Great piece, Tim.

Rashan Gary might be my favorite altogether to make a big splash this year. He is without a doubt ascending, and I think he’ll eclipse Za’Darius Smith for snaps/opportunities this year. Can easily see him getting a bunch of reps at 3-tech too, with Z & Preston coming from the edge. All 3 at once. Gary’s got the size & quickness to be a difference maker at 3-tech.

Our pass rush should be fun to see this season, and Gary is definitely one to watch.

As for MVS, if he delivers consistency with finishing his plays, it’s all over. He’ll be a bona fide superstar. It’s really all about securing the football for MVS. If he can run his Catch% into the 70% range? Lookout. That party will be on!

Krys is about as solid a UDFA signing as we’ve seen from Gutekunst to date, but he’ll be in one hell of a battle with Kamal Martin, now that De’vondre Campbell is in the house. Wow. Who knows how that shakes out, but there’s a lot to like there.

Nice job Tim on all fronts. Three ascending talents at three areas of need. You very correctly point out the team's trajectory matching these three players. Throw in steady qb play and one player stepping up in the oline and dline groups and we could be real good this year. I'm jacked and would love to attend camp. GPG

My three players are Kevin King, Preston Smith and Savage. I feel everybody has Kevin King all wrong. That he will lead the club in INTs. The Smiths just know how to play football. And Barry knows what he can and can't do. Savage - It's TIME! Without Rodgers. This offense struggles. -No selection here.

I agree on MVS; this is a big year for him, and we'll either see a very good WR or we'll shrug again and accept him as simply a useful deep threat.
I hope Gary can be full-time and continue his impact level, but I have nagging doubts...
I agree Barnes will get better with experience; he's that type, but I don't know how much we'll SEE of that difference, so I wouldn't put him on my list.
You didn't choose any rookies, who are always exciting to see, or Love, who is too obvious an answer, so my next choice is pretty tough:
Will we see a big step from Keke? Martin? Sternberger? St Brown? Josh Jackson? Sullivan?
Will Funchess surprise?
What about Ty Summers or Vernon Scott or another holdover DB?
I'm really curious who will be the roster-winners at OL.
And for me, it's those UDFAs that are always the most interesting: Gaither, Uphoff, and Gaines are my guys this year.

The problem with ascending players and the cycle to get them there, is productivity and expiration intersect when they're eligible for a second contract.

The NFL needs to develop a formula where a team can net out the years of suckitude before they're facing a choice of having to break the bank for a year's worth of impressive production.

Rashan Gary is a future star. The only potential downfall is if the pressure rate drops as the snaps increase. If he keeps the pressure rate up then sooner or later the sack numbers will go up. He is an athletic freak who also has a motor. The only other question I ever had about him was his very low Wonderlic Score, but someone here quickly pointed out that he has dyslexia. He s as close to can't-miss as you can get right now without actually being there.

I am not sold on MVS becoming a legit #2, let alone a 1B. Either Rodgers can't hit him or he can't adjust to the ball. One of the two. I think the latter. It got better as the year went on but he still looks awkward to me when it comes to finding the ball. He took a step forward in terms of raw production the NFCCG and a couple of other games. He needs to be way more consistent with his hands. And all of that is without analyzing his route-running skills, which I simply do not know enough about to attempt.

Barnes. Speed ain't everything, but it sure as hell doesn't help to not have it. As a replacement for Blake Martinez he is great. I don't think he has the tools to be a dynamic playmaker in the middle.

I would have gone with Savage as much as any of those named, personally. If Lazard can stay healthy I’m also really intrigued to see how many yards he will contribute.

Come on man... Gary didn't make any surprising development vs the run last year. He was always a very strong run defender! Heck its almost all he was asked to do in college and entering the NFL was looked at as his forte of sorts. His pass rush was what was always going to need work to take his game to the next level and last year he started to show that. This year is pass rush should start to approach being dominant, but his run defense was always a very strong part of his game.

