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The regular season means little to the Green Bay Packers in 2022. The team has won 39 games across the last three regular seasons, but postseason failures have left fans frustrated.
Aaron Rodgers may be one of the best quarterbacks to ever play, but at 38 years old, his days as an MVP-caliber player may be numbered. While the Packers still have stars such as Aaron Jones and Jaire Alexander on their roster, it's taken a hit thanks to a salary cap crunch. Now more than ever, Green Bay needs all hands on deck to reach the Super Bowl.
Let's look at players on the Packers roster who could be diamonds in the rough this season.
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Packers Hidden Gems On 2022 Roster
Amari Rodgers
Amari Rodgers showed great promise coming out of Clemson. In his final collegiate season, he hauled in 77 passes for 1,020 yards and seven touchdowns. He received first-team all-ACC honors for his outstanding season.
Green Bay saw Rodgers' potential and selected him in the third round of the 2021 draft. Unfortunately, he didn't have the rookie season he wanted. While he took the majority of returns for the Packers, he caught just four passes on offense for 45 yards.
With Davante Adams' leaving for the greener pastures of the Las Vegas Raiders, the Packers are counting on depth receivers to step up this season. Rodgers is low down on the depth chart coming into the year, but another year of growth has caught the team's attention.
“If you were to see him right now, he already looks faster and stronger than he ever did,” wide receivers coach Jason Vrable said in May. “He's in the best shape of his life. His mindset is, ‘I'm going to be the No. 1 guy at all three positions.' He has that going for him. His route-running is already cleaner and crisper.”
The Packers' wide receiver corps is wide open, and Amari Rodgers could be a key part of the group that Aaron Rodgers will be throwing passes to going forward. Other Green Bay wide receivers could be hidden gems, too, but keep your eye on the lesser-known A-Rod to make his name more well-known.
Krys Barnes
Since Green Bay signed Barnes as an undrafted free agent out of UCLA, he has been a steady presence on the defense. The inside linebacker recorded 80 tackles in his 2020 rookie season and 81 in 2021. He also added a sack in each season.
Despite his strong performance so far, the Packers drafted another inside linebacker in Quay Walker. The first-round pick out of Georgia should see the field often in his rookie season, putting Barnes' starting job in question.
The added competition should drive Barnes' to elevate his game. He has impressed the Packers' staff throughout his time with the team, and this is his biggest test yet.
“Every time he's had an opportunity, he's just capitalized on it,” general manager Brian Gutekunst said before last season. “He's been ready, he's been prepared, he's fought through injuries. It's really a credit to the kid because when you come in like Krys did, you're not going to get the same opportunities maybe as a guy who gets drafted high does. When you get those opportunities, you have to make the most of them — whether that's in the meeting room with a coach, whether that's on the field in a preseason game, in a practice, whatever it is, you have to make the most of those opportunities to get more opportunities and he's done that the whole way through.”
If Barnes can boost his production even further, the Packers' already strong defense will reach a whole new level. Barnes could be one of the Packers' hidden gems if he makes the strong unit even stronger.
