Cheese Curds, 5/4: Youth movement is alive and well in Green Bay

It’s a new world in Green Bay. Yes, the Green Bay Packers have always been a team that skews on the younger side due to the team’s insistence on a draft-and-develop philosophy, but that approach is even more prevalent when looking at the roster heading towards 2023.

Aaron Rodgers is now a New York Jet, as is Randall Cobb. Mason Crosby and Marcedes Lewis are free agents. As a result, this team is younger than perhaps ever before in recent memory.

Andy Herman put it into context on Wednesday:

Still, the Packers do have a core of experienced players to build around, it’s just that this core skews fairly young. Kenny Clark is still just 27 despite having seven years of NFL experience. Aaron Jones, Rasul Douglas, and Rudy Ford are all 27 or 28 with six years in the league.

Still, the vast majority of players on this roster are 26 years old or younger — a whopping 71 out of the 88 individuals currently signed to the roster. That of course includes Jordan Love, the team’s new starting quarterback, who is a few months younger than Sean Clifford, the prospective backup that they just drafted last Saturday.

Does that mean 2023 is a rebuilding year? Perhaps, but not necessarily. That naturally depends on how these youngsters adapt and perform, but regardless, this probably more of a fact-finding season — figuring out which of those younger players can be cornerstones of the franchise moving forward as the team looks ahead and builds toward another stretch of sustained success.

Jordan Love's extension eases pressure on Packers' new starting QB - ESPN
Love gets some guarantees now in the form of a signing bonus while also getting some guaranteed salary in 2024, all but ensuring that he'll be starting for the Packers for at least two years.

Packers prefer Senior Bowl wide receivers under Brian Gutekunst | Packers Wire
In Gutekunst's six years as GM, he has drafted or signed a whopping ten receivers who participated in the Senior Bowl, including all three of this year's rookies.

Coach on Packers' Luke Musgrave: ‘Man Amongst Boys’ in 2022 - Sports Illustrated
Former Wisconsin Badgers tight end Brian Wozniak was Musgrave's position coach at Oregon State this season and he weighs in on how the young player was on the breakout path if not for his knee injury in 2022.

The 12 most memorable moments of Aaron Rodgers’ Packers career - The Athletic ($)
Four of these 12 moments involve beating the Chicago Bears, so it's a pretty good list.

Pasta dumped in Old Bridge, N.J., woods | Philadelphia Inquirer
I have so many questions, but first of all, how dare you waste good pasta, especially that much of it?