not a valued position in the NFL right now, and unless the contract was cheap, the Packers are surely not going to be looking to invest anything into bringing Walker back on an extension at this pace.

Walker desperately needs to put it all together in 2025.

If The Price Is Right:

• Christian Watson (unlikely to be moved with his ACL injury) / Romeo Doubs / Dontayvion Wicks
• Carrington Valentine
• Rasheed Walker
• Lukas Van Ness
• Devonte Wyatt
• Luke Musgrave

It's time to have a a difficult conversation about some players on the Packers, ones that this offseason may test the sanity of Gutekunst trying to decipher the best path forward. No one should yet be giving up on any of these guys but there's reasons why none are sure bets (yet) to be part of the Packers' long-term equation.

There's no reason why any player mentioned above should be left out of the discussion if the Packers are in trade talks to bring in a substantial upgrade at a position. Yes, at first glance, it may feel uncomfortable to see some of these names, like Waston or Doubs, but if it means a true upgrade to another Xavier McKinney or Josh Jacobs type of impactful addition to the Packers, that naturally involves packaging a high-potential player in exchange for an elite known commodity.

Watson, Doubs, and Wicks all bring great traits to the Packers offense, but with how the Packers offense looks to be operating going forward, there is no room for them to support the development of four promising receivers.

Jayden Reed leading the team with 55 catches is the lowest to lead the team since 2003 and with everyone receiving such low volume, it will be very difficult for anyone to begin to start reaching their potential. If the Packers are able to consolidate their pass catchers via trade, that more than likely means moving off any of the three to make that a reality.

However, what's more likely is that they invest high draft capital to bring in another receiver, which would naturally phase one of these three out of the offense anyway. Again, it's gut check time for Gutekunst, with this room coming off a mostly disappointing season in which targets were scarce for everyone, and output failed to exceed expectations largely due to dropped passes and the nature of the offense shifting to more run-dominant.

Rookie contracts are running out on this wide receiver unit, and no one has separated themselves besides Reed to the extent that he does a bit of everything and is a uniquely dynamic player. All options need to be on the table to get the receiver room in a spot where it's again going to be a strength for the Packers next season.

Musgrave, on the other hand, has faced two lengthy injuries in his first two seasons and now has a Tucker Kraft emergence in his way. It's unlikely the Packers want to move Musgrave, but if the price is right and would allow the Packers to fill other roster gaps with tight end looking locked up by Kraft, it's not outside the realm of possibilities that another team sees Musgrave as a starting tight end still and is willing to invest in talents. That said, it may behoove Green Bay to reap the benefits of one full season of Kraft and Musgrave running a muck on defenses in two tight-end sets before shaking things up behind Kraft on the depth chart.

Wyatt, Van Ness, Walker, and Valentine all bring extremely valuable talent to the Packers. However, they are all also at far greater risk of being traded and replaced than others in their positions.

It may still require a high asking price in return, as it's unlikely the Packers are willing to throw in the towel on any of them yet. But Green Bay love to "be involved" in talks and these are four high-ceiling players that other teams may be willing to bite on, especially while they still don't cost much. 

What makes all of their situations more precarious is the upcoming draft and free agency, where premium talent will be available who the Packers may see as an upgrade to invest in that would either push them down the depth chart or involved in a trade for the Packers to recoup some value if they do choose to turn their attention to someone else.

Unfortunately, none have done enough or jumped off the tape to the extent that Green Bay should absolutely not consider other options. Valentine is well on his way, but Van Ness is still struggling to put it all together as a pass rusher, and Wyatt hasn't elevated his game much after three seasons.

In Walker's case, the Packers could also very well choose to go into next season with Morgan at left tackle despite Walker's strong numbers again this year. That doesn't mean he's bonified "untouchable," as a seventh-rounder still making his mark while fighting through some inconsistencies in run blocking and penalties. That said, he's very well on track to slide into the untouchable range and earn an extension after a strong next season.

Again, anytime a team is dealing with a player who is good, but not great, the expectation should always be to seek great. Otherwise, don't expect great results at the end of the season. No team will ever be perfect or have great players at every spot, but complacency kills in any business when a high standard is not being adhered to year in and year out.