Sports media is now the baloney factory that spews it 24/7. While team Spoff/Hod have proven worthy of our trust, how do you manage your own consumption of external media? How do you decide what to consume and what to ignore?

Anyone who reports something that turns out to be false, or just tosses ideas out there but nothing ever comes of them, are not worth my time. Eliminating those eliminates a lot.

With training camp a month away, which players, which players will be the biggest surprises when they get wear pads and play for real?

If I knew they wouldn’t be surprises, but someone always emerges from the shadows when the pads go on. It’s inevitable.

Venny from Montgomery, AL

Outside of Sam Shields, can you think of another player to barely squeeze onto the roster at the end of training camp and by the end of the season you ask yourself, “What would the season have looked like without him?”

Shields is truly the best example there. Frank Zombo as a UDFA in ’10 and Brad Jones as a seventh-round pick in ’09 are, to a lesser extent, a couple more. Others who come to mind are guys who didn’t make the 53 out of camp but were soon on it and proving valuable, like Allen Lazard in ’19 and Krys Barnes in ’20. Also, this question made think of the end-of-camp acquisitions that dramatically changed the course of things, like Ryan Grant in ’07 or James Jones’ return in ’15.

I am more than a little confused with the Packer OL situation. With the draft of Jordan Morgan and the Aaron Banks signing, it looks like the Packers felt they needed to upgrade to win a SB. Obviously Myers is gone. Do these moves indicate that Sean Rhyan and/or Rasheed Walker are deemed not good enough to win a SB?

That’s not how I look at it. My perspective is the Packers gave Banks big money to, in effect, replace Myers, because they felt a Banks-Elgton Jenkins interior combo was the best use of resources compared to other alternatives. As for the draft, not everyone can/will be signed to a second contract, so keeping the pipeline stocked is a priority, and if a big guy is the best guy on the board in the first round, you take him and figure out the rest later.

Despite the optimism I continuously see here, I remain a “believe it when I see it” fan when it comes to our receivers, our secondary and our pass rushers. Hoping that one- or two-year players make the next step is not a strategy, it’s a gamble. Given the choice between winning our division and missing the playoffs, no one has convinced me which way to lean. The way I see it, a little pessimism will dull the pain or enhance the excitement, depending on which way our season turns.

You can call it a gamble if you prefer, but counting on the development of young players to move the team forward is absolutely the Packers’ strategy. It’s how they’ve built and run the team for a long time now. Has it won them a bunch of Super Bowls? No. Has it given them several opportunities to get there? Yes. And that’s the foundation, being competitive on an annual basis for the chance to get hot at the right time, versus compromising the cap for a one-year sellout that guarantees nothing in an injury-riddled, quirky game.

Who’s going to have a breakout year?

Hopefully we’re arguing after the season about who it was because it will be difficult to choose. If I were to pick two players who could have the biggest impact on the Packers’ 2025 fortunes by having that breakout year, I’d say Luke Musgrave and Lukas Van Ness.

Insiders, I may be naive, but I don’t really care if Coach LaFleur gets the national recognition he deserves. He does what he does and knows and will hopefully soon be rewarded with a Lombardi and ring. That’s enough for me, and I’m inclined to think he thinks similarly.

I’m certain he does. He’s seen some of his peers/friends/former colleagues in this business get to where he hasn’t, a Super Bowl, and I would imagine nothing motivates him more than that. Sean McVay has been to two and won one, Kyle Shanahan’s been to two, Zac Taylor’s been to one.