2022 Pre-Draft Fantasy Football Outlook: Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers have been an elite offense for years now and that most likely will not change heading into 2022. The offensive landscape will look a little different without Davante Adams and Marquez Valdes-Scantling, but overall the team has the tools needed to succeed. If I were the betting type I would be confident that the Packers will once again be one of the top teams in the NFC in 2022. The following is the pre-draft fantasy football outlook for the Green Bay Packers:
Quarterback
Aaron Rodgers is back in Green Bay at least for this season, which means that the QB position for the Packers is as strong as it can be in 2022. We all know what Rodgers brings to the table every year. The Packers will be without Davante Adams in 2022 which certainly does not help Rodgers fantasy upside but ultimately I believe Rodgers still has a great floor and ceiling this upcoming season. He has enough offensive weapons to succeed and I would assume that the Packers will make some decent additions to the offense in this year’s draft. Rodgers is currently ranked as the QB13. If that value holds up until the draft, Rodgers will be one of the biggest values at the QB position in 2022. Rodgers should have no problem being a low-end QB1 this upcoming season, he is currently my QB9.
Running Back
The Packers running back duo of Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon is most likely the best running back combination in the league. You could see last year that Dillon did take some of Jones upside away but ultimately they both had decent value throughout the season. There are 169 targets that are now available with Davante Adams now being gone, Jones and Dillon could very well be the main beneficiaries because of that. Currently, Jones is the RB14 and Dillon is the RB25 in .5 PPR rankings. I believe both are available at a great value as long as they stay where they are currently ranked. I believe Jones is closer to a low-end RB1 than a high-end RB2 in 2022. Dillon is a high-end flex with an upside in 2022.
Wide Receivers
The wide receiver position is currently the position that has the most questions surrounding it prior to the NFL draft. There is currently not one wide receiver on the Packers that is ranked inside the top 50 in fantasy football. The assumption is that the Packers will be drafting at least one wide receiver in the early rounds of the draft but there is no guarantee which wideout that will be. Regardless, the top three wide receivers on the team are Allen Lazard, Randall Cobb, and Sammy Watkins. Out of those three, I have the most faith in Lazard. Lazard has shown glimpses of ability and at least has a rapport with Rodgers. I have Lazard ranked as a flex option with upside. The other two are purely potential waiver wire additions/last-round bench adds.
Tight End
If I was writing this two years ago my thoughts on Robert Tonyan would have been much more optimistic. Unfortunately, we have all seen the floor that Tonyan is able to produce which is practically zero. There will be a good amount of targets available this upcoming season, I am just not optimistic that Tonyan will be the one to receive an uptick. Tonyan is mainly a boom/bust type of fantasy tight end. He offers a high ceiling because he is on an elite offense but also offers the lowest of floors mainly due to the fact that he doesn’t receive a strong enough target share on a weekly basis. If he doesn’t score a touchdown you will be left sorely disappointed that you started him on any given week. Tonyan is a low-end TE2 heading into the 2022 season.
Defense/Kicker
The Packers defense was not bad last year and they weren’t amazing either, which is what I would expect more of this year. They did not have any major losses on the defensive side of the ball or make any major additions that would make me feel any better or worse about the Packers defense in 2022. You should be able to add the Packers defense off of the waiver wire and stream them in good matchups. The Packers are currently my 14th-ranked defense.
Usually, I say that a good offense produces good kickers, but that is not the case in Green Bay. Mason Crosby has been a solid kicker throughout his long career but it hasn’t been translating over for fantasy over the last couple of seasons. While the Packers have been a great team for a while now, the opportunities to kick a ton of field goals just haven’t been there. Crosby is most likely a bye-week fill-in. He is not one of the kickers that I would draft in this upcoming season’s fantasy draft. Crosby is currently my 16th-ranked kicker.
