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Your Packers Final Roster Predictions - 2020 Edition


Chili

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Nobody seems to know the new roster sizes rules for the final roster and practice squad. I can't quite seem to pin it down as I got varying different answers from different parts of the internet.

Under the old rules we had a 53 man roster of which 46 are game day actives. The practice squad consisted up to 10 players.

Under the new rules it seems there's two main different interpretations.

#1. 55 man roster of which 48 are game day actives. The practice squad can consist up to 12 players. Simple.

#2. 53 man roster of which 48 are game day actives, 2 practice squad guys can be called up to the roster each week to make 55. The practice squad can consist of up to 12 players.

Apparently there are funny rules in place regarding those additional 2 game day actives. One of the two has to be an offensive lineman. Why? - I have no idea.

In 2022 the practice squad will increase to 14 but we don't need to worry about that now.

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I think the #2 interpretation makes a lot of sense because that means teams now have the flexibility to bring players up from the practice squad without having to worry about cutting anyone. The Packers.com writer Mike Spofford said his current interpretation of the roster size rules seems to indicate that it is indeed interpretation #2. So i'm going to base my 53 man roster prediction on this.

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QB: Rodgers | Love [2]
FB/HB: Deguara | J'Jones [2]
RB: A'Jones | AJ Dillion | J.Williams | Ervin [4]
TE: Sternberger | Tonyan | Lewis [3]
WR: Adams | Funchess | Lazard | EQ | MVS | Kumerow [6]
OL: Bakthari | Jenkins | Linsley | Turner | Wagner | Runyan | Light | Patrick | Nijman [9]

DL: Clark | Lowry Keke | Lancaster | Adams [5]
OLB: Z'Smith | P'Smith | Gary | Ramsey | D'Scott [5]
ILB: Kirksey | Martin | Bolton | Galeai [4]
CB: 
King | Alexander | Sullivan | Hollman | Jackson | Ento [6]
SS: Amos | Greene [2]
FS: Savage | V'Scott [2]

ST: Crosby | JK Scott | Bradley [3]

TOTAL: Offence [26] | Defence [24] | ST [3] = 53

I really like some of the UDFA prospects. J'Jones has some nice receiving chops with lots of quickness and agility for his size, He would add depth to the TE group and provide a backup solution for Deguara without having to move Sternberger. The other guy I really like is D'Scott, he's just big and long and plays with good attitude and personality on the field. To be honest I prefer his tape over our 7th round pick Garvin. Finally, this is a total luxury pick for me but I chose Galeai as our swing OLB/ILB. He just looks natural on the field, got some quickness and energy about him and always seems to be around the ball.

At the moment i'm debating whether I should drop a WR for another RB because of the direction the offence is evolving towards under LaFleur. LaFleur wants his team to be more compact and physical using the run to set up the play action. That means more RBs and TEs. I feel six WRs is too many for LaFleur's offence. I think five WRs is more realistic. Its not MM offence anymore with 6 or 7 WRs. Another RB would mean either D'Williams or P'Taylor sneaking onto the roster.

Picking the OL was tough. I still believe Lane Taylor will be a cap casualty, Light and Runyan are well positioned to backup both guard and tackle. Patrick should make it as backup centre due to his contract extension last season and that should push Hanson off the roster. Nijman is our biggest and most athletic OL - i'm curious to see how much he has improved, he has a real shot of landing the RT spot if everything goes right for him. I'm assuming Stepaniak will be placed on PUP.

The DL is fairly predictable as we haven't really added anyone of note to change the status quo but I honestly can see us cutting Adams and just use Z'Smith and rotate him in. It would allow Gary to have more snaps on the outside. Doing so would free up a spot for another DB perhaps.

I think our OLB group is deep this year and for me it makes sense to stockpile as many as we can on the roster. The Packers have a history of doing this with other deep position groups. That's why I'm keeping five. I like Ramsey - he has something about him and he would add a nice speed wrinkle to the OLB group. Scott as I explained earlier has some real nice traits.

Our ILB group has completely changed. Kirksey and Martin are obvious choices to make the roster. Bolton was so impressive for me in preseason last year especially in coverage. Galeai is interesting because he moves around so well. He has experience as an edge rusher taking on OTs so in theory he should be capable of taking on run blocks as an ILB. He got a bit of Fackrell in him and I bet that exactly how the Packers plan to use him. Whilst keeping four ILB is highly unlikely I do think with this group we will finally see an improvement with our coverage abilities in the middle. Ty Summers doesn't make the cut even though he's a tackling machine, he had some issues with run stopping and I don't think he has any coverage skills to shout about. Oren Burks is gone.

Right now the defensive back group more or less pick themselves. We will definitely keep at least six corners. We might see some surprising changes at the bottom of the corner group. I think V'Scott could be seen as an upgrade over Redmond as he's bigger, stronger and probably quicker, especially on special teams. I'm not quite sure what V'Scott actual position is but i'm assuming he's a free safety.

What do you think? Please submit your roster predictions and give reasons where you can. :D

Edited by Chili
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I'll post something up here later. Have you watched Galeai play? There are some major rush tools there. I get he's 235, but you absolutely do not move that to ILB. He's a waste there. Practice squad him, see if you can get 20 pounds on that frame and you make have something there. 

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1 hour ago, Packerraymond said:

I'll post something up here later. Have you watched Galeai play? There are some major rush tools there. I get he's 235, but you absolutely do not move that to ILB. He's a waste there. Practice squad him, see if you can get 20 pounds on that frame and you make have something there. 

Other than highlights no I have not seen him play but I liked his style. He plays with nice quickness and energy.

