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Chris Brooks Could Be One Of Green Bay’s Biggest X-Factors In Week 1 Chris Brooks should be one of the most important players in Green Bay’s passing game, especially in pass protection. Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said Tuesday that the team will use a running back-by-committee approach “for a little while,” so we probably shouldn’t expect one running back to completely take over the workload against the Minnesota Vikings this weekend. That said, I do expect Chris Brooks to have a significant role in this offense. Considering how banged up the Packers are along the offensive line (three of their five projected starters are listed on the injury report this week) and the matchup they’re facing, his ability as a pass-blocker will be especially important on Sunday. Brian Flores is one of the most aggressive defensive coordinators in the NFL, and Minnesota’s numbers last season were pretty wild. They blitzed more than anyone in the league, sending at least five rushers on more than half of their defensive snaps. No other team even got to a 40% blitz rate. What I find more interesting, though, is how Flores creates that pressure. The Vikings have blitzed at the highest rate in the NFL over the past three seasons, but they still play a ton of zone behind it. They also use mugged fronts more than anyone else, basically putting multiple defenders right around the line of scrimmage and crowding the gaps around the center before the snap. The Vikings are going to do everything they can to make Green Bay’s offensive line think after the snap, and that’s a pretty rough matchup for this particular group. Jordan Morgan was probably the closest thing the Packers had to a sure thing up front, but he popped up on the injury report this week with a knee issue. Zach Bako-Bewele is pushing to play, but how healthy will he actually be if he does? Aaron Banks’ status is still up in the air, too. And then there’s the biggest question: how well is this group going to communicate? Jacob Monk could be making his first NFL start, while Jaeger Burton might have to jump straight into the lineup at left guard against one of the most aggressive defenses in the league. That’s a lot to ask from an offensive line in Week 1, but this is where Chris Brooks comes in. I think there’s a legitimate argument that he’s one of the best pass-blocking running backs in the NFL. That’s a big part of what has kept him on the Packers’ roster over the past two years. We’ve seen him pick up blitzes and stunts with the kind of awareness you’d normally expect from an offensive lineman. And it’s easy to understand why Green Bay values that, because when you have a quarterback making $55 million a year, anything you can do to keep him clean is incredibly valuable. Brooks seems to understand exactly what his job is when he’s on the field. For him, pass protection isn’t about making a flashy play. It’s about doing the little things right and making sure the quarterback has time to operate. “It all comes down to technique, fundamentals,” Brooks said in November 2024. “I think it’s super important to keep whatever QB is in there clean at all times. That just makes the offense go.” That’s something the Packers can’t necessarily count on from the other backs right now. MarShawn Lloyd is essentially a rookie. Meanwhile, Kaleb Johnson already had some issues as a pass protector dating back to his time with the Pittsburgh Steelers. On top of that, he only arrived in Titletown two weeks ago. That’s not a lot of time to learn a new offense, especially when you’re also expected to understand all of Jordan Love’s checks and protection adjustments at the line of scrimmage. I do think Lloyd and Johnson offer more as pure runners, but I’m not sure how much that will matter in this particular matchup. We still have no idea what this running game is going to look like without Josh Jacobs, so I expect the Packers to lean heavily on Love’s arm. And that brings us back to Brooks. Love was the best quarterback in the NFL last season when operating from a clean pocket, and against a Vikings defense that will constantly test Green Bay’s protection, Brooks should play a big role in giving Love the time he needs to operate. PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHEESEHEAD NATION WEEKLY NEWSLETTER HERE. __________________________ Felipe is a Brazilian Packers writer covering the #GoPackGo for CheeseheadTV, Zone Coverage, and Packers Talk. Additionally, he contributes to Cheeseheads Brazil. Follow him on twitter at @Aceti_Felipe. __________________________