Who are the Packers' underrated and underappreciated players entering 2025?
Picking an underrated or underappreciated player on a team can be a difficult exercise, given all the available variables and viewpoints, but three different outlets gave it a try -- and each outlet ended up picking a different player to recognize for the Green Bay Packers.
At ESPN, Aaron Schatz sought out to pick an underrated player at every position group across the entire league. His pick for interior offensive line? Elgton Jenkins, who has started games at tackle, guard and center and is likely headed back to center in 2025 after making Pro Bowls at guard. In Schatz's eyes, Jenkins is generally viewed as a good player when he is in fact a great one.
"Last season, Jenkins led left guards in the lowest rate of pressures allowed, according to FTN data charting," Schatz wrote. "He ranked eighth among all guards in pass block win rate (92.4%), but he also brings versatility to Green Bay's offensive line. He has played at both tackle spots and is now penciled in as the starting center for 2025. Jenkins is waiting on a new deal before taking the field, though."
Jenkins' representation will love seeing him on this list. The Packers want to move Jenkins to center, a position he's played before, but a contract adjustment that protects him past the 2025 season might be required before the start of the regular season. Mark Oldacres of Packers Wire tackled the predicament here.
Jonathan Macri of PFF stayed on the offensive side for the Packers while picking each team's most underrated player. Receiver Romeo Doubs -- a quietly productive player who consistently makes contested catches -- was the pick.
"Doubs' ability to step up deep downfield and come down with contested catches has been crucial for Green Bay, as he not only leads the team in contested-catch rate over the past two seasons (58.7%) but also ranks 11th among 104 qualifying wide receivers over that span," Macri wrote.
Doubs, a fourth-round pick in 2022, is entering a contract year in 2025. He'll remain a go-to target for Jordan Love but could eventually lose snaps and targets to first-round pick Matthew Golden and third-round pick Savion Williams, and there's no guarantee he'll get a second contract after this season. But a big season with Love in 2025 could certainly have the Packers thinking a long-term deal, especially if Doubs can get over a bizarre one-game suspension and two concussions from a difficult 2024 season.
What about underappreciated? Gennaro Filice of NFL.com highlighted Wyatt -- a high-upside pass-rusher entering a critical season -- along the defensive line.
"A first-round pick in 2022, Wyatt took a big step forward in 2023, posting 5.5 sacks and 48 QB pressures (per PFF). With Jeff Hafley taking over the defense in 2024 -- switching the scheme from Joe Barry's 3-4 front to a base 4-3 approach -- Wyatt appeared poised for a full-fledged breakout as a gap-shooting 3-tech," Filice wrote. "And he was indeed a monster in the first three games of the season, racking up three sacks, five QB hits and nine pressures. But then he sprained his ankle in Week 4, sidelining him for three games. He appeared to get his mojo back late in the season, logging a sack in back-to-back December games, but I want to see a fully healthy season from Wyatt in Hafley's system."
A fully healthy Wyatt could be a wrecking ball force in the middle of Jeff Hafley's defensive line. Also, the Packers picked up Wyatt's fifth-year option, highlighting the team's confidence in the 2022 first-round pick becoming a cornerstone player. Hafley's defensive front needs to become consistently more disruptive this season, and Wyatt -- an elite athlete at the position -- must be at the forefront of the attack. He has the quickness and natural pass-rushing ability to be a game-changer, and more snaps should be able after the Packers let TJ Slaton walk in free agency.
The underrated/underappreciated exercise led to some interesting results for the Packers. One picked an established but invaluable player along the offensive line. Another picked a pass-catcher with past results and a big chance to rebound in 2025. And still another landed on a first-round pass-rusher with huge and possibly unlimited upside.
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