The 2022-23 season is coming to an end. For the Green Bay Packers, it is now time to reflect on what went well and what needs work. The 2022 draft class played key roles on the year’s team. Many rookies were thrust into starting roles due to lack of depth or injuries. Now that the season is over, here are my 2022 Green Bay Packers rookie grades.
Green Bay Packers: 2022 Rookie Grades
I am going to score an incomplete on a couple players. A trio of seventh-round picks, Tariq Carpenter, Jonathan Ford, and Rasheed Walker simply did not play enough to be able to grade. They weren’t necessarily bad. They just didn’t see the field due to a myriad of reasons.
Quay Walker – B
Overall Walker had a really solid rookie season. He showed why the Packers spent a first-round pick on him. His speed allowed him to be all over the field and he racked up 121 tackles on the season. Defensive coordinator Joe Barry used him in a variety of ways showing off his skill set. It wasn’t all good. He would overrun a lot of plays as he was too eager to make a tackle. He also was ejected from two games for shoving non-player team personnel. In order to take the next step, he needs to slow down and be smarter.
Devonte Wyatt – C
Average seems like the best grade for Devonte Wyatt. Some of it was not his fault. He had trouble breaking into the line rotation early in the season and did not play much. He ended the season with only 1.5 sacks and 13 total tackles. However, the stats do not tell the whole story. He played a lot in the last four games and showed good improvement. Wyatt does a lot of things that will not show up on a stat sheet. Year 2 is huge for Wyatt. He needs to prove that he was worth that first round pick.
Christian Watson – B+
Watson is definitely the most exciting player of the draft class. After struggling early in the season, he broke out in a big way. After pretty much doing nothing in his first six games, Watson ended the season with seven touchdowns and 611 receiving yards. He added another two touchdowns on the ground. It wasn’t perfect. His week 1 drop on the first offensive play of the season against the Vikings was devastating. Drops were a known issue for him coming in and overall it wasn’t a problem. However, that big drop means I cannot bump him to an A.
Sean Rhyan – F
There’s not much to say here. Rhyan never saw the field and then was suspended six games for violating the league’s substance abuse policies. I doubt we will see much of Rhyan on the Green Bay Packers.
Romeo Doubs – C+
I really liked the Doubs pick in the moment but he had a really average season. Doubs showed he can be a productive receiver in the NFL which is really all you can ask of a fourth-round rookie. He caught 42 passes for 425 yards and 3 touchdowns on the season. He definitely took a backseat to Watson in the back half of the season. However, some of that was his own doing. Doubs had some issues with drops and many drives stalled out due to Doubs dropping a pass. A solid pick but he needs to show better hands next season.
Zach Tom– A-
Tom was a beast this season. The Green Bay Packers offensive line started out very rocky. David Bakhtiari and Elgton Jenkins were still coming off of their knee injuries. Tom stepped in and didn’t miss a beat. There were many problems on the offensive line this season but Tom was not one of them. He looked comfortable out there and didn’t get beat often.
Kingsley Enagbare – A
As I said before, Watson gets all the credit but Enagbare is the best pick in this draft class. After Rashan Gary went down with an ACL injury, Enagbare was thrust into a larger role. He looked amazing. He finished the year with 31 tackles and 3 sacks after not playing much the first half of the year. He led all rookies in pressure rate and also racked up 8 QB hits. Gary will be back and with Enagbare, the Green Bay Packers will have a rotation of solid edge rushers to send at opposing QBs.
Samori Toure – C
The fact that Toure saw the field at all shows how good of a player he can be. A seventh-round rookie receiver usually does not see the field much. However, Toure made the most of his opportunities. He caught a beautiful long touchdown pass from Aaron Rodgers against the Bills and added another big catch against the Lions the next week. The Packers then got a lot of players back and Toure was back to the bench. I have no clue what Toure will be but he showed some promise this season which earns him an average grade.
Those are my Green Bay Packers 2022 rookie grades. Hopefully GM Brian Gutekunst will be able to have similar success in this year’s draft.