2021 Team Preview: Green Bay Packers

Thanks for checking out our latest article in our 2021 Team Preview series. We will be breaking down the outlook for teams in 2021, key acquisitions during the off-season and through the 2021 NFL Draft, key losses, and looking at each team from a dynasty perspective. We’ll give you some players to consider buying, selling, stashing, and potential sleeper candidates. Stay tuned for more team breakdowns as we approach the 2021 NFL season. Here is our 2021 Team Preview: Green Bay Packers.

2021 Outlook

I want to begin this article by stating that I believe Aaron Rodgers will start Week 1 and play the entire season for the Green Bay Packers. We obviously have no confirmation of this yet, but every team wants to win and making the reigning MVP happy is the best way for Green Bay to accomplish that.  Obviously, if he decides to not play for the Packers this year, a lot of this article will be different.  

The outlook for the Packers, at this moment, is still murky.  With Rodgers under center, this is a team that has aspirations of returning to the NFC Championship game and beyond.  Without him, things don’t look so good.  The team plans to win the NFC North, roll into the playoffs with a lot of momentum, and lock their sights on hoisting the Lombardi Trophy once again.  They’ve got the personnel to do it and few can argue it’s not likely they can make it happen.

Key Acquisitions/Losses

The Packers come into the 2021 campaign with the majority of the roster intact from last year. The biggest losses for the team are running back Jamaal Williams and center Cory Linsley who was rated as the #1 NFL center by Pro Football Focus.  Through the NFL Draft, they added center Josh Meyers from Ohio State, who is likely a day one starter, in the second round.  They followed up with Amari Rodgers in round three, adding much-needed depth at the wide receiver position.  Blake Bortles was also signed in May but was likely more so to have an experienced quarterback for OTAs.

On the defensive side of the ball, Green Bay didn’t make a lot of moves.  They spent their first-round pick on cornerback Eric Stokes.  The Packers had the second-fewest sacks in 2020 with 21, and could have benefitted from some help in that category outside of fifth-round pick DT T.J. Slaton. Their passing defense will still be among the best in the league after they allowed the sixth-fewest receiving first downs in 2020 with 184.

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Dynasty Quick Hits

Buy Low: Jordan Love

Since the narrative has begun to swing to the likelihood of Rodgers coming back to Green Bay, now is the best time to buy.  The signing of Bortles doesn’t concern me at all as it was a move to put an experienced player under center while the new arrivals could learn the playbook.  Also, Rodgers doesn’t seem to have any long-term plans with Green Bay and could find a way to go elsewhere by the 2022 season.  The Packers traded up in the 2020 draft to select Love, so they clearly see good things in him for their collective future.  Love had an impressive Passing Efficiency Rating of 142.8 and 52 touchdown passes over his last two seasons with Utah State. As soon as he can figure out how to succeed at the next level, there’s a lot of promise with Love. Find another owner who believes Rodgers will be back with the Packers and try to buy Love before his price jumps.

Sell High: Aaron Jones

Aaron Jones has been nothing short of excellent in his four NFL seasons with his 43 touchdowns and 5.2 YPC as well as 96 receptions in the last two seasons.  This year, he won’t be splitting time with Jamaal Williams, which is something that has tantalized fantasy players in the past.  While this could easily create increased numbers in the passing game, prospective fantasy managers should take a breath.  A.J. Dillon is another player that the Packers spent high draft capital on in the 2020 NFL Draft with the 62nd overall pick. Dillon is a bulldozer of a man standing 6’ and weighing in at 247 pounds. Definitely not a person I’d want to stand in front of while running full speed.  The Boston College standout is a tough, between-the-tackles runner who is going to get his share.  The biggest concern to Jones is, how much of the workload will Dillon get, and it could be a considerable amount.  I’d be shopping Jones quickly and before training camp begins. Jones turns 27 in December and we know that running backs start to fall off around this age. His value may never be higher. 

Sleeper: AJ Dillon

The possibilities opened wide for Dillon when Williams signed with the Lions in the offseason.  Over his four years with the Packers, Williams averaged 30.5 receptions and 155.5 total touches.  Dillon won’t get all those touches, take away the receptions and that’s 120 carries per season, but that’s still a lot.  There’s a good chance that Dillon ends up at around 150 touches this year and his 5.3 YPC in 2020 would make that a hefty amount of yards. His stature makes him an ideal ball carrier at the goal line as well. He also had more yards after contact (3.1) than Ronald Jones (3.0), Aaron Jones (2.9), and Derrick Henry (2.8) in his rookie season.  Dillon will get enough work to be fantasy relevant in 2021 and should easily outperform his current redraft average draft position ADP of RB36.

Stash: Amari Rodgers

For the most part, rookie wide receivers don’t perform very well for fantasy football. Unless of course, their names are Justin Jefferson or Anquan Boldin. Rodgers is not going to be one of them. There’s a lot of decent route runners in Green Bay including Allen Lazard, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, even Devin Funchess, that may get more looks than Rodgers.  Lazard and Funchess are in the final years of their contracts and it’s likely that either or neither of them return to the Packers for 2022.  That will be the time for the third-rounder out of Clemson to really show what he can do.  Be patient and leave this potential star on the bench for a year if you can land him in the late second round of your dynasty rookie draft.