By all accounts, the Green Bay Packers' 2023 season was a roaring success that ended up a few points short of a trip to the NFC Championship. After being positioned for a top-five draft pick earlier in the season, initial questions about what the future might hold have been completely extinguished.
As a team entirely driven by a young roster, the last two drafts for Packers General Manager Brian Gutekunst look like home runs, and his 2023 class may just be the best in team history. Certainly, no class has made the immediate impact as this group, and not at the volume of picks that significantly affected the team's success.
Led by star quarterback in the making Jordan Love, the future looks incredibly bright for the youngest team in the NFL. A future that was designed to lean heavily on the 2023 rookies.
Here's how this year's rookie class graded out and what it means for the future of the Packers.
Jayden Reed
Grade: A
Round 2 (50th overall)
After one of the most productive rookie seasons for a wide receiver in Packers history, Jayden Reed is positioned to be the team's next dominant second-round receiver and could very well lead all Packers in targets next season.
Leading Packers skill players in touchdowns this season (10) and registering the third-most rushing yards among all NFL receivers (119), Reed is already looking like a star for the team.
Reed was also Jordan Love's most reliable weapon throughout the season. He secured 11 of 17 targets (64.7) in the red zone, ranking ninth in the NFL for wide receivers with at least 15 red zone targets.
Six of his 10 total touchdowns came in the 20, but his dynamic play-making ability at all levels in the passing game has proven pivotal to Green Bay's offense exceeding expectations in 2023. Love's quarterback rating when targeting Reed finished at 117.9, good for the 10th-best mark for any receiver, largely due to Reed producing the 13th-highest win rate against man coverage (45.4%).
He is now the Packers' record holder for catches in a rookie season (64), and his 912 total yards and 10 total touchdowns rank second all-time among Packers rookie wide receivers.
Dontayvion Wicks
Grade: A
Round 5 (159th overall)
To start the season, few to no bingo cards had Wicks ending the season as a fan favorite and serious candidate to assume a role as a top pass catcher for the team in 2024. But that's exactly what happened.
Wicks proved to be a route-running savant and was regularly compared to former Packers receiver Davante Adams for his ability to separate. It seemed like Wicks was always open, and his 50% win rate against man coverage was good for sixth in the NFL.
What's more impressive is that Wicks is not running short routes. In fact, Wicks had the 11th highest yard per target (10.0) and was 25th for yards per reception (14.9). Despite mostly running intermediate routes, Love's 115.7 passer rating when targeting Wicks was the 13th-best mark in the NFL.
The Packers receiver room has quickly become jam-packed, but Wicks will undoubtedly be one of Jordan Love's top pass catchers in 2024.
Karl Brooks
Grade: A
Round 6 (179th overall)
Had it not been for the play of fellow day three draft picks Dontayvion Wicks and Carrington Valentine, Brooks would be a shoo-in for the Packers' steal of the draft.
Brooks finished with the third-best pass rush win rate among all qualified rookie defensive tackles, and he tied with Lukas Van Ness for most sacks among Packers rookies (4). While logging the second-most snaps of Packers' defensive rookies (380), he led the team's defensive front-seven players in pass deflections (4).
Brooks finished his first two playoff games with three tackles, a QB hit and continued to cause havoc for offensive guards in his limited reps.
Given his sixth-round draft status and contributions on the field, it's reasonable to consider Brooks one of the steals in the entire 2023 class.
Carrington Valentine
Grade: A
Round 7 (232nd overall)
Another candidate for steal of the 2023 draft, Valentine unexpectedly led all Packers rookie defenders in snaps (695).
After the team traded away Rasul Douglas, Valentine was thrust into a starting role across from Jaire Alexander due to Eric Stokes' inability to stay on the field. After a rough start against the Broncos, Valentine only allowed one touchdown in 12 starts.
He led the Packers in deflections (9), and Valentine's willingness as a tackler is another major plus to his game. He racked up 12 total tackles in the playoffs and surrendered two catches for 13 yards against Dallas Cowboys All-Pro receiver CeeDee Lamb in the Wild Card Round. This was despite Dak Prescott chucking 60 passes on the day.
It's likely the Packers draft another defensive back early in the 2024 draft, but Valentine has certainly earned another shot at the number two role across from Jaire Alexander.
Lukas Van Ness
Grade: B
Round 1 (13th overall)
The "Herculean" fella out of Iowa played a role akin to Rashan Gary's rookie season. Instead of backing up the "Smith Bros," Van Ness was largely blocked from more reps due to Preston Smith's surprisingly strong play the entire season. In fact, Van Ness played 15 fewer snaps than the sixth-rounder Brooks.
However, that shouldn't be viewed as a knock on Van Ness. If nothing else, he steadily improved throughout the season, growing into his own as a pass rusher. Most impressively, his effort is never in doubt, and this kid's motor always ran hot tracking down a ball carrier.
Van Ness finished with four sacks on the season, and in a very Gary-like fashion, his impact didn't always show up on his sack totals. He had some seriously impressive pass-rush wins in the playoffs against two future Hall of Fame left tackles, Tyron Smith and Trent Williams. It hasn't gone unnoticed by Head Coach Matt LaFleur, either.
"The more he plays, the better he gets," said LaFleur in a January press conference. "I think he's really shown progress, and that's what you want to see from your young players. You look at how we're using him compared to how he played in college, it's been a big learning curve for him."
Arguably most exciting about Van Ness is that he only just turned 21 and, on limited reps, continuously showed off his immense power and relentless pursuit. Of all rookies, Van Ness finished with the ninth-most combined QB hits, pressures, and sacks, but he did it with a range of 300 to over 750 fewer snaps than players in front of him.
