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Now that the dust has settled a little bit, let’s get into our full review of the Green Bay Packers’ preseason opener against the New York Jets. We’ll talk about the offense, defense and special teams — important in the context of roster construction — and tell you who is living up to the hype, who fell short and which adjustments you need to make on your depth chart at home.
Offense
We broke down who got snaps with the first-team offense on Saturday already. If you want the tl;dr: The players who got on the field were basically the ones who you thought were going to.
The first-team offensive line consisted of Jordan Morgan, Aaron Banks, Elgton Jenkins, Sean Rhyan and Zach Tom (from left to right), with preferred left tackle Rasheed Walker out due to an injury. After the two drives that Jordan Love played, the second-team unit was made up of Morgan, Donovan Jennings, Rhyan, Jacob Monk and Anthony Belton (left to right). This is yet another sign that 2024 undrafted free agent Donovan Jennings is in line to be the Packers’ ninth offensive lineman this season, following Travis Glover’s season-ending injury.
For the most part, the roster-relevant offensive linemen looked good on Saturday. Morgan looked like he handled length and strength much better than he did on Family Night, when defensive end Lukas Van Ness was able to run through him. Belton also looked more natural at tackle, with his best play being a pancake on a 39-yard rushing touchdown.
The big exception up front was Monk, who is a backup guard-center. Monk not only gave up a sack, but he was also flagged for holding in pass protection at both guard and center. A 10-yard carry was also brought back because of Monk’s holding.
His job isn’t really at risk, because the Packers have limited players who can play center on the roster, but he certainly didn’t play well on Saturday. Hopefully, we’ll see better from him later this summer.
With Josh Jacobs taking all of one snap and both Emanuel Wilson and MarShawn Lloyd injured, the primary running back for the top unit was blocking back and special teams ace Chris Brooks. Behind Brooks, Israel Abanikanda got a lot of work and looked okay, turning six carries into 19 yards on the ground. The negative on Abanikanda is that he dropped a wide-open screen.
The biggest bright spot for the offense was when undrafted rookie Amar Johnson of South Dakota State started to get work, though. He had a 15- and 39-yard carry on the same scoring drive. Some of his other explosive plays were taken off the board for holding, too, including a 12-yard swing screen (because of a receiver) and a 10-yard run (because of Monk).
If Johnson continues to perform well, maybe the Packers are comfortable just rostering three backs on their 53-man roster (likely Jacobs, Lloyd and Brooks) with him as their emergency player off their practice squad. Considering that...
