Green Bay Packers' Top Breakout Candidates for 2008

With a new season approaching, and training camp just 22 days away, we're going to have some players fade off into the sunset and some players breakout and make a name for themselves.

We saw a ton of guys breakout last year, and that played a huge part in our outstanding 14-win season.

Guys that broke out last year include: Greg Jennings, Donald Lee, Atari Bigby, Ryan Grant, Jason Spitz (Well sort of.), and Johnny Jolly. All of these guys took their games to a different level and were an integral part of our success as a team last year.

All of these guys will be counted on heavily this year, and, once again, be an integral part of our team's future success.

Top Breakout Candidates for 2008

1. WLB A.J. Hawk

When A.J. Hawk came out of Ohio State and became eligible for the 2006 NFL Draft, he was coined, "the safest player in the draft". He was dominant at Ohio State, and he was a mortal lock to be off the board within the first five picks. He was seen as a guy who could single-handedly turn a defense around and could be the building block for a dominant defense.

That same dominant player has shown up from time to time, but we've yet to see him truly take over a game the way we know that he is capable of. Now don't get me wrong, he has been awesome since the day he stepped foot into Green Bay, and he has been rock solid next to Nick Barnett.

With that said, I expect him to take his game to a whole other level this year and become a dominant force in our defense. There has been talk in Green Bay that the coaches are going to do a little more blitzing than previous years, and I expect A.J. to be one of the main guys being asked to attack the quarterback.

Our defensive scheme kind of restricts him from making the big plays that other linebackers get. But he was brilliant in coverage last year, which is where he often wound up. In fact, he was statistically the most successful linebacker in coverage last year.

I think the coaches are going to let him roam a bit more this year and put him in position to really make more plays, which should lead to having a better season statistically.

This will be A.J.'s third year in our Jim-Bates-based defensive scheme, and he should feel completely comfortable with his reads, where he needs to be, and what is expected of him. I expect him to earn his first trip to Hawaii and truly give the defense that dominant player they know they drafted with the fifth-overall pick in 2006.

2. RB Brandon Jackson

Heading into the 2007 draft, everyone knew we needed a running back, and we needed one very badly. 99 percent of mock drafts out there had us taking Marshawn Lynch out of Cal with the 16th-overall pick.

Now, that made a ton of sense, but what if the inevitable happened and somebody snatched him up before us.

Well, that happened when Buffalo took him 12th overall.

We opted to take Brandon Jackson in the second round. He was a guy who really didn't do too much in college, but had experience in the West Coast offense. He certainly showed flashes at Nebraska that he could be a legitimate starter at the next level, but never on a consistent basis.

He came into Green Bay expected to replace another former Cornhusker, Ahman Green, but had to battle with Vernand Morency to earn the starting spot (man, our running-back situation was weak last year).

When Morency went down with an injury on the first day of training camp, Jackson instantly became the starting running back in Green Bay. At first, he really seemed uncomfortable out there. Instead of attacking the holes, he danced around them only to find out that you can't just dance in the NFL. (Example: see Bush, Reggie.)

Now, not all of his struggles can be attributed to the way he ran. The offensive line was inconsistent at run blocking in the beginning of the season, but in addition to that, he didn't do enough to keep the starting gig.

He was replaced by DeShawn Wynn as the starter. After Wynn had a couple of decent games, he went down with an injury.

Enter Ryan Grant.

Grant was handed the starting job, and the rest was history. Jackson seemed to get better and better as the season went on. During Week 17, he showed that he could shoulder the load when he rushed for 113 yards on 20 carries against the Detroit Lions.

With Grant on the sidelines during OTAs and minicamp due to a contract dispute, Jackson has seen the lion's share of the carries with the first-team offense. The coaches couldn't help but rave over his improvement. They also said Jackson improved in the weight room and added "good weight" this offseason, all while not losing his speed.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?