The Powerball and Megamillions only ask you to get 6.

This is a good list. The only item I question is the one about Kitan Oladapo because I don't know how much the Packers will use a "big nickel" defense. Maybe it will come into play against the Bears, whose rookie TE ran wild in that playoff game, and then they went and spent another high pick on a TE this year.

I don't recall why Zaire Franklin was not a good fit for the Colts defense last year. I'm guessing he was asked to cover too much area in pass coverage and/or he did not have enough opportunity to play aggressively ("downhill," as they say) at the line of scrimmage. If those were the problems, I don't know how Jonathan Gannon plans to address them. Presumably he has something in mind, or the Packers would not have traded for Franklin, right?

Mathew Golden finding his groove would sure help too.

“When he was on the field in 2025, Van Ness took the step everyone was hoping to see, and his down to down statistics were impressive.”

This echoes statements from prior years. In fact it echoes many off seasons comments about Gary too. In fact, though Gary never ascended as hoped (and paid for) he had 16.5 sacks at the same point in his career as LVN is currently at. Van Ness has 8.5. The exculpatory justification for both was that they regularly hit pressures. Looking back, it’s a CB lot easier to justify the 12th pick on Gary than the 13th on Van Ness after 3 full seasons.

Last year LVN had 2 sacks in 263 snaps, playing about 45% of the snaps in games he was available for.The average number of defensive snaps per team per season in recent years is approximately 1075.

So if he played in all 16 games at a 100% of snaps rate, that’s 8 sacks. One more than Gary last year, but, of, course that’s not realistic. If Van Ness played 60% of defensive snaps, which might still be a little unrealistic, that’s about 5 sacks. In reality, no player is dominating snaps if by November he’s on 2.5 sacks. At the 45% of snaps he was hitting last season before his injury, it’s 4.5 sacks for the year

That assumes no games missed for injury. If he played an optimistic 60% but missed 3 games, over 14 games he’d have 4 sacks based upon last year’s production. That’s the same number Cox got in 5 games in 2023 playing 35% of the snaps in those games.

It’s fine to keep trotting out the “looks improved” trope if the production shows an upturn to a validly acceptable level, but Van Ness last year did not hint at anything close to that empirically, as illustrated.

Perhaps it’s time to be honest and just admit that we hope, but that to achieve that he’s going to have to have taken a huge step over anything shown to date, not fool ourself he’s already demonstrated he’s on the right course.

Just like a flowchart: To win, you have to score points. To score points, you need guys who can protect your QB and open holes in the running game.

But here's the deal: The season, and playoffs, is about 20 games long, and unless none of your offensive linemen misses any time (which isn't going to happen very often), then those #6, #7, and #8 offensive linemen have to be able to play in a big game against a quality opponent.

Go back through the LaFleur/Gutekunst years. How many times did we have our preferred starting 5 on the field?

Every year ends with a backup offensive lineman on the field. Last year, Jenkins and Tom were both absent in the playoffs. The year before? What happened when Jenkins left the game against the Eagles? The year before? We're marching on the 49ers, down by 3, and Joey Bosa....being blocked by Yosh Nijman, because Tom was out injured....pressured Love into a season ending interception. If Tom is there, and he gives Love another fraction of a second, maybe that story has a different ending.

Many people think our Oline had a bad season last year. I've heard Tauscher say it. But our #6 and #7 guys were Morgan (a former #1) and Belton in the second round. This year, who are our #6 and #7 guys? And how much of a dropoff is it going to be when they have to play?

A little agreement, a little pushback:

Trey Smack had better be a hit...

A more effective offensive line would definitely be a supercharging factor, one that could finally get us deeper into the postseason. Morgan should be ready to hold down the job, but we also need Tom to stay healthy and Belton to improve upon the finer points of his position. Oh, and no interchanging with the line unless it's absolutely necessary.

"When he was on the field, LVN took the step everyone was hoping to see..." Well, that's not enough of a step. While he may have improved his pressure rate, he needs to finish those pressure off with sacks. Pressure is helpful, but sacks impair and kill offensive drives.

"Cisse...could end up being a non-factor..." I don't think so. While we may a little breathing room now as far as the CB room is concerned, it would behoove the Packers not to dally around with his development; if he stays healthy, he has a chance (because of the factors mentioned) to become a really good one.

Add another one: Golden having a breakout season.

I will take a break out from anyone. I’m not fussy who. It doesn’t matter who turns out to be an impact player, as long as they do. The indisputable truth is that we need a few to do so as a result of where this roster is.

Some depend on how they are used in relation to their talents. How acute are our various coaches? Who will get chances? how fast do we reward performance? How are we using individual players in light of their strengths, This includes both groups, notably the OL as a room, and individuals such as Williams, Golden, Musgrave, to name but a few.

If Joe Bloggs turns out to be a big plus from nowhere we win even if it’s at the expense of a high pick who doesn’t. However, we need to show that we can develop players at both a better rate and more significantly than we have in the last decade.

The extensions for the leadership were off in a way (regardless of opinion as to their justification to date, because I think it’s very likely that this year will prove a great deal about the real competence of this roster and of the coaching staff too. The stars are aligned for a season of home truths. Let’s hope they are pleasant ones overall.

Speaking of teams Super Charging, Myles Garret is now a Ram. Holy Shit!!!

All these 8 "Supercharger" things are also concerns and big unanswered questions.

The least of these is Oladapo...as the DB coaching trust of Gannon (a DB coach by trade), Bobby Babich, and and Bullocks (solid DB resume). They should be able get Oladapo to take a good step up.

The other seven Superchargers being realized are less certain. The OL is the most concerning. The Preferred 5 will be #1 draftee Morgan, longtime SF starting LG Banks, #3 draftee Rhyan, #2 draftee Belton, and one of the top NFL OL in Tom. Outside of Tom (who had injury concerns), not much development so far with the other 4 top investments.

And who steps in if any of the Preferred 5 goes down...as they do EVERY YEAR?

I’m in-step with GolfPacker. Let’s grab Sweat and maybe Benson too. The Rams have zero fear of the future. They trade again and again to win now. We did it right with Parsons and I believe a reasonable trade for Sweat can happen. That’s a win now belief.
Go Packers!!!

In other words some of Gutes draft picks NEED to start producing MUCH more than they have.

I was watching ESPN and their coverage of the Rams trade for Garrett. It looks like they have traded 7-8 of their last 10 1st round picks, and they have still been very successful. They are the epitome of "going all in." And they are very successful doing it their way. And like in our trade for Parsons, those picks always come late in the first round, so not picking from the creme of the crop. And no commitment to 1st round $$$ for the player.

This was a great trade for GB and a scary great trade for the Rams. They have found and ran with a winning formula. But they still made a bad pick in the first round this year.

Eight ifs/hopes are too many for a team allegedly in a SB window. Hope is not a plan. Secondly. and maybe most importantly, the Packers need to supercharge their coaching, specifically MLF. He needs to be better at establishing discipline and motivation. Discipline in terms of pre=snap penalties and bad unnecessary roughing penalties. Motivation in terms of focusing the Packers on playing a full 60 minutes of football rather one half. MLF also needs to work on his in game decision making including time management and challenges. He has made the same mistakes for 7 seasons. Maybe this season will be better but my expectations for that are low. Thanks, Since 61