The players on your special teams rarely receive a lot of praise when you have a strong club. Everyone usually notices when special teams perform poorly.
Eric Wilson was plucked by the Green Bay Packers from the New Orleans Saints in 2022. Despite playing five games for another club and Keisean Nixon enjoying a fantastic return man season, Wilson ended up being the team’s highest-graded overall special teams player that season.
Wilson used that contract as leverage to secure a one-year extension with the Packers in 2023, and he was a key player once more.Wilson totaled 308 special teams snaps, more than any other player on the Packers, with Jonathan Owens coming in second at 233.
Rich Bisaccia, the special teams coordinator, can put his trust in Eric Wilson, even though there are other methods to substitute snaps.
The most total tackles Wilson has had since he began playing for the Vikings in 2020 was 31 during the most recent season.
He might not be a starting defensive player, but he’s one of the most probable Packers to re-sign this summer given the need for linebacker depth behind Jeff Hafley and the constant need for special teams aces.
This season, a lot of people were watching the Green Bay Packers since it would be the first since the 2007–2008 campaign that a quarterback other than Aaron Rodgers would open the regular season. This was due to Rodgers’ well-known trade to the New York Jets, which brought him back together with offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett.
The action bore similarities to former Packers quarterback Brett Favre’s 2008 trade to the Jets after he too spent fifteen years as the team’s starter.
Jordan Love, the 2020 first-round selection selected as the quarterback, had to demonstrate that he could succeed Rodgers and Brett Favre.
In Love’s first full season, he showed that he was the genuine deal, much like Holyfield did. Despite playing with a receiving corps that was largely untested, Love started throwing for a scorching 4,159 yards, 32 touchdowns to 11 interceptions, and rushing for 247 yards and 4 scores.
Preseason polls had the Packers finishing last in the NFC North, but following a 3–7 start, they were among the hottest teams, going 6–1, and earning a Wild Card playoff bid.
They defeated the NFC East Division winners, the Dallas Cowboys, 48–32, in the Wildcard Round, where Love finished with an almost flawless passer rating. In the NFC Divisional Round, they came close to the NFC Championship, falling short 24–21 to the eventual NFC champions and Super Bowl runner-up, the San Francisco 49ers.
The Packers should be pleased with a lot of their first season without Aaron Rodgers, but more is required if they want to advance to the NFC and NFL’s upper echelons.
The Packers have a history of building more through the draft rather than making big off-season acquisitions, but these three sneakily talented free agents are someone the team needs to sign.
In the final year of his rookie contract, New York Giants free safety Xavier McKinney is betting on himself this offseason after having a breakout season in which he recorded a career-high 116 tackles, three interceptions, and 11 passes defended as one of the best coverage and run-stopping safeties in the NFL. McKinney was previously selected as the second pick in Love’s draft class.
He was one of the few bright spots for the 27th-ranked defense in the Big Apple this season, ranking sixth in pass rating allowed at 53.0 and first in safety coverage grade at 93.0. As a tackler, he only missed an incredible three tackles in the entire season.
The Packers defense, ranked 17th, was passable, but they will need to significantly improve if they are to take the lead in the NFC and NFC North.
Darnell Savage, a fifth-year starter who was a first-round selection in 2019, will be eligible to sign a free agent contract this offseason.
Even though he didn’t blow everyone away this season, he improved in the postseason, scoring a touchdown on a critical 64-yard pick-six interception return against Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott.
