Paul Bretl | 7/15/2025
GREEN BAY, Wis. — This time of the year, with training camp on the horizon, much of the attention will center around positional battles, whether that be for playing time or when it comes to earning a spot on this Packers team.
The Packers’ rookies are set to report to training camp on July 18th, the veterans on July 22nd, and the first practice will take place on July 23rd.
So before it all begins, let’s explore the key positional battles on each side of the ball, beginning with the offense.
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Quarterback: Sean Clifford vs. Taylor Elgersma for QB3
We know that Jordan Love and Malik Willis will be the Packers’ two quarterbacks on the 53-man roster, but the third quarterback job–a player who will likely end up on the practice squad–became up for grabs after the Packers signed Taylor Elgersma following a tryout during rookie minicamp.
Elgersma played his college ball in Canada and is now making the big leap to the NFL level. With that, will come a steep learning curve with Elgersma, a still relatively raw player, but he has traits, specifically his “live arm,” as Matt LaFleur called it, that the Packers want to bet on and see if they can develop.
“Certainly I think just coming from where he’s coming from to this level, I think there’s going to be a big learning curve,” LaFleur said. “But if there’s anybody that will attack it head on, Taylor will. And you that was so evident when he was here on the 30 visit just, and I know he’s been working really hard at it.”
Where Elgersma may have an advantage over Sean Clifford is that he is a first-year player. Clifford, meanwhile, is entering his third NFL season at age 27. He also went from being the backup in 2023 to competing for that job in 2024, which ultimately led to the Packers trading for Willis.
Not always, but oftentimes when teams build out their rosters, those back-end of the depth chart or practice squad roles are reserved for younger, higher upside players, which may more so describe Elgersma in this situation.
With that said, at least during offseason programs, it was Clifford who got more of the third quarterback reps during the competitive period. That shouldn’t be a surprise, given his experience in the NFL and in LaFleur’s offense, but it also shows that for Elgersma there is ground to make up.
It will be interesting to see how reps between these two break down once training camp arrives. As LaFleur has said in the past, it’s not easy getting four quarterbacks regular reps. So with Love and Willis getting the reps they need, Clifford and Elgersma may be splitting whatever is left, which means limited opportunities, and a premium on making the most of the snaps that come their way.
Running back: How does the depth chart shake out behind Josh Jacobs?
The competition here is twofold–how does the playing time behind Josh Jacobs shake out, and also, who makes the 53-man roster?
Beyond Jacobs, the Packers boast a well-rounded running back room with varying skill sets, and with that, can come difficult decisions. 2024 third-round draft pick MarShawn Lloyd brings impressive burst and change-of-direction ability to the running back position. LaFleur also believes he can make an impact in the passing game.
Emanuel Wilson was RB2 last season based on snaps and carries, and he continued to show his impressive playmaking ability, averaging 4.9 yards per rush on his 106 rushing attempts. He also forced 28 missed tackles and ranked 24th in PFF’s breakaway rate metric, which measures how often a back generates a run of 15-plus yards.
Chris Brooks would fill a do-it-all role, lining up across the formation and really standing out as a blocker. He was also active in the passing game relative to the number of total snaps he played last season.
“That’s the thing—all these guys have different assets that they bring to the table,” said running backs coach Ben Sirmans.
Typically, NFL teams roster only three backs on the 53-man roster. This isn’t to say that the Packers couldn’t keep all four of these running backs, but if they do, that means going light at another position. Although Lloyd has to show he can stay healthy, as a former top 100 pick entering just his second NFL season, we can assume he will be on the roster, which means if the Packers keep just three backs, that may come down to Wilson and Brooks.
A key differentiator in the potential battle between those two may be how well Wilson continues to hold up as a blocker and if he can continue to handle more of those duties. If he’s able to, that ability, combined with his juice as a runner, could give him the upper hand over Brooks.
“He took a great jump from his rookie year to last year,” Sirmans said of Wilson. “I think he only had one mental mistake,” Sirmans said of Wilson, “even though he didn’t play as much as a rookie but he played a lot this (past) year, to have only one mistake just speaks volumes to how he has grown so even this year he seems a lot more comfortable in the offense, he’s practicing a lot harder, so I think he’s finally gotten to that point where he’s kind of evolved a lot more. So definitely expecting a lot of things out of him.”
Tight end: John FitzPatrick vs. Ben Sims
The tight end position will run through Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave–we know that. However, the third tight end role and the potential playing time that comes with that are up for grabs.
