The Packers feel like a playoff team but they also feel like a team that has left a ton of potential on the table.

The Green Bay Packers have potential, and that’s a really good thing. What that means is that even at 9-4 and with four games left in the season, they still have a lot of growing they can do in order to be a complete team.

That’s good news for the Packers and Packers fans, especially ones who are feeling disappointed after a Week 14 loss to the Detroit Lions on Thursday Night Football.

The Packers were close in that game, losing 34-31, but close doesn’t count in the NFL at the end of the day.

Still, there were several lessons the Packers could take away from that loss, and one of the main reasons for optimism in Green Bay is that there has to be a sense in the locker room that there is more that this team can achieve.

Sometimes it’s not the best overall team that wins the Super Bowl but the hottest (and healthiest) one, and there are several key players who have yet to hit their potential in this 2024 season that would certainly help the Packers heat up if they put it together in these next few weeks.

Speaking, Jordan Love — arguably the most important player on the team — isn’t yet there, but he’s a bit obvious for a list like this. Digging a little deeper, these three Packers have yet to reach their full potential in 2024, but if they do…look out.

The Packers need more from wideout Jayden Reed in big spots

Jayden Reed has everything the Packers need in a No. 1 wideout. That categorization makes head coach Matt LaFleur a bit mad, so he doesn’t officially have to become Green Bay’s No.1, but all the potential in the world is there.

Reed is speedy, athletic and absolutely dynamite in open space. He’s just as big of a threat to take an end around to the house as he is to go over the middle on a slant and pick up some major YAC. For much of this season, LaFleur has used him as such.

He’s tried to get the ball into Reed’s hands as a passer and as a runner, and that has resulted in 693 yards and six touchdowns for Reed as a receiver and 128 yards and a touchdown in the running game.

The thing is, Reed has barely scratched the surface of his talents. He has the skill set to be one of the top wideouts in the game and he’s much closer being a Tyreek Hill-like player than most casual fans realize.

The issue for Reed is that he can sometimes get lost in the shuffle. That happens when you have a bunch of talented wideouts, as the Packers do, but there have been a few times this season in which Reed’s presence has not been felt in the offense. The most glaring was in this last game against the Lions when he didn’t log a catch or even a touch on just one target.

If Reed can be a consistent star, he has superstar potential for the Packers.

Jaire Alexander, if healthy, is a lockdown cornerback

The problem the Packers have run into with Jaire Alexander is that in the NFL, availability is sometimes the best ability. With that in mind, Alexander has been a net negative for the Packers this season. He’s played in just seven of a potential 13 games. Not coincidentally, though, the Packers have won six of the seven games in which he’s played.

Alexander is that type of lockdown corner. He can man up on a player like Justin Jefferson and Amon-Ra St. Brown and take that kind of receiver out of the game. The even bigger problem for the Packers is that injury trend for Alexander. He missed 13 games in 2021 and 10 last season.

The Packers have a potential out in Alexander’s contract this upcoming offseason and there will be some tough conversations had by General Manager Brian Gutekunst and his staff. In the meantime, though, the Packers need to get Alexander back as soon as possible in order for Jeff Hafley’s defense to reach its full potential.

The Packers can’t afford Lukas Van Ness to be a no-show

Preston Smith wanted out of Green Bay. It wasn’t a personal thing but a scheme thing. At the same time, the Packers didn’t have to grant his trade request, but Gutekusnt did, likely with the idea that it was time for 2023’s No. 13 overall pick, Lukas Van Ness, to step up.

So out went Smith to Pittsburgh at the trade deadline and in stepped Van Ness into the starting lineup.

Early returns were ho-hum at best but when Van Ness notched a sack in two-straight games it appeared like he was ready to turn the corner. He notched three tackles against the Lions, but the Packers were barely able to land any pressure on Jared Goff in that contest and if this defense is unable to get pressure on quarterbacks by just rushing four — Hafley’s hands are going to be extremely tied as a play-caller.

The Packers need consistent pressure from Van Ness for these next few games. That pressure needs to turn into sacks, but at this point, even just consistent pressure would be a step up.

Gutekunst drafted Van Ness knowing he was a project but also knowing that he has the potential to be a star. It’s time for that star power to be realized because the window for “becoming something” is starting to shut on the 6-foot-5, 272-pound edge player from Iowa.