The Green Bay Packers kicked off their preseason on Friday with a 36-19 win over the Cincinnati Bengals. The world got to get more familiar with Jordan Love's game as the Packers continue their transition to him as their new franchise quarterback. But while most eyes were on Love, he wasn't the only player on the field.

Training camp is a grind, but it is also a competition. Multiple players are aiming and fighting for one spot. This line of thought typically gets associated the most with players at the end of the roster, but it also applies to those at the top of it. Not every starting position is given. Some of those have to be earned or can be taken away if performance dictates that to be the case. There are a couple of players on the Packers who, while they did start in their preseason opener and performed mostly well, should do their best to keep up that level of play or risk getting yanked out of their starting spot.

Romeo Doubs

On the surface, Doubs didn't do anything to lose his starting spot in the Packers' first preseason game. He caught both of his targets for 21 yards and also scored a touchdown. His touchdown came on a beautiful touch pass by Jordan Love.

Doubs was fine as a rookie but nothing spectacular. Nothing about his 6.3 yards per target, 0.95 yards per team pass attempt or 10.1 yards per reception were anything to write home about. This was despite the Packers' wide receiver room being completely bare last year aside from Christian Watson, who was injured for most of training camp last season and wasn't totally healthy and heavily utilized until Week 10 last season. He was a second-round pick and leapfrogged back ahead of Doubs once he shook the injuries (hamstring, concussion) that plagued him last season. The same could happen to Doubs with Jayden Reed.

Jayden Reed was a second-round pick who began at Western Michigan before transferring to Michigan State. Michigan State's pass attack was anemic in 2022 and for most of Reed's career, but he was still impressive. Reed's freshman season numbers at Western Michigan were better than any of the numerous round one or round two receivers that have come from that program in Corey Davis, Dee Eskridge, and Skyy Moore. Reed has had a strong training camp and has already emerged as the team's slot receiver and number three receiver.

Reed continued that momentum against the Bengals. He caught both of his targets for 20 yards, the most notable of which was this acrobatic catch. He also was utilized on a jet sweep and drew a deep pass interference penalty inside the end zone.

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Oct 13, 2024; Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA; Green Bay Packers wide receiver Romeo Doubs (87) celebrates with wide receivers Christian Watson (9) and Jayden Reed (11) after scoring a touchdown during the third quarter against the Arizona Cardinals at Lambeau Field. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images
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Romeo Doubs is the starter for now, but Reed is the better and more versatile player. Doubs has to keep performing to fend Reed off. No one should fault him if/when Reed leaps him on the depth chart.

Josh Myers

Unlike Jayden Reed, Josh Myers hasn't had the best training camp. Myers has had trouble with the quarterback-center snap exchange during camp and hasn't quite lived up to the second-round pick the Packers made him a couple of years ago. Myers has found himself in a competition with second-year lineman Zach Tom for the starting center spot.

The good news for Myers is that neither Jordan Love nor backup Sean Clifford got sacked while Myers was in the game. Also working for him is that Zach Tom is currently projected to be the Packers' starting right tackle. But, Yosh Nijman can play right tackle as well if Myers isn't holding up, and Myers also precipitated a false start for not snapping the ball on the proper snap count. Myers needs to be more consistent, or his starting spot could really become up for grabs.

Moving Forward

Competition is a good thing to have with an NFL team. If Jayden Reed and Zach Tom/Yosh Nijman are better than Romeo Doubs and Josh Myers, that's a good thing for the Green Bay Packers. It means they're playing their better players. If Doubs and Myers fend them off, that means they're playing well too. Those two are listed as starters for now and should be come Week 1. But they need to keep performing as such, or that status could get taken away.