Year 2 Jumps? These Seven Packers Must Take One

Everybody loves the flashy new toy. In the NFL, that’s the rookies. However, the key for success for any team is the success of the second-year players. The “Year 2 jump” is such a cliché that it’s taken as an established fact.

A player should improve from Year 1 to Year 2. After all, last year’s rookie class spent two or three months working on 40-yard dashes. This year, they got to focus on football.

The Year 2 jump isn’t an automatic, though. There’s no better example than Eric Stokes. The 2021 first-round pick had an All-Rookie-caliber season, when he allowed a 49.5 percent catch rate and broke up 14 passes. In 2022, he started nine games, allowed an 80.0 percent catch rate and didn’t break up any passes.

These seven players must make a Year 2 jump for the good of the team. And themselves.

First Round: OL Jordan Morgan

A first-round pick has to be a starter. Maybe not as a rookie, though that would be nice, but certainly by his second season.

Morgan was not a starter as a rookie, a season derailed by a chronic shoulder injury that eventually ended in surgery. Morgan will contend for the starting job at left tackle and right guard. That’ll be tough duty. Going from tackle to guard is difficult. Going from the left side to the right side is even more difficult.  

At left tackle, Rasheed Walker has been a reliable starter at one of the most important positions in the game. He hasn’t been great but he’s never been bad. At right guard, Sean Rhyan had a solid first season as the starter. Neither will go away quietly into the night.

Would the Packers like Morgan to start? Of course. However, if Walker and Rhyan remain in the starting lineup, the Packers would be rewarded with solid compensatory picks should they leave in free agency after the season. 

Second Round: S Javon Bullard

Bullard had a challenging rookie season. He spent training camp anchored at safety, where he beat out Evan Williams for the starting job. When Jaire Alexander was injured, Bullard moved into the slot.

Bullard wound up starting 15 games and making 11 starts. That’s a lot of playing time to break up only one pass. According to Pro Football Focus, 50 defensive backs played at least 130 slot-coverage snaps. From that group, Bullard ranked 35th in passer rating allowed and yards allowed per slot-coverage snap.

“We knew Javon had the positional flex,” defensive backs coach Ryan Donward said before the start of OTAs. “We knew that, and we verified that last year. I think Javon, he did a great job playing violently. I mean, that guy plays the game the right way. He addresses blocks the right way. We saw it in Week 1 and we saw it throughout the season.”

With a solid foundation at both spots, Bullard must play better to maintain his role on the defense.

Third Round: RB MarShawn Lloyd                   

To say Lloyd had a difficult season would be an understatement. A hip injury sidelined him for the start of training camp. In his lone preseason game, he sustained a hamstring injury that kept him out for Week 1. He made his NFL debut against the Colts in Week 2, playing 10 snaps before an ankle injury.

After a lengthy stint on injured reserve, he was ready to return to action but was hospitalized by appendicitis and needed an appendectomy. As he tried one more comeback, another hamstring injury ended his season once and for all.