A popular feature this week in the National Football League community was rookie rankings. NFL Draft evaluators checking out how people were performing through the first month of the season. Green Bay Packers have two rookies that are in the top 15 of NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah’s rankings. Darnell Savage nearly took top honors with being placed second while Elgton Jenkins checked in at 12. The only player that finished higher than Savage was Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Gardner Minshew. The future looks bright for the Green Bay Packers.

Savage being the top non-quarterback says something about him. It is apparent he’s making an impact on the football field with both stopping the run and providing stability in the middle of the field. That is something Green Bay lacked for several years. They did not have a safety presence at all. Adding players like Savage and Adrian Amos has helped the team tremendously. The ability for Savage to be playing Day 1 and never stop at all speaks his knowledge of the game. He is one of the smarter players on the football field.

In training camp, Jenkins battled with Packers’ established veteran Lane Taylor. The veteran won the battle, but it was down to the wire. Jenkins came in for a few drives against the Minnesota Vikings then after a biceps injury to Taylor, Jenkins received an opportunity to shine. He has done just that. Jenkins is doing an amazing job holding the line against the interior pass rush. And he is pushing dudes around in the run game. Packers struggled with their guards for the last few years, and once again, they solved the problem with a combination of a strong draft pick plus a free agent, Billy Turner.

Some might wonder where Rashan Gary ranks on this list. Gary hasn’t done enough, but if he has more games like he did versus Denver, he will start making his way to having a stop with rookie rankings. The progress of Gary does not worry me at all though. He is learning under Za’Darius Smith, and there is still plenty of time for him to grow into a beasty pass rusher.

Brian Gutekunst deserves all the credit in the world for these picks.

Charlie.