2024 Packers roster ranking, 31-21: pedigree vs. blue-collar core contributors

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 a group of veterans scrapping to prove they’re core pieces and young players fighting to show they’re worth their high price tag as top-100 draft picks.

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T-30. Quay Walker

Position: linebacker
How acquired: first-round draft pick (2022)

When the Packers used the 22nd overall pick on rangy Georgia linebacker Quay Walker, they envisioned a defense capable of playing an entirely different brand of football. They could live in nickel, defend the run and pass with equal aplomb, and pair Walker with De’Vondre Campbell coming off an All-Pro season.

As we enter 2024, Campbell got the pink slip and Walker has been one of the worst defensive starters in the NFL since he came into the league, according to Pro Football Focus’ grading. Don’t believe me? The Packers just drafted a freaky athlete in need of development whose best trait was blitzing. Edgerrin Cooper — more on him coming shortly — is everything Green Bay hoped Walker could become but to date has failed to accomplish. That doesn’t mean Cooper will be better, but he was significantly more impactful and productive last year for Texas A&M than Walker was at any time in college.

Drafting Cooper is a signal the Walker pick hasn’t worked out as planned. With a fifth-year option decision looming, 2024 will decide the former first-round pick’s future in Titletown.

T-30. AJ Dillon

Position: running back
How acquired: second-round draft pick (2020)

Only Jordan Love and AJ Dillon remain from the 2020 draft class, and the latter needed a loophole in the collective-bargaining agreement that allows the Packers to retain him for cheap while he counts even cheaper on the cap. Dillon enters the 2024 season as RB2 at best with the offensive coaching staff already talking up third-round pick MarShawn Lloyd’s ability to contribute in this offense.

For the last two seasons, Dillon started slowly before rounding into form as one of the most reliable second backs in the NFL. We aren’t that far removed from 2021 when he was one of the most efficient and valuable running backs in the entire league regardless of their place on the depth chart.

Dillon created the third-most value in the league, according to Sports Info and Solutions, despite starting two games. Twenty-one running backs had more touches. He was also the third highest graded back by PFF that season. Still, it’s difficult to imagine a path for Dillon, Lloyd, and Josh Jacobs all playing in Green Bay in 2025. Dillon is playing with the Packers this year to get a deal somewhere else.

That said, Dillon’s still a very good player used in the proper role and will be counted on this year to eat up carries for his 2020 class mate.

29. Kingsley Enagbare

Position: defensive end
How acquired: fifth-round draft pick (2022)

Only a few months ago, the expectation for Kingsley Enagbare was that maybe … maybe he could make it back from a torn ACL by Thanksgiving. Then we came back from the offseason break and found out from Packers head coach Matt LaFleur that not only was Enagbare not recovering from ACL surgery, but there was no surgery and the former fifth-round pick would be on the practice field.

Yes, it’s been a weird couple months but it turns out the knee injury did not require surgery after all.

Now, the Packers go a legitimate four deep on the edge where they’ll transition to a more tradition four-man front with hand-in-the-dirt pass rushers. Enagbare lacks the kind of athletic profile that Green Bay general manager Brian Gutekunst tends to like, but he’s a streaky pass rusher who can give the Packers quality rotational pass rush. Not many teams boast a fourth edge rusher as capable of Enagbare.

28. Josh Myers

Position: center
How acquired: second-round draft pick (2021)

The highest player on the list who isn’t a lock to be on the opening-day roster, Josh Myers enters training camp hoping to fend off a push from Elgton Jenkins and Jordan Morgan for his center spot — Jenkins because he’d move over and Morgan because he’d backfill for Jenkins. Myers came to Green Bay burdened with the task of replacing All-Pro Corey Linsley, and a combination of inconsistency and injuries scuttled any chance of that.

Myers is one of the lowest-graded starters on the team relative to his positional peers by PFF grade. He will crush a double-team in the run game, spring a chunk run on first down, and, on the next, blow a protection or fail to get to a pass-off the very next.

It’s not his fault he went just ahead of All-Pro Creed Humphrey, a much more Packers-y type player with elite athleticism. But that mistake cost the Packers a future first-round pick in a way. Do they draft Morgan in the first knowing he could slot in at guard if Myers locked down the center spot?

27. Javon Bullard

Position: defensive back
How acquired: second-round draft pick (2024)

If there’s a player already at the top of this list with the best chance to soar by season’s end, Javon Bullard is him. Gutekunst loves Georgia defenders and he’s hoping Bullard turns out better than his previous three swings at the top of the draft. Bullard played in the slot where he excelled, earning the Most Outstanding Defensive Player award for the 2022 national-champion Bulldogs.

Bullard earned enough trust from Georgia head coach Kirby Smart to merit a shift to safety before 2023, becoming a queen on the defense’s five-star-laden chessboard. Bullard continued to thrive after making the switch whether firing downhill to fit the run or patrolling the deep parts of the field.

There’s an open starting spot next to Xavier McKinney, a do-it-all safety with many of the same characteristics as Bullard. If Bullard finishes 15th or even in the top 10 on this list next year, do not be surprised.

