Fact or Fiction for Green Bay Packers' Biggest Offseason Question Marks

The Green Bay Packers have been consistently ranked in the top three in NFL offseason power rankings, including those by ESPN.com, NFL.com and the MMQB.com, but questions about everything from their secondary to their special teams still persist. 

"If we had to nitpick anything, we'd point out that Damarious Randall and Quinten Rollins are CB/S tweeners," NFL Media analyst Elliot Harrison wrote.

"The secondary worries me, as does the pass rush," the MMQB's Peter King opined. 

Which of the questions facing the Packers this offseason are legitimate worries, and which are nothing more than fluff to fill the weeks until the season starts? We'll break down five of the most persistent questions and decide whether they're fact or fiction for the Packers. 

Fact: Packers Run Defense Needs to Take a Big Step in 2015

Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images

The Packers finished the 2014 season with the league's No. 23 run defense—and were it not for Clay Matthews, it would have been a lot worse.

In the first half of the season, the Packers were 32nd against the run, allowing 153.5 yards per game, per the LA Times. 

After moving Matthews inside on rushing downs, the run defense rose to sixth overall over the final eight games, allowing 86.4 rushing yards per game.

However, the interior was still a liability aside from Matthews' efforts, and even he had a few missed tackles. A.J. Hawk had a run stop percentage of 4.7, the second-lowest in the league among the 35 inside linebackers who played at least 50 percent of defensive snaps, per Pro Football Focus. 

On the line, even though Letroy Guion played well in place of B.J Raji, with 3.5 sacks, a pass defensed and a forced fumble, he only had a run stop percentage of 5.1, the eighth worst among 48 defensive tackles, per Pro Football Focus. 

In 2015, Raji will likely beat Guion out for the starting nose tackle job, but that doesn't mean he'll be instantly back to 2010 form, when he had 39 tackles, 6.5 sacks and three passes defensed, not to mention 21 defensive stops in run defense, per Pro Football Focus. 

On the inside, Matthews paired with Sam Barrington on run downs sounds like a recipe for success, especially when compared to Hawk and Brad Jones' efforts last season, but we won't know for sure until they take some game snaps. Until then, one of the Packers' biggest weaknesses in 2014 is still a concern heading into this season. 

Fiction: Packers Are Weaker at Cornerback Now Than They Were in 2014

Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

After the Packers lost veteran starter Tramon Williams, talented corner Davon House and special teams weapon Jarrett Bush in free agency, hand-wringing ensued.

Cornerback was one of the team's strongest positions in 2014, with the group combining for 168 tackles, 11 touchdowns and 30 passes defensed, per Pro Football Focus. (Note that PFF included defensive back Micah Hyde among the cornerbacks in 2014.)

However, though Williams was the team leader in tackles with 61, he also had eight missed tackles and was one of only two corners on the team who allowed quarterbacks a passer rating of more than 100.0 into their coverage (Bush was the other). House also added another six missed tackles.

Casey Hayward, meanwhile, earned the highest grade among Packers cornerbacks by far from Pro Football Focus (11.0) and ranked the No. 9 overall corner in the league last season. Though he spent the majority of his snaps in the slot (225 of 435 per Pro Football Focus), he had four interceptions, the same number Williams managed to grab in 1,032 snaps.

Hayward has been dealing with a minor foot injury that has caused him to miss all Green Bay's offseason practices, but he says the injury should be healed by training camp, per Ryan Wood of the Green Bay Press-Gazette. In the meantime, the Packers have been giving first-round pick Damarious Randall plenty of opportunities on the perimeter just in case.

There's also second-round draft pick Quinten Rollins, the former point guard who has a natural nose for the ball. Green Bay took some criticism this offseason for drafting a college safety and then a college basketball player with one year experience at cornerback in a one-two punch in the draft, considering the need at corner. 

