The guys we viewed as top players for the Packers in 2024 didn’t live up to their billing
Now that the 2024 season is just a memory, it feels like a good time to take a look back at one of Acme Packing Company’s preseason projects. As training camp kicked off for the 2024 season, the APC staff voted on who we thought were the Packers’ top 25 players, doling out our rankings over a series of five posts.
Here’s a look back at what we thought
Honorable mention: Edgerrin Cooper, Eric Stokes, Sean Rhyan, Bo Melton, Peter Bowden
We opened our first column with an honorable mention section. These are the players that got votes, but not enough to break into our top 25. Cooper is the best inclusion here: foreshadowing for things to come. He’d clearly be well into the top 25 now. Eric Stokes, meanwhile, might not make the top 50. I don’t have much to add about Sean Rhyan or Bo Melton, but it’s funny that one of us was high enough on UDFA longsnapper Peter Bowden to give him a vote. Bowden is currently a free agent.
25 – T.J. Slaton – DL
24 – Javon Bullard – S
23 – Jordan Morgan – T/G
22 – Quay Walker – LB
21 – Carrington Valentine – CB
Spots 25-21 seem pretty solid to me. We’ve got some guys that are on the fringe of being actually important here, but aren’t quite there yet. None of these guys are good enough yet to be core roster players, but they’re above the “roster churn” level, too. And as disappointing as it may have been to see Quay Walker here even before the start of his third season, I don’t think anybody would put him much higher than this now, and many might put him lower.
20 – Romeo Doubs – WR
19 – Lukas Van Ness – DE
18 – Luke Musgrave – TE
17 – Preston Smith – DE
16 – Karl Brooks – DT
Right away, Romeo Doubs seems too low here based on how he played in 2024. He didn’t have a great season, by any means, but he was probably better than the Packers’ 20th best player. But the rest of spots 20-16? More or less on target, I think. Lukas Van Ness belonged on the fringes of what you’d consider a starter, and Karl Brooks seems like he’s in the right range, as well. Musgrave seems to be the obvious problem: even before injuries ruined his season, he was on the downswing .
15 – Devonte Wyatt – DT
14 – Tucker Kraft – TE
13 – Keisean Nixon – CB/KR
12 – Christian Watson – WR
11 – Rasheed Walker – OL
Looking at 15-11, Devonte Wyatt looks too low right off the bat. He was the Packers’ best defensive lineman in 2024 — not that that’s saying much. Tucker Kraft is similarly too low. He might have been the Packers’ special skill position player overall, though Josh Jacobs surely beats him on overall productivity. Keisean Nixon is a bit of an enigma; he’s probably not CB1 like he says he is (except maybe by default due to Jaire Alexander’s injuries), but he’s a core part of the defense, for better or for worse. Watson came into 2024 firmly in the “could go either way” camp, and I think the way he ultimately went was down in the rankings. It’s not that his 2024 was particularly bad, but an ACL tear that will surely linger into next season will badly hurt his ranking.
10 – Josh Jacobs – RB
9 – Dontayvion Wicks – WR
8 – Jayden Reed – WR
7 – Elgton Jenkins – G/T
6 – Xavier McKinney – S
More or less, you could swap most of spots 10-6 with spots 5-1. Jacobs and McKinney were clearly too low, but I don’t think anybody was predicting an All-Pro year from McKinney, and Jacobs may have outperformed even the most optimistic among us. Reed, while not spectacular, was the Packers’ best receiver this year, and Jenkins had a solid 2024. Wicks is the outlier here; clearly, we were all a bit too high on his 2023, and his 2024 was a big disappointment (even if a lot of advanced stats paint an encouraging picture of how often he’s getting open).
5 – Zach Tom – OL
4 – Kenny Clark – DT
3 – Jaire Alexander – CB
2 – Rashan Gary – DE
1 – Jordan Love – QB
Here’s the rub with the top 5: I don’t think we were wrong to put any of the guys here that we did. The problem with our rankings — and with the 2024 Packers in general — is that pretty much none of their best (and highest-paid) players lived up to their billing. Kenny Clark had one of the worst years of his career. Jaire Alexander was injured again. Rashan Gary became the highest-paid second-tier pass rusher in the league. Jordan Love got hurt in the opener and was really never himself all season. That’s a pretty dismal showing from just about everybody at the very top.
Except for Zach Tom. We love Zach Tom. He is pure and wonderful and Will Anderson is afraid of him.