The Green Bay Packers are in a rebuild.
Will they refer to it as that? Absolutely not, but their actions speak louder than words. Green Bay is in the process of building toward a healthier salary cap. That meant parting ways with veterans and replacing them with young players on rookie deals this past offseason. Green Bay has the youngest roster in the NFL.
The Packers traded Rasul Douglas at last month's deadline, a move that created future cap space and netted draft capital. That's the sign of a rebuilding team.
Green Bay may need to make more bold moves in the near future. These five Packers are on the hot seat entering Week 11.
5. Rasheed Walker
Matt LaFleur recently benched Rasheed Walker for Yosh Nijman at left tackle. However, an injury to Nijman gave Walker another opportunity. Nijman practiced in full on Wednesday, indicating he is good to go in Week 11. What will that mean at left tackle?
If Walker gets another opportunity, he has to make the most of it. After making a solid start to the season after replacing David Bakhtiari, Walker has struggled. And that continued last week against the Pittsburgh Steelers. According to Jacob Morley of Packer Report, Walker allowed a team-high five pressures against Pittsburgh.
It's not just about the starting left tackle job this season, but next year and beyond. Had Walker stepped into the lineup and played at a high level, it may have lowered the need to add a tackle in the offseason. If the season ended today, drafting a left tackle would become arguably the Packers' top priority.
When Walker does play, he needs to make the most of his opportunity.
4. Rich Bisaccia
Matt LaFleur hired Rich Bisaccia to fix the Packers' special teams. Over the past two offseasons, general manager Brian Gutekunst has made free-agent additions specifically to upgrade this phase of the game.
Gutekunst brought in Keisean Nixon, Dallin Leavitt, Matt Orzech, Eric Wilson, and Tariq Carpenter. They are just some of the players the Packers added to improve the special teams.
But this unit hasn't made the improvements they were supposed to. Sure, they're no longer breaking records for the wrong reasons like they were in 2021, but that was a low bar to clear. Under Bisaccia, this group was supposed to become a strength.
There is little evidence for that. The Packers are still making regular special teams errors. Last week against the Steelers, Green Bay had an extra point blocked. It proved to be costly. The Packers entered the final drive trailing by four points rather than three. Rather than settling for a game-tying field goal, Jordan Love had to force the issue in search of a touchdown.
Anders Carlson's opening kickoff barely avoided going out of bounds. He hit his second kickoff wide, and it did go out of bounds, resulting in a penalty that gave Pittsburgh possession at the 40-yard line.
Mistakes like this are happening too frequently on special teams. That's on Bisaccia. The Packers hired him to turn a weakness into a strength, and they added free agents who can contribute on special teams. But this group continues to struggle.
3. Matt LaFleur
Matt LaFleur will probably get at least one more season, but should he?
Putting together three straight 13-win seasons helps LaFleur's case. He is an excellent offensive mind, having coached under Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay. But is he the right coach to lead the Packers into the future?
One area of concern is LaFleur's ability to build a staff around him. He has made some questionable hires and then remained loyal to them for too long. Joe Barry is the perfect example of this. Barry's defense has underperformed every season since LaFleur hired him.
Barry's track record as an NFL defensive coordinator speaks for itself. He lasted two seasons in Detroit, with his defenses ranking 32nd in both years. His time as Washington's defensive coordinator also lasted two seasons, with his unit finishing 28th both years.
Yet LaFleur continues to stick with Barry, even though a Packers defense filled with first-rounders, All-Pros, and Pro Bowlers consistently falls short of expectations.
LaFleur has struggled to feature the star players on offense this season. Aaron Jones has not had enough opportunities during LaFleur's entire tenure, not just this year. Christian Watson is struggling, and LaFleur is only now finding ways to play to Luke Musgrave's strengths by allowing him to stretch offenses vertically.
Make no mistake: LaFleur is an excellent coach. The Packers will likely stick with him, and that's probably the right call. But his seat may be getting warmer than we previously thought.
2. Jordan Love
The Packers have a tough decision to make on Jordan Love at the end of the season. Do they give Love a contract extension or allow him to enter the final year of his deal in 2024?
Green Bay gave Aaron Rodgers a multi-year extension just seven games into his first season as the starter in 2008. The Packers aren't ready to make that commitment to Love, nor should they. Due to the poor play from Love's supporting cast, they still don't know whether he is their long-term solution at QB.
The final eight games of the regular season are an audition for Love.
If he steps up and takes his game to the next level, the Packers will likely give him a new deal. If the opposite is true and Love's play declines, Green Bay may end up in position to draft one of the top two quarterback prospects.
Where it gets difficult is if Love stays somewhere in between, showing occasional flashes of brilliance but with too much inconsistent play.
Love is under contract through the end of the 2024 season. That's it. Green Bay will only extend his deal if it believes in his potential long-term. If Love struggles in the final eight games, the Packers may have to begin their search for his replacement.
1. Joe Barry
It seems that everyone except Matt LaFleur could see this coming. LaFleur retained Joe Barry at the end of last season despite a handful of talented defensive coordinator candidates becoming available.
One of them was Brian Flores, who has turned things around on defense for the Minnesota Vikings this season. Minnesota's defense ranked 31st in yards allowed last season. Flores has already made an impact, with the Vikings currently 13th in the same category.
Barry's defense couldn't stop the run last year, ranking 26th in rushing defense, having allowed 139.5 yards on the ground per game. Through nine games this season, the Packers are giving up 133.0 yards per game, ranking 27th.
Some things never change. The Packers have given up 200+ rushing yards in three games.
With a young, inexperienced offense, Green Bay needed its defense to lead the way. But even after taking on several struggling offenses, the Packers' defense ties for the league's second-fewest takeaways with just eight.
The Packers have the talent to play better defense. Barry continues his scheme with light boxes and soft coverages, no matter how many times the opponents take advantage of it.
Will LaFleur finally make a change at defensive coordinator this upcoming offseason?