Predictions for the 2020 Season

[RashanGary]

I'll start with a few. Curious what others think too



1. Our secondary will be considered elite. All of the great secondaries have experience and savvy. Amos, King, Alexander and now even Savage have games under their belts. Theyre all talented. All smart. Playing all last year together, theyre gonna take another step toward greatness in 2020.

2. Rashan Gary gets 5 or more sacks. His training team has twitter clips of him grinding at his craft. He's 275 pounds now and it's crazy how agile he looks at that weight

3. The Packers ran the ball 411 times last year. I predict they run more in 2020.

4. Jamaal Williams has a bunch of training clips on Twitter too. He's working on running routes and that should give him more opportunity. I expect him to make more plays.

5. The rookie running back will have a small niche role in year 1, the other two guys in their prime, b
ut will be fun to watch him roll over DBs.

6. Our #2 WR position will be much improved as Lazard will be a much better player than he was in his first year.

7. Our #3 and #4 WR positions will be much improved as MVS is very likely to be better and Funchess is even more likely to be better than Allison.


I'm very curious to see if Sternberger, Tonyan and Deguara can play TE. That is a huge questionmark in our offense. Sternberger seems like our best bet this year with Deguara having maybe a little more long term certainty with his playstyle being so likely to work in the NFL. As much as I don't really like old guy Graham, I don't know if anyone we have is as good as he was.

[ThunderDan]

The Packers don't get as lucky with the injury bug in 2020 as they did in 2019. The whole NFL has another year of being able to study the SF offense and D coordinators will be better at shutting it down. Running more takes the ball out of ARod's hands which to me is an overall negative for this team.

I think we trend back to 10-6 and win the North.

[Upnorth]

tg that is some homer juice i hope comes true.

I think Sternberger is better han Graham last year but still not as good as we hope. I think our wr over all do improve but not as much as we want. I think we get a bit better running on first down and that opens up some better options for rodgers but he still ignores the middle of the fielf

[pbmax]

GRIDIRON 2000 (https://vault.si.com/vault/1979/09/03/gridiron-2000-dont-be-shocked-when-the-21st-century-arrives-and-the-nfl-teams-in-super-bowl-xxxiv-have-women-quarterbacks-launching-135-yard-touchdown-passes-with-their-power-assisted-arms)

DON'T BE SHOCKED WHEN THE 21ST CENTURY ARRIVES AND THE NFL TEAMS IN SUPER BOWL XXXIV HAVE WOMEN QUARTERBACKS LAUNCHING 135-YARD TOUCHDOWN PASSES WITH THEIR POWER-ASSISTED ARMS.

by FRANK DEFORD

"In the year 2000, there won't be any contact below the waist." —Bum Phillips, Head Coach, Houston Oilers

Yeah, O.K.

"The 25-yard end zone is the single greatest thing that could change the game. The whole concept of goal-line defenses would change with that." —Marv Levy, Head Coach, Kansas City Chiefs

Sure, open it up.

"Players will look a lot different: lighter equipment, more formfitting shoulder pads, a different type of helmet, soft rib pads." —Dan Rooney, President, Pittsburgh Steelers

Of course.

"By 2000 there'll be pari-mutuel betting on every play in every game in the NFL." —Byron Donzis

Say what?

"There'll be a little metal fleck in the football, so you can tell for sure whether the guy with the ball got over the goal line or was pushed back." —Tex Schramm, General Manager, Dallas Cowboys

You bet, that's a can-do.

"Everything will become more specialized. On defense, you'll get pass rushers and run defenders, first-down and third-down defensive ends. You'll see relief quarterbacks." —Tom Flores, Head Coach, Oakland Raiders

Looks inevitable, yeah.

"I think you'll have a lot of women playing quarterback by 2000. For one thing, they have a higher threshold of pain." —Byron Donzis

Byron who?

"I don't think there'll be a franchise in a poor-weather area without a domed stadium. And you won't see franchises moving into 50,000-seat baseball-oriented stadiums." —Tex Schramm

Uh-huh.

"Maybe the football players will come from someplace else. The best lineman in the country might be on the streets of L.A., and not at USC—and we'll find a way to find him." —Bum Phillips

You betchum, Red Ryder.

"It's a very tough, very hard game, and I think more and more it's going to be played by the so-called underprivileged. It's too tough, too physical a game for a society that's become so affluent. Kids can get the same great cardiovascular exercise from soccer." —Marv Levy

For sure.

"The quarterback will have a calculator in his helmet. It will be on his Lexan visor, so he'll be able to see readouts based on percentages and statistics to determine the ideal play to run." —Byron Donzis

Where did you come from, Byron Donzis?

[GB-Brandon]

Not much more needs to be said here.

[Bretsky]

I agree that Gary gets 5 sacks; Sheer volume and I think he's going to be given every opportunity in the world and pay massive downs

Like I do every year, I predict the accelerated no turnover play of AROD will let us slide into the playoffs and then we'll get bounced. Another year toward Ron Wolf's famous Fart in the Wind for AROD's career in GB

I predict next year's team gets hit with a lot more injuries and effects us more negatively then 2019.

