Tuesday Cheese Curds: Second-year Packers set to play a big role

Players entering their second year with the team figure to play a big part on this year’s roster.

Storylines around the Packers tend to center on this being year one of the Jordan Love era. That’s fair, considering what it took to get us to this point.

But the real story of the 2023 Packers might come down to their players entering year two.

Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, Zach Tom, Quay Walker, and Devonte Wyatt all figure to be important players in their second year with the Packers, to say nothing of the other non-rookie players like Keisean Nixon entering their second year in Green Bay, if not the league. The year-two leaps up and down the roster could make the difference between the Packers making a playoff run early in the Love era or finding themselves with a high draft pick.

Of course, improvement isn’t guaranteed. It’s no sure thing that any one of the players settling in for a second year in Green Bay will be any better than they were last year. But it’s worth remembering that despite a lot of turnover on the roster, there is still a promising core of players who are already building on a noteworthy foundation.

Packers WR Christian Watson’s approach to Year 2: ‘He’s trying to be great’ | ESPN

Watson’s mid-season explosion was about as exciting as anything we’ve seen in Green Bay, and he thinks he can offer more.

Packers OL Zach Tom adds 15-20 pounds during offseason | Packers Wire

Not quite “best shape of his life” territory here, but close!

Emergence of T.J. Slaton and Devonte Wyatt means Packers’ Kenny Clark won’t be playing as much nose tackle | Packers Wire

More time at end might help Clark avoid getting run down, which is something worth considering in his eighth year.

Packers’ Quay Walker is trying to move past ejections, but time will tell if he has | The Athletic ($)

Walker could reduce his ejections by 50% and it’d be a step in the right direction.

How Alexander, Douglas Became Primetime Players | Sports Illustrated

Though this is Douglas’ third year in Green Bay (counting his partial season of 2021), this is just the second year he and Alexander will play any meaningful time together.

A new millipede species is crawling under LA. It’s blind, glassy and has 486 legs | Associated Press

Leggy bugs can be varying degrees of terrifying, but at least millipedes generally move pretty slowly. Centipedes, on the other hand, need to be squished on sight — or they’ll be out of sight in a flash.