It's always tough to tell how things will eventually shake out from now until the end of training camp, but there's always tangible evidence that gives us an idea of what needs to happen in order for certain scenarios to play out in whatever fashion.

Of course, there's plenty of that with the Green Bay Packers. The team has a lot of questions to answer heading into 2023 and they're doing their best to find said answers.



The following three players have some major questions of their own to answer after a disappointing showing over the last few weeks. Let's dive in.

Three Losers From Packers OTAs/Minicamp

OLB Jonathan Garvin

Garvin, a seventh-round pick from the 2020 NFL Draft, has made the team all three years he’s been in the league, but that could change this year.

For starters, the Packers drafted Lukas Van Ness in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft. Secondly, fifth-year veteran Justin Hollins practiced with the 1s all throughout minicamp. 

Lastly, Garvin missed all of OTAs and was present for just one day of practice – the final day of mandatory minicamp. Garvin's Tuesday absence was excused, per Acme Packing Company's Justis Mosqueda.

First things, first: Hopefully everything is OK when it comes to Garvin's personal life. With that being said, he's still missing valuable practice time and he's quickly falling down the depth chart – fair or not.

The Packers have their top-4 pass rushers set in Rashan Gary, Preston Smith, Kingsley Enagbare, and Van Ness. Even with the likelihood of Gary starting the year on PUP, the arrow for EDGE5 is currently pointing at Hollins.

Garvin is really going to need a strong camp, because he's already fallen behind and has a lot of ground to make up.

DL Devonte Wyatt

Wyatt had a pretty disappointing rookie year, even if it’s really hard for defensive linemen to make an immediate impact out of college. 

So far, it doesn't sound like he's on track to have a breakout -or simply better- season. Reports currently have Wyatt getting subbed out for T.J. Slaton in subpackages. 

This is big, because per Sports Info Solutions, the Packers were in some form of a subpackage on around 70% of defensive plays in 2022. If Wyatt, overall, plays mostly in base, that means he's only going to be on the field for about 25-30% of defensive snaps. 

Wyatt played just 23% of defensive snaps last year, which obviously only represents a small uptick in playing time. That's not ideal for the 28th overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. 

Monitoring how the Packers use Wyatt during minicamp is easily one of the biggest things to watch for when the pads come on.

WR Grant DuBose

DuBose has been battling an injury that held him out of rookie minicamp, the three OTA sessions open to the media, and all of minicamp. 

That's obviously not ideal, even if it's not his fault. The situation is heightened once more when realizing the Packers have five solid options at the front of the line. This is key because typically, a team won't carry more than six wideouts on the final 53. The Packers carried seven last year, but that's because Christian Watson had offseason knee surgery, so the team wanted to safeguard itself from any setbacks.

“Anytime you’re talking about a young player that hasn’t been able to participate in practices – those are valuable reps," Matt LaFleur said at the beginning of June. "We talked about it the other day after practice, just how meaningful these reps are for these young players, especially when you’re learning something new. It’s one thing to sit there and learn it in the meeting rooms, on the board, watching the tape, but it’s another thing to go out there and do it. I do think naturally you fall behind, and it’s going to be on him to try to stay into as best you can mentally and get those mental reps, but there’s nothing like the physical reps.”

Watson, Romeo Doubs, Jayden Reed, Dontayvion Wicks, and Samori Toure are the top-5 WRs and according to reports from camp, it's not crazy to pencil Malik Heath in at WR6. Heath has had a very good offseason, so far, and could be a dark horse to make the roster.

At this point, we are talking about special teams, anyway. Once you get past the WR4 position, that's what matters. DuBose has yet to show he can make the roster as a receiver or teams guy, so his hill is easily the steepest of all the rookies to climb.

---

There is still time left for these guys to find some momentum and reverse their trending statuses. That needs to happen soon, however, because time is running out, ultimately.

Featured image via MARK HOFFMAN/MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL / USA TODAY NETWORK