Green Bay

Packers

Making his Packers debut, 27-year-old journeyman Strong slid into Chris Brooks’ (ankle, injured reserve) vacated role. Although it’s a potential concern for MarShawn Lloyd and Kaleb Johnson — any new face in this makeshift backfield would be — it appears to be a bigger issue for Johnson, as Strong was playing ahead of him until garbage time. Ominous for Johnson managers, though Strong has little shot at carving out 12-team league value of his own.

Even with Chris Brooks (ankle) on injured reserve, Johnson remain mired in a three-man committee, as veteran journeyman Pierre Strong slid seamlessly into Brooks’ vacated “role.” Johnson could also only watch as MarShawn Lloyd seemed to have the advantage in short-yardage situations, notching the first two rushing touchdowns of his star-crossed career. Yet to handle more than eight carries in a game, it just isn’t happening for Johnson in 12-team league fantasy. He’s a poor FLEX option ahead of Week 6 against the Cowboys.

The five-catch effort was Kraft’s second straight after previously having zero. His 54 yards were almost his most since Week 1. His 46-yard reception in the third quarter was his longest of the season. All of that is good, though it was still somewhat disappointing amidst a 367-yard Jordan Love outburst where Christian Watson and Matthew Golden both eased by 100 yards. Kraft is averaging a pedestrian six targets. He’s going to need both more looks and big plays to remain a higher-end TE1. It will nevertheless be impossible to bench him for Week 6 against the Cowboys’ shaky defense.

Golden’s 123 yards were his third new career high in just five games this season. In other words, his breakout year remains ongoing. Golden’s long gain was a soaring 50-yard deep shot over the middle of the field where the wideout had to go up and get it. Golden also contributed a 36-yard reception. Routinely contributing 40-plus yard grabs while also doing some nice compiling, Golden has become not only a WR2 option, but a safe one at that. That will definitely include for Week 6 vs. the Cowboys’ leaky defense.

Although he notched a receiving score in Week 2, these were the first two rushing touchdowns of Lloyd’s career. Awesome stuff, though a player who was averaging 2.7 yards per carry coming into this afternoon saw that number sit at just 3.1 against the Bears. The Pack also got journeyman Pierre Strong involved in their increasingly frustrating backfield committee. Strong was mostly just absorbing Chris Brooks’ (ankle, injured reserve) lost work, but that of course means Lloyd wasn’t seeing a bigger workload. Although the scores are nice, Lloyd is still lacking an RB2 profile heading into Week 6. He will be a low-upside FLEX vs. the Cowboys.

Watson’s 143-yard outburst was the third highest receiving total of his career, joining a Week 11 2024 effort and his 6/147/2 broadside against the Vikings this Week 1. Rather amazingly, the two-score effort was his seventh. This one came in true Watson fashion, as he found the end zone from 42 and 53 yards out. For the 42-yarder he ran right by the defense. For the 53-yarder, he high-pointed the ball off the defender’s helmet in the end zone. It was just that kind of day for the Packers, and it’s been just that kind of season for a wideout in Watson who continues to break out. Now firmly in the weekly WR1 mix, Watson has a potential Week 6 smash spot in the sorry Cowboys.

With the Packers’ backs against the wall in a rivalry grudge match, Love had one of the best starts of his NFL life by simply cutting it loose. His 367 yards passing were the third most of his career, and accompanied by zero turnovers. He found each of Christian Watson, Matthew Golden and Tucker Kraft for at least one 46-yard gain, including a 53-yard touchdown to Watson. That does not include an earlier 42-yard scoring strike to Watson. Each score had serious air underneath them. This really was Love airing it out, something less competent quarterbacks had been struggling to do vs. the Bears’ vulnerable defense. We have seen this Love and Packers movie before — a step forward not followed by another move in the right direction — but neither Packers fans nor fantasy managers could have asked for more this afternoon. Love will have a good shot at keeping the good vibes going vs. the Cowboys’ struggling defense in Week 6.

It’s a mercifully quiet injury day for the Packers in this grudge match. Inactive for the Pack are OL Jacob Monk, OG Aaron Banks, OL Donovan Jennings and DT Anthony Campbell.

Brooks had been the most consistent contributor to a Green Bay backfield working to find their way in the absence of Josh Jacobs. The team appears likely to utilize journeyman Pierre Strong as the preferred passing down specialist, likely keeping the backfield in a maddening timeshare without Brooks. None are worthy of legitimate fantasy interest.

Williams isn’t a half-bad IR stash though with almost all of the offense flowing through Christian Watson and Matthew Golden right now. The WR3 room has been thinned with injuries and Jayden Reed (neck) won’t return this year. Williams could play a major role once activated from IR; this is just the first week of his 21-day window where he was designated to return.