Green Bay Packers Rookie Grades: Week 1

The Green Bay Packers manhandled the Chicago Bears on Sunday. It was a dominating victory, with many of their young pieces getting an opportunity to show what they could do. I’ve talked a lot this offseason about how the young players stepping up could really accelerate the rebuild. Here are the Green Bay Packers rookie grades, Week 1 edition.

Green Bay Packers Rookie Grades For Week 1

I’ll be doing this weekly en route to a final report card at the end of the season. I will not be including players who either didn’t play or had limited snaps and stats. For example, Tucker Kraft did not see the field much. Ben Sims got more snaps, which signals to me that Kraft is more of a project that we knew coming in. To me, it isn’t fair to say that he had a bad game. He was more of a project coming out and should be treated that way. On to the Green Bay Packers rookies who made an impact in Week 1.

Incompletes

I’m going to group these players together because I simply didn’t see enough. Dontayvion Wicks played a surprising amount of snaps but only saw two targets. Malik Heath had a similar situation, but the fact that the running game performed so well might indicate that these two receivers have impressed the coaching staff with their blocking. Carrington Valentine, I am also putting in this group. While he did have a couple of tackles, I’d like to see him play against a team that isn’t the Bears.

Karl Brooks

Brooks was a great rotational piece for the Green Bay Packers on Sunday. The pass rush was relentless. According to PFF, they generated 35 pressures, which was second only to the Cowboys on Sunday. Brooks picked up his first career sack, which against a mobile quarterback like Justin Fields is not a small feat. It was his only tackle on the day, but it is a positive that he was able to do a lot in his limited snaps.

Grade: B-

Anders Carlson

What a performance from Carlson. I’m overreacting a little bit because this offseason has been a roller coaster. Many fans have been calling for the team to bring Mason Crosby back, but Rich Bisaccia stuck with the rookie. He nailed his only field goal of the day at 52 yards, but it would’ve been good from about 70. He also knocked in all five of his extra points. It was a great debut for the rookie kicker, and it should silence some of the calls for the Green Bay Packers to bring in someone else.

Grade: A

Danny Whelan

The special teams had a huge impact on the game. One of the surprise cuts was Pat O’Donnell, but the Green Bay Packers are committing to their youth movement. Whelan had a great day punting the ball, which helped put the defense in good positions. He had five punts with an average of 49.8 and a long of 68. Only one of the punts ended up inside the 20, but often, that depends on where you are punting from. Overall, it was a solid day for the rookie from Ireland.

Grade: B+

Lukas Van Ness

In one play, we saw why the Green Bay Packers drafted Van Ness. The 13th overall pick showed great lateral movement near the goal line and chased Justin Fields down for his first career sack. Fields is not an easy guy to outrun and wrap up. 6’5″, 272-pound players do not usually move that fast. While he still looks very raw, that play shows the promise that he has as a player. The team is hoping that he will have a Rashan Gary-like trajectory on his career, but it looks like he could have an impact this season as well.

Grade: B

Jayden Reed

With Christian Watson out, it was a golden opportunity for Reed to get more looks. He was targeted quite a lot and had a mixed bag in the passing game. He had two receptions for 48 yards, with one of them being a 30-yard reception on a key third down. There were a couple of missed opportunities, but they were because of some minor miscommunications, which is to be expected with a rookie receiver and first-year quarterback. Where he looked really good was in the return game. He averaged 18 yards per punt return with a long of 35. That was a huge boost for the offense, and I would not be surprised if Reed takes one to the house this season.

Grade: B

Luke Musgrave

Musgrave should have had his first career touchdown on Sunday. He was all alone on his 37-yard reception but fell down short of the goal line. Romeo Doubs caught the touchdown pass a couple of plays later. He ended the day with three receptions for 50 yards, which was a solid day for a rookie tight end. Rookie tight ends do not always make an immediate impact, and Musgrave looked fairly comfortable out there. He would have had another big gain, but he broke off the route, and Love missed him. There is a lot to work on, but the potential is oozing out of the rookie.

Grade: B-

The Green Bay Packers have to be happy about what they saw from their rookies in week 1. If this type of production continues, the team has a bright future.