I'm predicting the rookie RB looks pretty good and forces Jamal Williams or Aaron Jones out the door after their 1st contract

The WR's will disappoint but I'm prepared for that.

[RashanGary]

I agree that Gary gets 5 sacks; Sheer volume and I think he's going to be given every opportunity in the world and pay massive downs

Like I do every year, I predict the accelerated no turnover play of AROD will let us slide into the playoffs and then we'll get bounced. Another year toward Ron Wolf's famous Fart in the Wind for AROD's career in GB

I predict next year's team gets hit with a lot more injuries and effects us more negatively then 2019.

I'm predicting the rookie RB looks pretty good and forces Jamal Williams or Aaron Jones out the door after their 1st contract

The WR's will disappoint but I'm prepared for that.

All reasonable. The injury thing especially. I'm excited for Lazard though. I guess I was excited for MVS last year too, so that might be bullshit.

[texaspackerbacker]

RG's first post makes a helluva lot of sense in a lot of ways plus a few I don't completely agree with.

We should be slightly improved - maybe not as much as I or some others hoped. Our schedule is tougher, being the division champ and all. However, our top division competition probably regressed, and the other two in the division probably stayed even or worse. We had mostly good health last season - a fact which I consider to be normal. If we avoid the bad luck of injuries this year, we should finish close to last year's record if not better.

Position by position:


QB: I expect Aaron Rodgers to be as good as ever - best in the NFC and top 3 or so in the NFL. Boyle will be the primary clipboard holder (figuratively speaking). Love will be mostly inactive, although I expect to see a LOT of him in the preseason, and I expect him to look damn good against the back up D of opponents.

RB: If Aaron Jones stays healthy - a good bet IMO, he should have a helluva contract year, maybe the same for Jamal Williams. What nobody has talked about is who is gonna play fullback. That is a fairly important position as I understand it in LaFleur's offense. I hope they don't waste a roster spot on a fullback. Either Dillon or Deguara might see action there. I was thinking maybe Jamal Williams would be the FB, but it sounds like he's aiming to be in the top two of the RB rotation. Whatever happens, we should be fine if we get some decent line blocking.

O Line: For this year, we still have both Linsley and Bakhtiari - both playing for contracts. Jenkins should be better than ever. That leaves two question marks with 5 or 6 or 7 possible answers. I think when all is said and done, we will have at least as good line play as last season.

WR: I wish we had gotten a speed guy; Apparently LaFleur and Gutekunst didn't see the need, maybe because they have a higher regard for Valdez-Scantling than many in here do. Getting St. Brown back helps too. Adams should again be excellent, and Lazard should be good and improved. Funchess, who knows. I'm still not giving up on Kumerow, and maybe the CFL kid will amount to something.

TE: I didn't have a very high opinion of Sternberger last season, but many do, so who knows. Tonyan supposedly played hurt all last season - I see more hope that he will be good than Sternberger. The rookie? maybe. Marcedes Lewis? I see him as maybe better than the other three, but as of now he isn't even signed. Bottom line, I doubt we make too much use of the position.

D Line: Another position I had hopes for in the draft, but no help. Lancaster is total crap, Lowery is not much better, M. Adams and Keke didn't give any reason for hope last season. I had some hope for Gerald Willis as FA, but the last I heard, his contract is not yet even final. I expect to see 3 Edge Rushers on the field a lot in passing situations - one of them basically lined up beside Kenny Clark. How do we stop the run? Good question. The best recipe I can think of is have Aaron R. and Aaron J. get us a big lead, and put opponents in a catch up/need to pass situation.

DB: I wish I could concur with RG about our secondary being considered elite, but I don't have much faith in Kevin King, and Alexander seemed to regress a little bit last season, especially against top level WRs. I wish we would play more zone coverage, but I doubt that will happen. Amos and Savage should be good, but elite might be a stretch. We should, however, have plenty of depth with Raven Greene, etc.

Edge: The Smiths again should be borderline elite, and I like what I read about Gary. The new kid, Garvin and/or Ramsey from the practice squad might contribute too. This should be a position of strength.

ILB: Probably we will have just one on the field about half the time. Hopefully Kirksey is as good as he supposedly used to be. I'm hoping for help from Curtis Bolton. Summers could be ok. And I'm not as negative about Burks as a lot of people. This won't be a position of strength, but it shouldn't hurt us too much either.

[run pMc]

I think regression to the mean (in terms of luck and injuries) plus a 1st place schedule make it tough sledding to make the playoffs. If Rodgers and the key players stay healthy they have a shot at a WC spot at least. Wagner < Bulaga, but Kirksey is an upgrade if an injury concern. Nobody will be sleeping on Z.Smith or Aaron Jones.

I think they might actually play better (or more consistently good) this year and end up with a worse record. They overachieved last year.

I'd be happy if they went 10-6 and made the playoffs. Anything can happen from there.