Packers release Week 1 depth chart with no surprises to be found

Although it means little since the Green Bay Packers rarely line up in traditional “base” formations, the team released its first depth chart of the 2016 regular season on Wednesday in its weekly “Dope Sheet.” This document, which contains numerous nuggets of statistical and personal information on all the team’s players, also reveals the first depth chart of the year.

While Acme Packing Company tried to project this depth chart on Tuesday, there were a few areas where our projection differed from the official one. First, we listed three wide receiver positions and three cornerback spots on our chart, as opposed to two of each on the Packers’ document. However, for much of the lineup, our projection was very close to the actual one.

Here are a few areas where our expectations differed from the team’s actual document.

Wide Receiver

As the Packers tend to do, they had just two wideout spots listed on the depth chart - one seemingly for boundary receivers and the other for the more versatile players who play both the slot and on the outside. Here is what the Packers listed:

WR1: Jordy Nelson, Davante Adams, Jeff Janis
WR2: Randall Cobb, Jared Abbrederis, Ty Montgomery, Trevor Davis

Defensive Line

We were accurate in our projection of a starting 3-man line consisting of Dean Lowry, Letroy Guion, and Mike Daniels, but the backups were a little bit out of place. Rookie Kenny Clark is listed as the backup at both the 5-technique “defensive end” spot manned by Lowry and the 3-technique “defensive tackle” position held by Daniels. Christian Ringo was instead the backup at nose tackle behind Guion.

Outside Linebacker

While APC listed Nick Perry as the starter - mainly because of this writer’s belief that he will get more snaps than Julius Peppers - the Packers kept Peppers ahead of the fifth-year pro at left outside linebacker.

Cornerbacks

Like at receiver, the Packers chose to define just two corner spots despite the team using five or more defensive backs on more than two-thirds of the team’s snaps. Here is how the team listed the players this week:

LCB: Damarious Randall, Quinten Rollins, Josh Hawkins
RCB: Sam Shields, LaDarius Gunter

Return Men

Finally, we come to the returners, arguably one of the toughest positions to predict given the state of the roster and the glut of options that the Packers have. Micah Hyde gets top billing on both punts and kickoffs, but we were a bit off in the order behind him. Here is how the players are currently listed:

Kick Return: Hyde, Trevor Davis, Jared Abbrederis, Ty Montgomery, Jhurell Pressley
Punt Return: Hyde, Davis, Abbrederis, Quinten Rollins

Aside from those positions, APC’s projections matched up with the way the team defines its formal depth chart.