The Green Bay Packers are entering a pivotal season for the franchise. As they turned the corner from Aaron Rodgers to Jordan Love, the Packers quickly became a force in the NFC. Yet, over the last two seasons, they have just one playoff win to show for it. Because Rodgers won a Super Bowl in his third season, does that make Love overrated if he doesn’t in his third season starting?
This season is important because the Packers have had one of the youngest teams in the NFL and have been one of the best. They added Matthew Golden, the first time the franchise took a receiver in the first round of the NFL Draft since 2002. He’s going to have all the pressure to perform after the Packers’ receiver room has largely operated as a receiver-by-committee unit since Davante Adams left for Las Vegas.
Let’s dive into everything Green Bay as OTAs get underway. There’s a lot of pressure on the Packers and as a result, no shortage of storylines for a franchise that has to make the leap from rebuilding to contending.
Matt LaFleur shuns Jordan Love disrespect as his quarterback enters important season in Green Bay
Jordan Love has been the topic of discussion for the Packers at OTAs as he’s the face of this team transitioning from rebuilding to contending. A lot of the scrutiny on Love has more to do with his “regression” in 2024 from the 2023 season. Matt LaFleur shut down any notion that Love has regressed. Instead, LaFleur added context to Love having a down 2024.
“I think there’s like a narrative out there for whatever reason that he wasn’t as productive as the year before,” LaFleur said, per a story in The Athletic. “Well, he missed significant time. He missed the better of three games. … So, you know, three games is a significant amount of time and you’re not going to produce as much from a numbers perspective.”
In defending Love, however, LaFleur brought on another piece that has to be taken into account. We don’t have to call it regression, but if he has another season that’s filled with injuries, we have to start holding that against him too. Availability is the best ability.
That’s what made him so strong in 2023 and why he has to stay healthy to be strong in 2025. He opted to play quite a few games injured and I’m sure that also affected his production. The Packers have to treat Love carefully if he’s truly their guy. He can’t be playing if he’s injured. They need him to be healthy, whether it’s this season or in the future.
The context LaFleur added is important. But it doesn’t completely absolve Love of his regression. That said, those same questions will arise if he has another season where he’s not healthy enough to produce at the level he’s capable of.
Matthew Golden has a whole lot of hype ahead of rookie season … a lot of pressure too
Jordan Love connects with Matthew Golden; get used to hearing a whole lot of that in 2025. Golden was the first receiver the Packers selected in the first round in over two decades. It highlighted how serious the Packers are about contending. Sure, they have a lot of receivers already, so why did they need to add another?
The reason is, like LaFleur said in an Athletic story, the Packers had a lot of drops last year. For the better part of two seasons, they had role players out wide, no true No. 1 option. They drafted Golden to be their undeniable first option.
That’s why Love and Golden are going to be the reason this team turns the corner or leaves them with a lot of questions moving forward. Look at all the top teams, they have at least one true target that dominates the production.
The Packers didn’t have that before Golden. They think Golden can be that player and for their success, he better pan out. With the hype of Golden, though, comes a lot of pressure for him to become an instant impact. Green Bay is expecting him to have a Justin Jefferson level impact on this team.
That’s how much they’re hyping him up. By trade, they’re also adding more pressure on him. Anything less than rookie of the year, especially in a class that didn’t have overarching quarterback prospects, he will quickly be called a bust.
Latest NFL kicker casualty headed to CFL for redemption
The Green Bay Packers did away with Brayden Narveson, who’s headed to the CFL for redemption. Narveson spent last season with the Tennessee Titans and the Packers. He struggled in Green Bay though, triggering the Packers to make the change.
He was just 70.6 percent from field goal range in six games with Green Bay. While he didn’t miss an extra point, he didn’t make a field goal longer than 47 yards. That won’t cut it in the NFL as most kickers are making 50-plus yarders with ease.
Narveson is headed to the Edmonton Elks where he’ll have a chance to redeem his NFL career. I guess it’s better than the UFL, which hasn’t seen a lot of players transition well. It doesn’t happen often, but the CFL seems better for transitioning to the NFL than the UFL. Maybe Narveson can carve out a nice professional career in Canada.