This will be a blocking-heavy role, so who can ever stand out in that regard between FitzPatrick and Sims will likely have the advantage. While PFF’s grading system isn’t the be-all-end-all, Sims ranked 59th out of 80 tight ends in run-blocking grade, and FitzPatrick didn’t get enough opportunities to qualify.
In the grand scheme of the Packers’ offense, the third tight end’s potential role as a blocker may seem small, but it can have a big impact overall. If the Packers are going to get Kraft more opportunities to impact the second and third levels of the field, then they need improved blocking behind him on the tight end depth chart. Just because Kraft may be tasked with a different role on certain plays doesn’t mean the need for blocking help goes away.
Whether that blocking presence on those specific plays comes from Musgrave, Sims, or FitzPatrick remains to be seen, but it’s a job that has to be filled if Kraft’s role will continue to expand.
“For a lot of reasons,” said LaFleur when asked why Kraft wasn’t featured more in the passing game last season. “It just depends, going back to who you’re playing. A lot of times, especially in known passing situations, we were trying to help certain spots and typically I would say it’s usually the tight ends and the backs who get a bunch of that responsibility. That’s part of the reason.”
I’ll also throw out the idea here that we saw the Packers navigate games with only three active tight ends last season when Musgrave was sidelined. This could be a position where they go light on the 53-man roster and keep only three.
Wide receiver: The final roster spot or two
Of course, it’ll be interesting to see how snaps and targets shake out for those at the top of the depth chart. But we can pretty safely assume that Romeo Doubs, Jayden Reed, Matthew Golden, and Dontayvion Wicks will all be a part of that equation, especially with how often LaFleur rotates at this position. So instead, the battle here is for a roster spot or two on the back end.
Between the four receivers just mentioned, plus third-round pick Savion Williams, that’s five roster spots already accounted for, leaving Bo Melton and Malik Heath competing for one roster spot or maybe the Packers go heavy here and keep seven, but if I’m building out a roster prediction today, that’s not a path I’m going to go down.
Melton will enter camp with the advantage over Heath, in my opinion. For one, he can fill a needed role while Christian Watson is sidelined, which is as a vertical threat with his speed. And, sure, Golden has speed to do that as well, but Melton’s presence as the downfield option frees up Golden to attack other levels of the field, which he often did at Texas. In addition to that, and we will see what comes of this, but Melton played some cornerback during minicamp, and as the old saying goes, the more you can do.
“Obviously he’s real talented player,” LaFleur said of Melton. “And has produced. I just love everything about the guy. How he shows up every day ready to compete and give his best effort — matter of fact, I showed some clips of him in the team meeting this morning, just of what he does, and you can always expect a lot of great things when he’s, whatever it is he’s doing.”
Offensive line: Rasheed Walker vs. Jordan Morgan
Both Brian Gutekunst and LaFleur made it clear earlier this offseason that Jordan Morgan would be competing with Rasheed Walker for the starting left tackle role.
“It’s going to be a great competition,” LaFleur said at the annual NFL league meetings. “Him and Sheed are going to battle it out and hopefully push each other to be that much better.”
Morgan, whose focus was on right guard as a rookie, ended up playing only 186 total snaps, largely due to injury, which included one start in Week 9. Otherwise, he was in a right guard rotation with Rhyan, who dominated much of the playing time.
Walker, meanwhile, would surrender just three sacks and four quarterback hits, but he did give up 35 pressures. While not the be-all, end-all, Walker ranked 45th out of 87 tackles in PFF’s pass-blocking efficiency metric, and he was 69th in run-blocking grade.
“Every day you’ve got to earn your spot,” said offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich, “and that’s what I like about the competition that we have in our offense right now is everyone’s going to have to show up and play well in order to keep their spot, because there’s a bunch of good, young players that are hungry.”
Left tackle is Morgan’s natural position. Of the 2,404 snaps he played in college at Arizona, 2,392 of them came at left tackle, according to PFF. He also brings impressive athleticism and movement abilities to the position. Walker, however, has experience on his side as a two-year starter, and that can’t be overlooked. While Walker’s numbers don’t leap off the stat sheet, he’s been steady, and there is absolutely value in that.
When it’s all said and done, day-to-day consistency will likely be the key determining factor in who is starting at left tackle come Week 1. Of note, while Morgan saw first-team reps during offseason programs, I would give Walker the edge in terms of playing time, specifically when it came to the competitive periods.
Given the mixing-and-matching we often see up front by the Packers during this time of the year, perhaps they search for someone to compete with Sean Rhyan at right guard as well. But from what we saw during OTAs and minicamp, that was his job during that time.