Football teams are precariously built. Though it’s a team game, a few mistimed injuries can bring down an entire season — and often do. It’s no surprise that the teams that win are often simply the healthiest.

Some injuries, obviously, matter more than others. Any team that loses its starting quarterback for any period of time is going to be in trouble, but there are always concerns beyond that, too.

I’m fascinated by the question of who, outside of Aaron Rodgers, could spell big trouble for the Packers if they miss time. I think there are five players — three on defense, two on offense — who stand out right now like Jenga pieces: pull them out of the Packers’ structure and the whole thing could be at risk of collapse.

Defensive lineman Kenny Clark

Defensive line is one of the Packers’ deeper positions, but Clark is an A-level player amid a group of Bs. His unique physical gifts and pass rushing prowess make him a matchup nightmare, and having him on the field allows the Packers to do no end of interesting things with their lineup.

Among the Packers’ defensive linemen, it’s Clark and Clark alone who can consistently create pressure all by himself, allowing defensive coordinator Joe Barry to go a bit lighter up front than he might otherwise to get more defensive backs on the field.

If Clark goes down, though, a lot of that flexibility goes with him. It’s not likely that the Packers could sustain many two-lineman fronts without Clark on the field, leaving the Packers to compensate for Clark’s absence with numbers rather than talent. 

But putting more linemen on the field removes other pieces, most likely at linebacker. If the Packers wanted to keep both Rashan Gary and Preston Smith on the field with Clark out of the lineup and three linemen on the field, that means either De’Vondre Campbell or Quay Walker is coming off. That negates most of the reason the Packers would have wanted to pick Walker in the first place.

Clark missing time would create cascading issues for the Packers on defense.

Edge rusher Rashan Gary

While Clark is an A-level player amid a group of Bs, Gary is an A at a position group with one other B+ and nobody else behind them.

The Packers can’t afford to lose Gary simply because their pass rush evaporates without him on the field, if only because of the way his absence would affect Clark and Preston Smith, the only other noteworthy pass rusher on the team.

With Gary, Smith, and Clark on the field together, there’s really no opportunity to double team any pass rusher because of the way it subtracts from the overall protection equation. But with Gary gone, it’s easy to envision a scenario where a team could double team Kenny Clark and shift the remaining attention to Preston Smith, neutralizing him with an offensive lineman who gets some chip support from either a tight end or a running back.

For roster construction reasons alone, it’s scary to think about life without Gary in the lineup.

Safety Adrian Amos

Amos is the linchpin in the entire secondary.

Without him, the Packers would have to ask for much, much more from every other player in the back end of their defense, potentially to disastrous results.

At safety, the team would have to change Darnell Savage’s responsibilities, potentially stationing him deep almost exclusively. A key aspect of Savage’s game to this point has been his ability to line up just about anywhere the defense needs him, but without Amos’ steadying influence in the secondary, Savage would have to play much more conservatively.

The Packers would also need a lot more from their third safety — and the fact that we have pretty much no idea who that is at this point should be enough of an explanation as to what a problem that could be.

But the problems could extend beyond that. A key part of Rasul Douglas’ turnover-creating prowess in 2021 was his ability to play somewhat recklessly and take risks. Would he be afforded the same opportunity if he didn’t have the reliable Amos behind him?

Wide receiver Allen Lazard

Lazard is different from, say, Clark or Gary because it’s not like he’s an elite option among a group of non-elite players. He might not actually be that far ahead of the other players at his position group, and I don’t mean that as a knock on Lazard so much as a summary of what the Packers have at receiver — if nothing else, they’ve got a lot of players that should be okay to pretty good.

But among those players, I think Lazard is the only one you can really describe in any way as “dependable,” especially as it pertains to carryover from 2021.

A thought exercise: pretend you’re Aaron Rodgers. Of the Packers top eight receivers right now, who are you looking for on 3rd and 8? Who are you most confident will be there when the chips are down?

It’s probably not Sammy Watkins, at least not yet. It might be Randall Cobb, if it’s in one of the 10 games a year for whic he’s healthy. It’s not Christian Watson, considering he can’t even practice yet. It’s not yet Romeo Doubs, though he’s certainly acqutting himself well in practice. It’s not Amari Rodgers, Danny Davis, or Samori Toure.

It’s pretty much just Allen Lazard. He’s not the alien that Davante Adams was and he doesn’t bring the speed that Marquez Valdes-Scantling did, but if nothing else, you know exactly what you’re going to get out of him. In an unsettled receiver room, that’s a big plus, and losing even that small amount of certainty would be a problem.

Center Josh Myers

For a couple of years fairly early in the life of The Power Sweep, I was obsessed with the question of who the Packers’ backup center was. Corey Linsley never really missed time, but it didn’t seem like the Packers had a clear option behind him if he did.

That problem went away when Elgton Jenkins arrived. For three seasons in a row, he solved more or less all of the Packers’ offensive line problems just by existing.’

That’s not an option today as his recovery from a torn ACL is still ongoing, so he can’t swoop in to solve any issues the Packers have this year…which leads me back to my question from a couple of years back: who is the Packers’ backup center?

Behind Josh Myers, I see only question marks. In theory, it’s Jake Hanson, who is making a big push to be the Packers’ starting right guard right now. It might be Zach Tom, who seems to be developing into Jenkins-lite. But we don’t know for sure.

And if it is Hanson, that’s a problem. Here’s why.

Say Hanson wins the Packers’ starting right guard job. If Myers goes down and Hanson is the top backup at center, you slide him over to center and (based on current offensive line projections) bump Royce Newman from right tackle to right guard, slotting Zach Tom in at right tackle.

That solves your problem, I guess, but you also shake up two other positions on the line, filling them with a guy who was pretty shaky last year and a rookie. That’s not ideal, and should be good evidence on its own why Josh Myers can’t miss any time this season.