Five reasons why the Packers will make the 2018 NFL playoffs

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Five reasons why the Packers will make the 2018 NFL playoffs Published: Jul 10, 2018 at 04:55 AM Around The NFL Podcast Co-Host 1) Let's start with the most obvious reason of all The grand return of . Take last season and whip it into the circular file. The were dead men walking without their supremely talented rainmaker of a quarterback. Lost for the bulk of Green Bay's schedule with a broken right collarbone, Rodgers made it back in time for a critical start against the in Week 15. The lost that game and sent their star quarterback back to injured reserve, a move that compelled a handful of teams to call for his release, arguing the move violated league rules. Nice try, but no dice. Rodgers rolled through OTAs as a fully operational signal-caller set to hit camp with a clean bill of health. It's concerning how the rest of the roster fell to pieces with a me sy taking over last season, but that only shows what Rodgers does for this team on a weekly basis. Alongside , Rodgers has spent the prime of his career teaching a master cla s in pre-snap artistry, field vision, footwork, level-above-human throwing ability and last-minute magic-spinning. If he was miffed about the release of wideout and quarterbacks aide Alex Van Pelt, an -- making him the richest pa ser on Earth -- should help. With Rodgers on the field, the remain in the conversation for a berth. 2) Bye-bye, Dom Capers. Hello, Mike Pettine fans have endured their share of soul-flatting playoff lo ses, a rash of January meltdowns Jason Vargas Jersey that so often included one troubling, consistent image: the sight of defensive play-caller Dom Capers, up in the booth, staring down at a Green Bay unit refusing to get the job done. Season after season, rinse and repeat. Today, the unkillable Capers is gone, replaced by former defensive coordinator and head coach Mike Pettine. He's quickly per ESPN's Rob Demovsky, while playing a key role in adding free-agent defensive behemoth . Pettine spent the past two seasons away from football. He was determined to find the right fit, and he told me in 2016 that it was incredibly helpful to gain a saying he was "exposed to more ideas and what's working and what's not working. And you also get a better sense of the personnel around the league." Pettine brings much-needed change to a defensive staff that sorely needed new ideas. 3) New-look front office If Pettine's arrival is a breath of fresh air, the same can be said of a front-office shift that saw Brian Gutekunst replace Ted Thompson as general manager. Thompson deserves credit for plenty of wins over the years, but Gutekunst has broken free from his mentor to embrace a more aggre sive approach to team-building. While Thompson shunned free agency with zeal, Gutekunst gave Pettine a system-friendly player in Wilkerson and rebuilt the tight end roster with free-agent adds and . It remains to be seen what Graham has left -- his yards per catch dipped from 14.2 in 2016 to 9.1 last season -- but there's plenty to like about pairing this big-bodied playmaker with Rodgers. Would Graham be here if Thompson were in charge? 4) A rookie cla s built off speed Gutekunst gifted Pettine with more than just Wilkerson, using Green Bay's Wilson Ramos Jersey first two picks in the 2018 on cornerbacks. First-rounder brings 4.38 wheels and a reputation for rugged on-field confidence to the position. He has a shot to start immediately on the outside acro s from second-year corner . Second-rounder isn't as quick, but he led the NCAA in picks and pa s breakups in 2017. These young hopefuls join free-agent additions and . Some were surprised to see the part ways with , but his speed was an i sue last season. Green Bay's wideout room looks different after adding rookie deep threat in the fourth round. He struggled with drops in college, but he should fit nicely with , and third-year man . The added additional burst with sixth-rounder -- clocked at 4.48 -- after grabbing fifth-rounder , who ran a daunting 4.37. We'll find out if any of these new faces can play, but the draft brought much-needed juice. Gutekunst also picked up an additional 2019 first-rounder from New Orleans after moving down from No. 14 to No. 27 (before jumping back up to grab Alexander), a swap that sets the up nicely next offseason. 5) Intriguing backfield depth It's unclear how Green Bay plans to rush the quarterback beyond established pa s-rushers and . The offensive line raises questions, too, but Jay Bruce Jersey I like what the have at running back. and give the team a pair of second-year players who showed promise as rookies. is coming off an injury-plagued season and might be headed for the lightest workload of the three, but not while Jones serves a two-game suspension to open the year for violating the league's substance-abuse policy. This backfield looks like a car crash for fantasy heads, but not in the real world. Head coach Mike McCarthy has hinted at a committee approach that could wind up looking somewhat Saints-like, saying: "We feel like we've got , but they haven't done it over a long period of time, so I think it's just practical thinking from that position and realizing that it's a very demanding position." That plan alone won't turn Williams and Jones into and , but the have the requisite depth to give this team a reliable ground game. Rodgers will do the rest. 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