2024 Packers roster ranking, 10-1: The best players on the team may surprise you

The Leap ranks the Green Bay Packers' 90-man roster in order of player caliber.

With the Green Bay Packers on break until training camp and the personnel essentially frozen for the foreseeable future, The Leap will use this time to reveal its annual 90-man roster rankings.

Our methodology: We ordered the players based on ability relative to their respective positions rather than the value of those positions. Put another way, this exercise prioritizes the "best" players, not necessarily the "most valuable" ones. That means the starting quarterback doesn't necessarily have to top the list because of the position he plays.

Each edition of the 90-man roster ranking will include a batch of roughly 10 players. Due to voting ties, some batches will feature slightly more or less.

Today's slate features the best players, the core pieces to build around. If you’ve been paying attention, you already know who they are, but it may still surprise you to see the way we have them ranked.

10. Christian Watson

Position: wide receiver
How acquired: second-round draft pick (2022)

If you think this is too high, don’t forget what Christian Watson looked like in his last healthy game before missing the final five games of the regular season: soaring for a leaping contested touchdown in the back of the end zone against the Kansas City Chiefs. He caught seven of his nine targets in that game for 71 yards and two touchdowns. Watson’s performance against the Super Bowl champs came a week after a five-catch, 94-yard day against the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving, including the clinching touchdown.

When Watson has been healthy, he’s been a force multiplier for the Packers, making the geometry of the offense work in ways no one else on the roster can. His speed threatens safeties deep and creates after the catch, providing a dynamic this team misses when he’s gone. And if the rising junior has a handle on his hamstring issues, he can easily slide back in a WR1 role on the team … except he’s not the highest receiver on the list.

9. Josh Jacobs

Position: running back
How acquired: unrestricted free agent (2024)

Green Bay is the best football situation Josh Jacobs has seen since college. After leading the league in rushing two seasons ago, the former Alabama star fell off considerably in 2023 by just about every metric. The Las Vegas Raiders offense was dysfunctional, the quarterbacks stunk, the coach got fired during the season, and it’s no surprise Jacobs wanted out.

Losing running back Aaron Jones hurt Packers fans and the locker room culture, but replacing him with someone who was the heart and soul of the Raiders is some consolation. The 26-year-old Jacobs still has tread left on the tires and brings the ability to bring dynamic playmaking to gap-style runs as opposed to the traditional zone schemes in head coach Matt LaFleur’s offense.

That benefit is two-fold: LaFleur can call the same types of runs for his RB1 as his RB2 assuming it’s AJ Dillon -- rookie tailback MarShawn Lloyd was a better gap runner than zone runner at USC too -- while also diversifying the overall concepts he can call.

Jacobs has been happy to tell anyone who will listen he can also be a much bigger part of the passing game than he’s shown, and his Alabama tape confirms it. Sure, that was a long time ago, but it was also seen as an essential part of his appeal as a prospect. The Raiders with two supposedly offensive-minded head coaches just … didn’t.