Why running it back for the Packers isn't just spinning their wheels in Green Bay

Some fans have already decided it’s over. Even if Aaron Rodgers comes back and Davante Adams re-signs, this team will be gutted for parts and the 2022 version will be the Diet Packers, some watered-down version of a team already unable to win a playoff game at home to an opponent that didn’t even win their own division. But for reasons that go well beyond hopes and prayers, that doesn’t have to be true, starting with the return of star players from injury.

On Monday, head coach Matt LaFleur told reporters the team had a plan for the offseason, that they had no intention of rebuilding—Rodgers has said he has no interest in one—and Rodgers told Pat McAfee that plan would weigh heavily on his decision to come back.

Ian Rapaport previewed “The plan” with Pat McAfee, explaining the expectation is the Packers will keep Adams either on the tag (unlikely) or an extension, move on from Randall Cobb, and keep one of the Smith Bros. He added that he believed Green Bay was actually in a very good spot to compete next year. The folks in the desert agree, making the Packers co-favorites in the NFC to win the 2023 Super Bowl. Clearly, they believe running it back is not only possible but prudent.