He's only getting a B due to the limited sample size.
Luke Musgrave
Grade: B
Round 2 (42nd overall)
Had it not been for a late-season injury that held Musgrave out for all but one more game, he was set to coast past Bubba Franks's rookie record for receiving yards by a tight end (363). Ultimately, Musgrave came up 11 yards short, but he certainly lived up to his second-round draft status. If he had just learned how to stay on his feet earlier on, in what's become a running joke in the Packers locker room, he would have blown past the record.
His 34 receptions were the most from the position since 2020, and he has instantly become one of the best separators in football. Per Daire Carragher of the Packers Report, Musgrave led all NFL pass catchers in average yards of separation this season (4.5). It's a brutal task to ask a linebacker to cover Musgrave unless they have special speed for the position.
It finally seems like the Packers have hit on their tight end of the future, something they've been searching for since losing Jermichael Finley to injury in 2013.
Musgrave looks nowhere close to a fully molded project; thus, he still has room to improve and develop. He's a willing blocker and was surprisingly efficient as a pass catcher, with only two drops on the season. His draft grade could very easily be an A had it not been for a shortened season; he's already proven to be the field stretcher the Packers drafted him to be.
Tucker Kraft
Grade: B
Round 3 (78th overall)
Speaking of tight ends who could also have easily been an A grade had it not been for a limited role. Kraft actually out-snapped Musgrave by 153 snaps this season and might be the one who breaks the Packers' third-round draft pick curse.
Kraft is a menace on the football field, always looking to go over or through a defender. There is no running out of bounds with him. He's instantly become a fan favorite and a perfect pairing for a Wisconsin fan base.
Kraft finished with 31 catches on the year but, even with Musgrave returning from injury, remained heavily involved as the lone tight end and as the team gradually deployed more 12 personnel (one running back, two tight ends).
He and Musgrave will have prominent roles in the offense going forward as both present matchup problems for defenses with their size, speed, and athleticism. A pairing that already looks like a power duo across the NFL; it will be exciting to get an entire season of both players fully integrated into the offense.
Colby Wooden
Grade: C
Round 4 (116th overall)
Wooden's role fizzled out throughout the season, primarily due to Karl Brooks proving time and time again that he needs more playing time. That's not to say Wooden didn't have strong moments that were highlighted by a blocked field goal attempt against the San Francisco 49ers in the Divisional Round of the playoffs.
Right off the bat, in Week 1, Wooden tallied the fourth-most pressures of all rookie defenders (4). He closed out with nine pressures and 12 total tackles. Even as a "tweener" defensive tackle playing at 270 pounds, one thing remained consistent with Wooden: his power and slippery swim move helped him move the line of scrimmage backward.
Sean Clifford
Grade: C
Round 5 (149th overall)
It's difficult to apply a grade to a player who did nothing in the regular season besides taking the victory formation snap to close out a game. In that regard, Clifford was a home-run pick.
Clifford certainly played well enough in his first preseason to make the Packers comfortable that he could step in and perform well if something happened to Jordan Love. Clifford should have no problem and little competition slotting in as the second quarterback in Green Bay in 2024, surely giving the Packers coaching staff peace of mind.
Anthony Johnson Jr.
Grade: C
Round 7 (242nd overall)
As a seventh-round pick with little expectations despite a tremendous college career at Iowa State, Johnson finished with 303 snaps on the defense while rotating in for the injured Darnell Savage.
His two best games came in a paramount victory against the Detroit Lions in Week 12, finishing with eight total tackles. The other, in Week 9 against the Rams, he secured his first career interception while breaking up another two passes.
Johnson plays extremely fast and displayed the talent to compete for a starting job in his sophomore campaign. There's no certainty that Savage will be brought back, and both Jonathan Owens and Rudy Ford are approaching 30, leaving the Packers with questions at safety entering next season.
Johnson has to improve his consistency in coverage and pursuit angles, but he made a strong case for more opportunities next season.
Anders Carlson
Grade: D
Round 6 (207th overall)
Replacing the Packers' all-time leading scorer Mason Crosby is no small shoes to fill, and sometimes it looked like Carlson needed a new pair of shoes himself. He struggled to maintain consistency and when it counted most in the playoffs, Carlson missed wide left on a late-game field goal to extend the Packers' lead to seven in the playoff divisional matchup with the 49ers. Predictably so, the Packers lost by three to end the season.
To Carlson's credit, he was the best kicker in the NFL at converting field goals between 30-39 yards, going a perfect 14/14. No other kicker had more makes in that range.
But, the broader picture tells a more concerning story. For kickers with at least 30 attempts, Carlson's 81.8 field goal percentage ranked second-lowest in the NFL. The most costly detriment to his rookie campaign was kicking extra points. He managed to succeed only 87% of his attempts, placing the Packers as the third-worst in the NFL in converting PATs.
The Packers let the rookie work through accuracy struggles, giving him the benefit of the doubt that it would help his broader career progression. But he's likely to face competition for the job in 2024, and that's if he isn't cut.
Grant DuBose
Grade: D
Round 7 (256th overall)
Grant DuBose - Round 7, Pick 256
DuBose spent almost the entirety of his rookie season on the practice squad. He was called up for the Packers' Week 18 game against Chicago but didn't register a snap. He signed a futures contract with the Packers for a second season, indicating the team still sees something with DuBose.
Lew Nichols
Grade: F
Round 7 (235th overall)
Nichols spent the early going of his rookie season on injured reserve and was released by the Packers on September 7. The Philadelphia Eagles signed Nichols to their practice squad, but he did not see time as a rookie.