The Green Bay Packers secured a nice comeback victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday. More importantly, the close game gave Matt LaFleur and his coaching staff valuable data on players up and down the roster. The starters didn't cover themselves in glory against the Colts, but the backups gave their head coach a lot to consider.
In fairness, the Packers offense played the game without quarterback Jordan Love, who likely won't be seen again until Week 1 arrives. Star running back Josh Jacobs also was spared the wear and tear of competing against Indianapolis. No one in Green Bay will be overly concerned with the struggles of the Packers' first-team offense in a meaningless preseason game.
The struggles of the first-team defense might be more of an issue for coordinator Jeff Hafley, however. His unit was also missing some big names, but being carved up by Daniel Jones and Anthony Richardson did not scream that Green Bay's defense was ready for the regular season. It's too soon to ring alarm bells, but the secondary needs to show progress before Week 1.
Several high-profile backups did a lot to change their standing with the coaching staff and front office. The following three takeaways should be valuable data points for the players involved.
Packers takeaway No. 1: Anthony Belton is not ready to play meaningful snaps
Anthony Belton has a lot of God-given ability, and he looked excellent in his first preseason outing. Unfortunately for the former NC State star, his play against the Colts illustrates just how far he has to go before he's ready to play important NFL snaps.
The former second-round pick managed to commit five penalties in a single half of action against the Colts. He committed one facemask penalty, a false start, an unnecessary roughness call and then topped it off by lining up for consecutive illegal formation penalties. Cynical Packers fans can at least give him credit for his variety of infractions.
Errors from rookies in the preseason are expected, but Belton took things entirely too far against Indianapolis. Any hope the coaching staff had of relying on him as a swing tackle early in the regular season have likely been dashed. He still has time to make up for his poor showing against the Colts, but his short-term stock is certainly on the decline.
Packers takeaway No. 2: Taylor Elgersma has more upside than Sean Clifford
The Packers hope that their No. 3 quarterback isn't forced into important action this season, but they will still spend plenty of time deciding whether Sean Clifford or Taylor Elgersma can be trusted in that reserve role. Elgersma does not have the experience in Green Bay's system that Clifford does but there's little debate that he has a higher ceiling at this stage in their respective careers.
Clifford managed to lead the offense on a game-winning drive in the fourth quarter, but he only completed one of his four passes for 11 yards. Elgersma was much more productive in his time with the second unit, completing seven of his 11 passes for 109 yards. His willingness to push the ball down the field should have caught the eye of LaFleur during his time in the game.
There's no certainty that Green Bay will carry three quarterbacks on their 53-man roster, but there's no reason Clifford should be ahead of Elgersma in the quarterback room. His talent advantage is large enough to make up for the experience gap between the two signal-callers.
Packers takeaway No. 3: Isaiah Simmons can be really productive in this scheme
Isaiah Simmons entered the NFL with high expectations as a top-10 pick back in the 2020 NFL Draft. The former Clemson star has struggled to find a home in professional football despite his obvious athleticism.
It's starting to look like Hafley's defensive scheme might give Simmons the perfect platform to leverage those gifts. He may never be the dynamic playmaker that scouts believed he could be coming out of college, but he led Green Bay in tackles against the Colts' rushing attack with nine stops. That kind of productivity will hold strong appeal for a franchise that needs reliable inside linebackers to rack up tackles at a prolific rate.
One good preseason game won't be enough to push Simmons into the starting lineup, but he should feel much more secure about his chances of starting the regular season on the team's 53-man roster. He can be a high-quality, versatile reserve for the team's linebacking group. No fan should be surprised if Simmons finds a way to force his way into a meaningful snap counts as he gets more and more comfortable with their defensive system.