26. Sean Rhyan

Position: offensive lineman
How acquired: third-round draft pick (2022)

At first blush, this may seem high for Sean Rhyan, a player who has failed to break into the starting lineup the last two years. But think about it this way: There are 22 starters on the two sides of the ball, and Rhyan didn’t break the top 22. He and Myers are, at least for the moment, considered the least impressive of the Packers’ likely starters heading into the 2024 season.

What catches my attention though is the Packers coaches giving Jenkins center reps with the starters in spring camp. It could mean nothing because it’s just OTAs and a few days of mandatory work, or it could be a harbinger of things to come with the demise of Myers as a starter. If the latter is true, it would seem the team has more faith in its former third-round pick than this ranking suggests.

Among guards with at least 200 snaps last year, Rhyan checked in 79th out of 91 in PFF’s pass-block grading. Setill, he became the Packers’ designated game finisher while he rotated with Jon Runyan Jr. in the second half of last year.

The former UCLA tackle initially struggled to adjust to playing inside, but he profiles as precisely the kind of player the Packers prize athletically at the position. There’s still plenty of upside here.

25. T.J. Slaton

Position: defensive tackle
How acquired: fifth-round draft pick (2021)

Teams with space-eating run defenders who can offer something as a pass rusher have a leg up on the rest of the NFL. Every team wants to play light boxes, prevent explosive pass plays, and still somehow stop the run. Bruisers inside who can soak up multiple blockers and still rush the passer are rare.

T.J. Slaton has yet to show he’s quite in the class with do-it-all interior defensive linemen like Justin Madubuike or Dexter Lawrence, but the Packers think enough of him to start him at nose tackle while Kenny Clark mans the three-technique.

At one point early in Slaton’s career, dark corners of Packers Twitter burbled with suggestions Slaton switch to guard in the NFL (let’s call it the reverse Tom Cable). However, last year he posted 50 tackles from his nose-tackle spot. Only five interior defenders had more last season.

24. Edgerrin Cooper

Position: linebacker
How acquired: second-round draft pick (2024)

If all Cooper does in Year 1 is blitz the pants off opposing quarterbacks, that’s enough to land him here. He showed in the SEC that he’s really, really good at that. Cooper closes with cartoonish speed to opposing ball carriers. Watch him against Alabama and if you pay close attention you might see quarterback Jalen Milroe hold a “ruh roh” sign as Cooper barrels toward him in slow motion.

Cooper initially profiles as a “Will” linebacker but possesses the athletic gifts to play sideline-to-sideline as a “Mike” if he can improve as a processor. Giving him run-and-hit responsibilities where he can play as a heat-seeking missile fit him best as he adjusts to the NFL game.

23. Keisean Nixon

Position: cornerback/returner
How acquired: unrestricted free agent (2022)

If we solely considered Keisean Nixon as a returner, he might crack the top 10 on this list. As a slot corner though, he’s one of the weaker links in the Packers’ starting lineup. That’s not to say Nixon’s chance to be an impactful player there doesn’t exist though. His playmaking instincts as a returner show up when making plays on the ball. If he’d finished an interception late in the divisional-round tilt with the San Francisco 49ers, the Packers might have gone to the Super Bowl. But Nixon’s terrific read and break on a Patrick Mahomes throw helped the Packers beat the eventual Super Bowl-champion Kansas City Chiefs.

Nixon faces no immediate competition playing in the slot, and Nixon’s told Kay Adams that he’s optimistic about new defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley. That said, if Carrington Valentine and Eric Stokes play well in camp, the Packers could decide to move Jaire Alexander inside more regularly or give rookie Kalen King a chance. If there’s a player to bet on falling down this list by year’s end, Nixon is the guy.

22. Carrington Valentine

Position: cornerback
How acquired: seventh-round draft pick (2023)

Speaking of Carrington Valentine, his place on this list puts Nixon on notice. LaFleur prizes competition and playing the best five, plus Hafley comes to the Packers with a background coaching press-man defensive backs. This fits Valentine’s game perfectly, particularly with added muscle to his frame coming into this season. Valentine easily outplayed his draft status last year and demonstrated flashes of a player capable of being a high-end CB2 in the NFL.

If Valentine can play outside, he provides insurance for both Stokes and Alexander while providing flexibility for Hafley to mix and match as he sees fit. Valentine’s lack of ball production limits his ceiling, but he can be a very useful player for Green Bay.

21. Jordan Morgan

Position: offensive lineman
How acquired: first-round draft pick (2024)

When the Packers selected Jordan Morgan in the first round earlier this year, they insisted it was because they saw him as an NFL offensive tackle. Or at least capable of player tackle, because in 2024, his most likely path to playing tackle involves Rasheed Walker and/or Zach Tom suffering an injury. Both Walker and Tom offer more-than-capable play, and Morgan could be needed along the interior as the Packers figure out who to protect the A and B gaps.

And while playing guard hurts some of Morgan’s value as a first-round pick, his potential fit there -- most media projections had him moving inside -- could close that delta. Morgan fits perfectly in the Packers’ zone-run scheme with plenty of heft to play a more power-focused game if LaFleur wants to follow Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay into a world with more gap runs.

Morgan has already played four positions for the Packers and it’s not even the end of July. They’re putting a lot on his plate because they believe he can handle it.