It's a game that some view as very pointless as they can't wait to get to the Regular Season, but for some who will take the field today at noon CST as the Packers take on the Baltimore Ravens at Lambeau Field, it's their Super Bowl. It's their chance to make an impression that will decide whether they make the final 53-man roster on Tuesday, be signed to a practice squad in hopes of still making that 53 one day, or end up on the street. For some, it could be their final shot at playing in the NFL. Time to seize that opportunity.

This will be the third preseason match-up between the Packers and the Ravens in the history of the two franchises, the first since 2019 in Baltimore. This was a fairly uneventful 26-13 loss for the Packers that saw Tim Boyle, Deshone Kizer, and Manny Wilkins taking QB snaps in Green and Gold with names like Jake Kumerow and Darrius Shepherd leading the receiving stat sheet. Boyle had a touchdown pass to Shepherd in the third quarter, but that would be one of the only highlights of the game for the Packers. On the Baltimore side, Lamar Jackson was just coming off a rookie season that saw him take over the starting job for Joe Flacco. He went 6 for 10 in this game for 58 yards and he also had two runs for 14 yards. Jackson would go on to be the NFL's MVP for the first time the following regular season.

The Packers and Ravens had a joint practice on Thursday that went much better for the Packers this time around than last week's practice with Denver went. The Packers' offense got off to a slow start, but later was cooking with gas coming away with four Jordan Love touchdown passes in the red zone. Romeo Doubs came down with two of those touchdowns and he was also the recipient of a 42-yard deep pass from Love earlier in practice. That connection could be a special one this season. Tucker Kraft also was noticeable in the team drills catching a few big gains over the middle. The defense came to play as well with some good pressure on Lamar Jackson racking up a few would-be sacks if not QB hurries. Evan Williams also came up with his 5th interception of training camp when he picked off Ravens' QB2 Josh Johnson. Williams has just been a flat-out baller all camp and I can't wait to see what he does in the regular season. These were all good things, but we talked about the Denver practice being meaningless so we can't rally around this practice as being more than just some good film for Packers coaches to look over. 

What to see on Offense

As of this moment, there's been zero indication of whether or not we will see any starters on offense today. Head Coach Matt LaFleur was very non-committal when it came to whether or not we would see starters during his press conference on Thursday before practice. I and many others have been under the assumption that it would all depend on the team's performance in the joint practice with Baltimore. If you ask me, I think that means we won't see many starters as practice seemed to go pretty well, good enough that the team should be fine packing it up for Training Camp and getting them ready for Brazil. 

If no starters does end up being the case, expect a lineup similar to that which we saw in Denver. Sean Clifford and Michael Pratt will be at the helm for the QBs and after both looked much better at practice this week, hopefully, we can expect a better performance out of both today against the Ravens. I have to say though, I'd like to see Michael Pratt start the game over Sean Clifford. Neither QB has proven to be the definite QB2 behind Jordan Love this season. So, why not give Michael Pratt a shot with the 2's to see what he does? If he performs well, maybe he will challenge Clifford for that QB2 job. If he doesn't, then you have your definite answer to just go with Clifford. 

The running back room is thin. If starters don't go, we definitely don't see Josh Jacobs. After that, it's anyone's guess what we see. Last game, with AJ Dillon not playing, it seemed like he would likely be a roster lock, otherwise, he'd be out there playing for his job. But then we received the news that he was recovering from a neck stinger. So, the assumptions were irrelevant. With Dillon not practicing this week, it's anyone's guess whether he plays today or not. With Marshawn Lloyd still hurt, we will likely see a heavy dose of Emanuel Wilson along with Nate McCrary and Ellis Merriweather. This week the Packers also brought back fullback Henry Pearson who had a big day in practice Thursday including a long catch off a wheel route. Now that's a play I'd like to see run more often in the regular season. As I like to say on Twitter/X, "FULLBACKS ARE PEOPLE TOO!" I don't know how much we may see of Pearson, but the other running backs will likely be a full go as they play for their spot on an NFL roster. 

As the case with Josh Jacobs, if we don't see Jordan Love against Baltimore, I'd expect we don't see Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, Jayden Reed, or Dontayvion Wicks. They're the four roster locks at receiver and all four have had a good camp, so no reason to risk injury. I do expect to see a lot of DuBose, Heath, Melton, Julian Hicks, and Toure though. DuBose shined in the first preseason game but wasn't as frequently seen against the Broncos. He's still put together a great camp though so he has a legitimate shot at the final roster in my opinion. Bo Melton and Malik Heath seem like locks but I somewhat doubt the Packers keep seven receivers. Both have had their ups and downs in camp so today's game will provide them with a big opportunity to stick out. Julian Hicks and Dimitri Stanley have had some good moments but they're likely auditioning for a practice squad spot. Jalen Wayne is a bit of an underrated dark horse for me this year. I'm not saying a dark horse for a roster spot, but he was kind of an unknown in camp and I think he could have a shot at being a practice squad development player. He's had some one-handed highlight reel catches in practice, and he also had a block off a WR bubble screen against Denver that had Matt LaFleur hyped up on the sidelines. Coach says, "no block, no rock" well Wayne had the block there that made coach proud, so he could be in the good graces enough to make the practice squad. Also, personally I might be rooting for Jalen Wayne a bit as when I attend training camp with my kids I bring a football for my oldest son to try to get signatures. Sometimes he's into it, sometimes he's very shy and Jalen Wayne walked right over recognizing how shy my son was to ask, grabbed the ball and talked about how he was a shy kid too, signed the ball and high five-d my son before walking away.  Of course if you're nice to my kid I'm going to pull for you. 

