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Ask Maggie: Browns to the Super Bowl? By MaggieLoney Now that I have your attention, Packers football is here! Well, in the sense that Lambeau Field will be buzzing tonight and players will be on the field for Family Night. Fans will be cheering in the stands. How can you not be romantic about football? Thinking of all the people getting to experience the stadium for the first time is enough to give me real goosebumps. But now, onto your questions: “Given Van Ness is LVN and Tom has now changed to ZBB, as well as DDS on the roster, which players have the funniest 3 letter acronyms” - Adrian I think you mentioned the only three players that are associated with acronyms on the team. There are plenty of nicknames, but none that condense into three letters. So I guess I’m not sure any of them are particularly funny. But I think it’s awesome that Zach changed his last name to Bako-Bewele. His locker room interview was very cool, and it has to bring a special significance to see that last name on a jersey. I remember loving Jayson Oweh in the 2021 NFL Draft and wanting the Packers to select him. I thought it was great when he started asking the media to refer to him as Odafe instead of Jayson. With how much the NFL values its international fandom and the International Player Pathway Program, I always like when players feel they can authentically represent who they are. The NFL Heritage Program does a nice job of that with the flag stickers that players get to wear on their helmets, too. “We've heard a lot about the players, so I wanted to ask you about the coaches. Which coach's influence are you most excited to see in the preseason? For me, besides the obvious Jonathan Gannon, I want to see Noah Pauley's effect on the wide receivers.” - Tony Aaron Nagler came on Pack’s What She Said this week to talk about sights and sounds coming out of training camp, and special teams coordinator Cam Achord was someone we talked about a bit. You may have seen the clip that’s circulating social media this week where he stopped his presser to demonstrate to different kickers like the ball to be held for him. It sounds like he’s an absolute ball of energy and is bringing some unique drills to Green Bay. Who’s to say if any of that will translate into actual special teams play on game day, but he’s certainly intriguing in terms of a coach to watch. Bobby Babich would be my pick on defense. He’s been a defensive coordinator in the league before and he’s coached just about every position on defense at some point in his career. His work with the secondary and as pass game coordinator will be imperative to the development of the cornerback room. We know Gannon likes to utilize his three safeties, but it also sounds like he’s been running a ton of blitz looks with his corners in camp. Babich is someone who probably won’t stick around in Green Bay for a terribly long time if all goes well under Gannon. He could get another DC call-up relatively soon. Hopefully it’s because he’s got the Packers secondary playing lights out. “Hey Maggie! What’s your overall take on our kicker situation? What started out as a full-fledged competition (although it was always Trey’s job to lose), is now down to just one, and we’re not even counting if field goals are good or not? Personally, I don’t really care if he’s 1 of 10, or 10 of 10 at this point in camp based on the last few kickers we’ve had, but the whole thing just seems un-Packerlike to me. Too early to panic? Thanks!” - Jim Definitely too early to panic, for sure. But that isn’t going to stop people from worrying if he doesn’t have the best performance on Family Night (Aaron and I talked about that on PWSS, too). I pulled some numbers in last week’s mailbag so I don’t want to get overly redundant, but it’s hard to put too much stock into a rookie kicker. Here’s what I wrote last week: “Anders Carlson was a sixth round draft pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. He had an 81.8% success rate with a 100% success rate on kicks inside 39 yards. After 40 yards, he was 7-of-13. He also made 34 of his 39 extra points. On the flip side of that, we have a player like Cam Little with the Jaguars. In his rookie season (sixth round pick in 2024), Little went 100% on extra points and was 93.1% on field goals, only missing two attempts longer than 40 yards. In 2025, Little had a long of 68 yards and set an NFL regular season record.” The Packers knew the ebbs and flows they were signing up for when they drafted a kicker. They could have kept Brandon McManus on the roster all camp to compete. They could have kept Lucas Havrisik. They didn’t. Mason Crosby wasn’t a perfect kicker during his rookie season, but he went on to have a 16-year career and is Green Bay’s all-time leading scorer. Smack may not be in the Packers Hall of Fame when his career is over, but we’re certainly going to need to give him some time before we get even close to pushing the panic button. “We’re hearing a ton of “We’re a Super Bowl team” comments even with the preseason just starting. Last year we already had a hell of a team, so what changes have warranted these claims, is there more we can do, or is this all just wild speculation for clicks?” - Justin I thought the Packers were a Super Bowl team until Micah Parsons got hurt during the Broncos game. I really did. And I know that’s a lot to put on one player, but it wasn’t just the loss of Parsons that set off the avalanche. Bako-Bewele also got hurt. Christian Watson exited the game. Evan Williams exited the game. It became insurmountable quickly. And I hate blaming injuries, because every team in the NFL deals with injuries (including already in training camp), but there’s no reason not to think the Packers can’t be right in the mix again in 2026. Now would I consider them Super Bowl favorites? No. That title belongs to the Los Angeles Rams. But I’d give them the best odds to win the NFC North (yes, really). Tucker Kraft getting healthy is going to be huge for the offense, along with having a healthy, reliable starting offensive line (see, guys, I mentioned the line again). Defensively, I think the Packers are in a position to take a jump and mitigate the loss of Parsons as best as they possibly can for six weeks. But all of that’s to say, everything is wild speculation for clicks. Always. Maybe the Browns will win it all this year. That’ll do it for this week’s mailbag! If you’re going to Family Night, enjoy it! If you’re watching locally on TV like I will be, enjoy that, too. Preferably with a Carry the G cream ale, if you’re into that sort of thing. As always, don’t forget to submit your questions to [email protected]. See you next week when we’ll have already watched one game of preseason football! PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHEESEHEAD NATION WEEKLY NEWSLETTER HERE. __________________________ Maggie Loney is a writer for Cheesehead TV and podcaster for Pack's What She Said. Find her on Bluesky at @MaggieJLoney. __________________________