For MVS, he is terrific in his role. Being the deep threat to open the defense up. He'll continue to be a terrific deep threat, just like last year. I don't see him becoming a great all around WR . He might improve slightly in some other regards, but he lacks the agility to be a great route runner and a guy that creates seperation in short spaces. His speed and ability is as a straight line speed guy. He's very much a straight line sprinter, but lacks the agillity and quicks to be a guy that creates seperation on other routes besides the top of the route tree.

Barnes will improve somewhat, but not significantlhy.

Bob Tonyan--I'll thump my chest for picking him as the lead TE coming out of camp last year, and I was mostly right. 53 catches and 11 TDs might not qualify him in this discussion anymore, but if Love or Bortles is the guy under center, I'd expect Tonyan to be one of the prime beneficiaries and a very important lifeline. He'll need to step forward and be someone defenses account for regularly outside the 20s.

Darnell Savage--Virtually every great defense gets great S play, and Savage, while better than what we've seen in recent years at S, still misses some coverages and takes a few too many bad angles on plays. Year 3 for a S should be where we see that leap...if it happens, this becomes a top 5 secondary.

AJ Dillon--AJones will be the lead dog, but Dillon will get his chances and this offense, especially if #12 is history, will need productivity, consistency, and versatility in the run game. You can expect AJones will miss some time at some point due to injury, and Dillon will need to show he can be the man.

Great to see Jordan Love come through on the second day of minicamp yesterday with reportedly an array of excellent passes.
Normally, I wouldn't be as excited about that with a young quarterback at a practice, but under the circumstances I would call Love's performance clutch.
With all of the controversy surrounding the drafting of Love, intensified by the melodrama of Aaron Rodgers, the young guy really came through to send a surge of confidence through the entire team -- and this after an inaccurate first day that made his standing even more shaky.
Why was it so highly important for Love to show everyone that he has the skills with a superb display of mastery in his throws? The many ups of yesterday for Love will be a huge help to him -- and his teammates -- during the downs that will inevitably come along during his development.
Love not only showed the skills, but the poise and the heart to give us good hope for the future of quarterback with the Packers. It may have been a day that will go down in team history.

Two I would add are Keke, who I would like to see getting in the neighborhood of 60% of the defensive snaps (and taking snaps away from a couple of others); and Alexander--while he may be the best shutdown corner in the league, snagging a few more interceptions would really be helpful (however, his opportunities are more limited if opposing QBs throw at other defenders much more often).... In reference to a previous article, coming up with more turnovers might be the "missing link" that vaults this defense to a new level.

Love is 1. It’s his team now I think, savage is my number 2. If he puts it together back there we could be tight in the secondary this year. I’ll agree with Gary but like others he was the number 12 overall pick 3 years ago and has not been able to get on the field..not sure if that was more about him or pettine. MVS, keep dreaming… he’s a nice role player and you can’t coach speed, unfortunately in his case you can’t coach catching and route running either.

Before crowning Kuntsy, let's not forget that Barnes didn't make the final roster cut and had to make it through waivers before being signed to the practice squad. Glad he wasn't on any other team's radar.

It is nice to have multiple, legitimate guys to watch that are primed for bigger and better things than they've shown so far. The listing of guys that have a year under their belts but are not yet eligible for full blown FA is rather impressive: Gary, Savage, MVS, Alexander, Dillon, Keke, Barnes and Love have been mentioned. All those names are legit players, IMO.

Not mentioned: Elgton Jenkins, Josiah Deguara, Kamal Martin, Jon Runyan, and Alan Lazard. And then there are guys that have shown enough to give some hope but don't really rise above hope just yet: Henry Black, Vernon Scott, Dominque Daffney. And still more that have rated mention based on college play but have not really established anything at the Pro level: Simon Stepaniak, Ben Braden and Patrick Taylor.

And that completely ignores the rookie class that has some exciting names.

It is nice to have shaken out the misfires of the mid 10s when it comes to young player acquisition. You simply must have a strong core of players that have not yet hid UFA eligibility.