What's the lamest Packers hot take coming during the NFL content dog days of summer?
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Training camp won’t start for another month, which means the next few weeks will be the quietest on the NFL calendar. Generally, that leads to outrageous takes hitting their peak over that same time. Don’t fall into the trap of getting worked up over the inevitable trend of media people getting bored and picking the Chicago Bears to win the NFC North.
In today’s edition of The Leap, we do some predicting, including a little on some of this chicanery that will no doubt be coming for your eyes and ears shortly. Jason is off this Free Monday, so we get to actually have some fun. We will also look at some real storylines coming up that we will have our eye on.
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What will be the dumbest/hottest Packers or related take to come out in the next month?
Peter Bukowski: “The Minnesota Vikings are a stealth Super Bowl contender.” Detroit already got all the steam coming off a strong finish to the season. They’re the betting favorites to win the NFC North, so it’s not even a hot take at this point to be restoring the roar.
Meanwhile, in FantasyChicagoland, Justin Fields will be an MVP candidate and the Bears have the same implied odds to win the North as Green Bay. That’s pretty dumb, but it’s also already out there.
This Minnesota defense is horrid. It was bad last year (27th in DVOA) and the personnel got worse with the departures of veterans Patrick Peterson, Za’Darius Smith, and Eric Kendricks.
Justin Jefferson is a fantasy god. He’s currently the No. 1 pick in Underdog ADP, while rookie Jordan Addison is somehow going ahead of guys like George Pickens and Rashod Bateman, so the hype train already left the station. But every year, there’s a stretch where the whole of NFL Twitter and media talks itself into the Vikings. It’s hilarious and apparently unavoidable. It will be profoundly dumb this year even more than more recent vintages.
What will be the very first big story coming out of Packers training camp?
PB: The play of Jordan Love will lead every piece written about Day 1 of camp but the difference for a quarterback in OTAs and mandatory minicamps vs training camp isn’t that big. Defenders still can’t hit him and, unlike years past, essentially the whole offense showed up to spring work.
It will be a rookie and I’m putting my money on Lukas Van Ness. That’s a bit of cheating because he was the team’s first-round pick after all. But unlike with Love, there will be a meaningful difference in how line play works once the pads come on.
We’ll get one-on-one battles to dissect, blocks to actually try to beat, and chances to go make real defensive plays. His physical ability, like Rashan Gary’s back in 2019, will pop. He’ll win a rep with David Bakhtiari or Elgton Jenkins and make everyone go, “Whoa.”
Luke Musgrave was the other obvious choice for the way he lit up spring ball and his athleticism jumps off the field at you. It isn’t difficult to imagine he makes a couple of “wow” plays to grab the first big buzz of camp.
Who will be the next “surprise” cut or potential trade target to be linked to Green Bay (mostly for leverage purposes)?
PB: Eric Rowe may not be long for the Carolina Panthers and he fits an obvious need for the Packers. The Panthers signed Vonn Bell at safety and drafted do-it-all defensive back Jammie Robinson to be a potential nickel/safety hybrid. Where exactly does Rowe fit in a secondary that also already has Jeremy Chinn and is set at cornerback?
Plus, Rowe doesn’t fit the Carolina timeline as he turns 31 this year. Even if the Panthers want to keep him, he may prefer to go somewhere he can start. Carolina holds the cards in that case, but he’s clearly not a part of their long-term plans. If he were to go to them and ask out, granting the request would do the team no harm.
Green Bay already had plenty of chances to sign some veteran safety help this spring and didn’t, but Rowe fits GM Brian Gutekunst's type of cheap, experienced mid-summer free agent. Plus, Rowe can play the slot or safety, and that positional versatility at a time when the Packers don’t have a clear player in the nickel spot and definitely no good backups makes him an appealing option.
They probably won’t sign him if he’s cut, but they probably should.
Lol the first 2 parts lol 🤣