For tight ends we'll see who plays. Musgrave and Kraft are locks, Tyler Davis could be as well given his special teams pedigree but I think that'll depend solely on the play of Ben Sims and Joel Wilson. Some are high on Joel Wilson but he has kind of struggled in camp in the last week. A big game for him today could turn the tide but who knows how far. Sims and Davis are more experienced and Wilson could just be turned into a project for the practice squad. 

Okay, on to the big boys. If you ask me, as of right now, the O-line of the 53-man roster will consist of Walker, Morgan, Myers, Jenkins, Tom, Rhyan, Monk, Dillard. Perhaps the biggest shock there is Andre Dillard as early in camp he was having his lunch eaten by Rashan Gary. But after that he's become pretty decent. I could see the Packers keeping him around as a backup for the reason that he's experienced. I'd imagine they're not in a hurry to get him on the field due to injury status but I'd like to see Jordan Morgan on the field before it counts. He makes the roster regardless but it would be nice to see him in game action before he gets buried on the depth chart possibly. Jacob Monk has shown a ton of promise so they won't let him hit waivers for anything. The others are probably self explanatory. Royce Newman is notably absent from my list, and that's for good reason. Newman played basically the entire game against Denver. He played against 1's, 2's, and 3's, and guess what, he didn't show much improvement going against any of them. Newman had a great rookie season where he looked like a steal of a pick, but since then, not one bit. It's time to cut the losses on him and let someone with an upside have his spot on the 53. Travis Glover may be a surprise roster spot given his draft selection status. He hasn't stuck out too much except for this past week, but I would not be shocked to see him make it. Caleb Jones, Kadeem Telfort, and Luke Tenuta will probably but practice squad candidates again but expect them to do their best today to put together some good film. 

What to See on Defense

If we don't see starters against Baltimore, I think we will see a lot of roster bubble guys like James Ester, Jonathan Ford, Keshawn Banks, Arron Mosby, and Spencer Waege. The 53 could be hard to crack for the defensive line as I count about 10 likely roster locks. All the aforementioned players could be looking to make a name for themselves via the practice squad. I'll be interested to see how much the newly signed Keonte Schad plays today as he just joined the Packers this week. There's no way I'd put him on the 53-man roster unless he just has an obscene performance against Baltimore looking like Aaron Donald. He's likely shooting for a practice squad spot. I'd think the Packers will give him a big chunk of the game to show off what he brings to the table. 

For the Linebackers I would really love to see Edgerrin Cooper take the field. Much like Jordan Morgan though, he's making this team regardless. Nonetheless, I'd like to see what he has before he gets buried on the depth chart. Outside of Cooper, I'll have eyes on Ralen Goforth, Ty'Ron Hopper, and Kristian Welch. Hopper really turned it on against Denver given his previous time missed and that helped his cause for sure to make the 53 not only on his draft status but on skill as well. Kristian Welch has been a core special teams player but has really put on a good camp at the linebacker position. He may make the roster on special teams skill itself, but the play he's put together in camp, if he has another big game today, They may have no choice but to give him a few snaps per game at linebacker. Ralen Goforth has had a good camp. This may be a situation where he just doesn't make it because linebacker is a crowded room, but I would look for him to put together a good game today and make his case for a practice squad position and maybe a promotion game or two in the future. 

When it comes to the defensive backs, I'd say we're pretty set with the starters alongside Javon Bullard and Evan Williams. Both rookies have shined in camp and will no doubt be roster locks. For bubble players at safety I hope to see a lot of Benny Sapp and Zayne Anderson. Anderson is known for special teams mostly, but could contribute on defense if called on. Sapp has made a number of big plays so I expect to see him pushing hard to make the roster this year and Kitan Oladapo has been a roster lock for me for a while. He has made plans in camp often as well as he has a high draft selection so that helps. For the Cornerbacks I'll be looking to see Kalen King rebound from the last debacle he had in Denver and just didn't look like himself at all.  

Extra Notes

Well, Alex Hale has been named the Packers' international player protecting his spot on the practice squad. This is interesting for the question of what it does for Anders Carlson and Greg Joseph. It almost feels like Carlson and Joseph will have their last chances today to show they belong in the lead, and if they don't, Hale will eventually be waiting for them. We will see if a kicker's performance changes all of that.

In the End

This is the last preseason game of the 2024 season. As I said before, some care, some don't, but it's a big deal for some of the guys on that field. We can only hope to see a huge breakout game for one of the roster bubble players. But if not, this should be a good preseason game between two teams that plan on still being around come February. These may not be the guys playing then, but it should still be a good game. Go Pack Go.