He doesn't look like has the frame to pack on 20lbs. His body is not like Ramsey who was similarly undersized but he has the frame to pack weight on.

Galeai's game is based on movement and putting on too much weight will hamper that. In many ways he's like Fackrell, tall and slim framed. He may be able to put on about 10lbs without hurting his quickness.

Unfortunately for him even trying to add weight doesn't resolve the problem of Pettine preferring heavier edge rushers. Whilst Pettine is here I don't see how he makes the team as an edge rusher. I think he has no choice but to try and make a name for himself as an ILB. It would be the easiest way for him to get onto the roster. If anything I think it may suit his own skillset as he works best in open space and use his pass rushing experience as a blitzer.

Edit: Watching the tape against LSU (https://youtu.be/UtDkBkecZoY) exposed his weaknesses and how he has been misused. He's far too easily moved out of the way in the run game and he was lining up over guard in 3 man rush sets (WTF!?). The RT just kept him quiet all game. He looks far more comfortable when he has space and that's why I think ILB might be good for him.

Edited by Chili
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I think Funchess exiting brings us down to 5 WR's and an extra RB TBH...

Here's what I got as of 9/1/2020...

QB: Rodgers/Love(Boyle's gone)
RB: Jones/J. Williams/Dillon/D. Williams/Lovett(FB)
HB: Deguara
WR: Adams, Lazard, , ESB, MVS, Kumerow
TE: Sternberger, Tonyan, Lewis - Deguara gets snaps here as well obviously
OC: Linsley, Hanson
OG: Turner, Jenkins, Runyan, Taylor
OT: Bakh, Wagner, Light, Nijman, 
Flex: Ervin, Lucas Patrick

DL: Clark, Lowry, Lancaster, Keke, Hester/Adams(whoever has the better camp)
EDGE: Smith x2, Gary, Garvin
ILB: Kirksey, Bolton, Burks, Summers, Martin
CB: Alexander, King, Hollman, Sullivan, Jackson, D. Amos
S: A. Amos, Savage, Greene, Redmond

ST: the usual suspects

 

 

Edited by Joe
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So, we get 28 offense and 22 defense players? Yeah, it makes total sense. Dexter Williams is going to the practice squad unless he surpasses Jamaal. We are not keeping 4RB+1FB+Ervin. It makes no sense to keep Runyan, Madison, Taylor and Patrick.

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10 hours ago, VonKarman said:

So, we get 28 offense and 22 defense players? Yeah, it makes total sense. Dexter Williams is going to the practice squad unless he surpasses Jamaal. We are not keeping 4RB+1FB+Ervin. It makes no sense to keep Runyan, Madison, Taylor and Patrick.

There's always positions that are over-stocked. The new practice squad rules where you can call up 2 players might mean you need less special teamers as you may be able to use practice squad players so you can stash players like Dexter if you want to.  Which they may well want to if they are planning on letting Adams and Jamaal go after this season. 

Probably with you on the OL though. Don't think we need that many depth players. I was thinking drafting the late rounders was in the hope you could get rid of Lane Taylor. Patrick seems to have the role of veteran JAG-y but OK interior line backup. Unless they are going to have Lane be backup Tackle.

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15 hours ago, YaddaHolla said:

Are the coaches expecting a leap from Hollman? That CB room scares me. King or Alexander go down and we’re in trouble 

I think this thing depends on Jackson finally turning into something. Though I do like Sullivan. This room could definitely be a lot worse. I kinda don't blame them sort of like WR, where they want to actually play out some of the talent they got. Though I think Tramon will be on speed dial if he never gets picked up.

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I'm not even going to do this yet because I am 77% convinced the Packers are going to make a "win now" move and trade for somebody and sign somebody.

Clay Matthews is also going to sign I hope. 

And they will sign one significant June 1st cut. 

 

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8 hours ago, VonKarman said:

Yeah, but one of the positions you need to overload is CB.

Indeed. And right now there are 10 young Cornerbacks on the roster and a new DB coach in Jerry Gray to sort it all out. Gray is a veteran NFL coach and he spent years with the Zimmers, so he's got the pedigree to make something happen with Josh Jackson and all the other developmental guys.

https://www.packers.com/team/coaches-roster/jerry-gray

From 2014 -19, Gray's defensive backfield was part of a unit that ranked in the top-10 in the NFL in opponent passer rating (84.7, No. 7 in the NFL) and points per game allowed (19.3, No. 2 in the league). They also allowed only 123 passing touchdowns, the third fewest in the NFL since 2014

 

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Just now, Shanedorf said:

Indeed. And right now there are 10 young Cornerbacks on the roster and a new DB coach in Jerry Gray to sort it all out. Gray is a veteran NFL coach and he spent years with the Zimmers, so he's got the pedigree to make something happen with Josh Jackson and all the other developmental guys.

https://www.packers.com/team/coaches-roster/jerry-gray

From 2014 -19, Gray's defensive backfield was part of a unit that ranked in the top-10 in the NFL in opponent passer rating (84.7, No. 7 in the NFL) and points per game allowed (19.3, No. 2 in the league). They also allowed only 123 passing touchdowns, the third fewest in the NFL since 2014

 

And he's going to be our defensive coordinator by week 10.  The first time Pettine ****s up through stubbornness and unwillingness to adapt.  The only question is whether or not he will switch us to a 4-3 during or at the end of the season. 

Either way, it will be glorious when we go from 20th in points allowed at the midpoint and end the season 13th only to allow under 20 points a game for each of our playoff games, including the Super Bowl. 

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