Green Bay Packers: Top 10 players of the 2021 season

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Green Bay Packers, AJ Dillon – Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports /

8. AJ Dillon

We expected relatively big things for Dillon entering year two and he certainly didn’t disappoint. Dillon earned the highest PFF grade of any running back this season.

Dillon proved he can hang in the receiving game, he developed in pass protection, and as for that vicious ability to play through contact we saw at Boston College? Yeah, that’s still there.

His fractured rib injury in the divisional round came at an awful time for the Packers. You could argue that they would’ve been able to close out a win if they were able to lean on Dillon’s power rushing in the latter stages of the game.

7. Rasul Douglas

What a story this has been. Douglas was, quite literally, unrecognizable as a member of the Cardinals’ practice squad earlier this season.

When he arrived in Green Bay, Rasul set the tone from his very first game, and never looked back. Douglas immediately transformed into a Pro Bowl caliber cornerback, and back-to-back pick-sixes in November put the entire league on notice.

There are so many accounts of Packers players and coaches in awe of Douglas’ work ethic, and it showed up every Sunday. Even on special teams, where quite literally everything went wrong for the Packers, Douglas was frequently making plays, oftentimes preventing huge returns on kickoff coverage.

6. Preston Smith

Preston Smith looked completely washed after the 2020 season. On a newly incentivized contract, Smith returned to the Packers with a point to prove this season, and he did just that.

Smith finished the season with nine sacks, doubling both his sack and pressure output from last season, on a similar amount of pass-rushing snaps. Many worried about the Packers’ pass rush without the presence of Za’Darius Smith, but Preston stepped up in a big way and the pass rush actually became the strength of the defense.

Given the salary cap situation, it’s unclear whether or not Smith will be making a return next season, but we all said the same thing about him this time last year, so who knows?

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