But the Packers came away from the draft with two athletic playmakers who could rotate with Hayward on the outside or with Hyde in the slot, as well as contribute in the dime sub-package. The Packers may have lost a longtime veteran in Williams and a young star in House, but seeing the progress these players have made this offseason, it's hard to think of the rising stars at cornerback as a net loss. 

Fact: Special Teams Isn't off the Hook Yet

Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

The Packers have spent a remarkable amount of time, energy and resources this offseason on improving their special teams unit, which ranked dead last in the league in 2014, per the Dallas Morning News' annual rankings. 

Just some of those moves included: 

• Head coach Mike McCarthy relinquished play-calling duties to associate head coach (offense) Tom Clements. 
• McCarthy fired special teams coordinator Shawn Slocum and promoted assistant Ron Zook.
• Green Bay signed former Alabama punter Cody Mandell. 
• General manager Ted Thompson drafted Stanford wide receiver and return specialist Ty Montgomery in Round 3.

On paper, will all those efforts lead to a better performance by special teams in 2015? They should. The unit could especially benefit from increased attention from McCarthy. 

As a team, the Packers only averaged 19.1 yards per kick return, the second-lowest in the league after the Arizona Cardinals. It would appear they performed well in punt return average at 11.5, which was the fifth-highest in the league. However, of their 333 total punt return yards, 75 came from one Micah Hyde return, skewing the average. 

With Jared Abbrederis returning from his ACL injury, the addition of Montgomery and Hyde, the Packers should have lots of options to maximize their return potential, but again: Those players have to perform for this unit to improve. 

Fiction: Aaron Rodgers Will Call the Plays

Morry Gash/Associated Press

When head coach Mike McCarthy gave up play-calling duties, many assumed that veteran quarterback Aaron Rodgers would be given the keys to the offense. 

However, not only will Rodgers not call all the Packers' plays, but per recent comments he made, no quarterbacks do that. 

"Well, Peyton doesn't do that. Nobody does that," Rodgers told ESPN.com's Rob Demovksy recently, debunking the widely held belief that Peyton Manning has long called his own plays. 

Rodgers will still be given the freedom to audible at the line of scrimmage, as he has in past years, and it's possible that freedom may increase with associate head coach Tom Clements planning the game. 

"I think everybody would want a starting point," Rodgers told Demovsky. 

"We all have moments where we have [called the plays], whether it's a no-huddle situation or two-minute. Everybody wants a starting point. It's tough to have to call every single play, so it's always nice when you can have a good starting point and you can make a slight adjustment if you have to."

Clements would be that starting point, but if it's a passing play with a run-option built in, Rodgers can choose to hand off to Eddie Lacy or even scramble himself, for example, depending on what he sees from the defense. 

Fact: Packers Have Done Enough at Inside Linebacker

Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

Some believe that the Packers didn't adequately address arguably their biggest need this offseason: inside linebacker.

Rather than draft one of the projected top players at the position early in the draft, such as Stephone Anthony, Denzel Perryman or Paul Dawson (all of whom Ted Thompson was in position to select), the Packers waited until the fourth round to select Jake Ryan out of Michigan. 

The truth, however, is that Thompson knows his team's personnel needs better than anybody, and if he waited to take a middle-tier inside linebacker it's because he and the rest of Green Bay's brass felt confident with the bodies currently on the roster. 

Sam Barrington is essentially a lock to start at middle linebacker. On run downs, the Packers can slot Clay Matthews in next to him to provide an extra boost to the run defense over the middle. On passing or third downs, the rookie Ryan, with his excellent coverage skills, can line up next to Barrington, as could Carl Bradford. 

For depth, the Packers still have Joe Thomas, Nate Palmer and Josh Francis. 

Draft projections are a tricky business. It's extremely likely that at least one player in the projected top tier of inside linebackers this year will prove to be a bust. By waiting to pick up Ryan, who still has the skills to be a three-down linebacker, in Round 4, the Packers lowered their risk but still have a high potential for reward.