So, just how much can the Packers afford to lose to injury to their left tackle, which has been their left tackle since Randall Coleman was a rookie in 2021? They cannot afford to lose two out of the five starter spots. If they do that, then their season is over and they are not going to make the playoffs. Now if they do lose two or more out of the top five players, they could be in trouble. But I doubt that it will happen. They have depth at all positions and even with injuries to some key players, they should still be able to make the playoffs.
The bottom line is this; the Packers do not have a lot to lose by sitting the two best offensive linemen, tackles, and running backs. It is like having two fullbacks on the field and two wide receivers. You cannot afford to sit them and hope that one of them will go down with an injury. That is just not possible. When you consider that they have two quality starting quarterbacks, two quality running backs, a quality center, two quality wide receivers, two quality starting defenses, and two quality tight end, it is not a big deal if one of those players is injured.
Of course if one of them does get hurt, you will be in trouble. Then you have to bring in a backup quarterback and hope that he or she can play well enough to help your cause. Then you need to bring in a backup running back and hope that he or she can play well enough to help your other players. That means that you might have to start all over again and you might never have a chance to get it back together again. That is why I say that it is not a big deal if either of those top two guys goes down with an injury.
The bottom line is this. The Packers do not have a number one receiver in their set of offensive players. They do have one decent tight end and one decent running back, but they do not have two decent players. So when one of those two players goes down, they are often in big trouble unless they have a great wide receiver to throw the ball to.
So let’s say that one of these five players goes down with an injury. What then? Well, assuming that he is not a very good receiver, the Packers have to turn to another position to find a good quarterback to throw the ball to, right? It does not look good for Green Bay to continue to rely on its running game to take care of the football for them when none of their wide receivers are capable of doing so.
Well, the answer is not necessarily, “Let’s keep throwing the ball to the running game.” Because while the running game is bad, the passing game is even worse, and if the Packers can’t throw the ball to someone, they won’t be able to score any points. So while this might be the most obvious answer to the question of what the best players the Packers can lose to injury, it is also the answer that gives the other team, especially the other competitor, the best chance to score.
So what would be the best players the Packers can lose to injury? Well, it appears to be the tight end. If you had Aaron Rodgers as your quarterback, you could probably get by with just a running back and a tight end, because he does not need to pass much. But now that he has to miss time with his throwing shoulder, you need other weapons. So you bring in another quarterback, and your problem is still going to be on the offensive line.
The best players for the Packers to lose to injury would probably be those who play on the defensive line. If they are going to have any kind of impact on the outcome of the Packers season, then they need to be healthy. So it appears as though at the moment, none of the top five players the Packers can least afford to lose to injury are going to be lost to an injury.
