Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears rookies to watch Thursday

The Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears are kicking off the 2019 NFL season, and this will be the debut for a number of exciting rookies.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

Preseason drama is over for every NFL team (except the Oakland Raiders) and the 2019 NFL regular season is set to kick off with a classic matchup of the Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field to take on the Chicago Bears.

This game also features some very talented rookies who are going to be counted on to make huge contributions to both teams throughout the 2019 season.

The Packers had two first-round picks in 2019 after trading down with the New Orleans Saints back in 2018, while the Bears had none because they traded this year’s and next year’s first-rounders to the Raiders for Khalil Mack.

They’ve still got to be laughing at that trade.

Let’s take a look at the rookies poised to play critical roles in this matchup.

The Green Bay Packers made somewhat of a shocking pick in the first round (their second selection) when they took the ultra-athletic Darnell Savage out of Maryland.

He recently changed his jersey number to 21, and the Packers are hoping he plays as good as he looks here:

Savage is one half of a brand-new safety duo for Green Bay, which also features former Chicago Bear and big-money free agent acquisition Adrian Amos.

Savage is much more the type of player who is going to float around the field and it will be fascinating to see if they match him up with the speedy Tarik Cohen. That could be something to watch.

Savage is a very physical player and he is not afraid to take risks and make mistakes out there because it’s in his nature to be aggressive. That new mentality from both of Green Bay’s safeties will test Mitchell Trubisky.

The Chicago Bears obviously return Tarik Cohen at the running back position, but if Cohen is doing more work as a receiver, it could mean that David Montgomery is slated to become this team’s featured back in the run game, and that’s pretty much what I (and many others) expect to see against Green Bay.

If Chicago’s offense is going to be successful this season, they are going to need to have a strong running game to keep Mitch Trubisky as clean as possible.

Montgomery was one of the best backs in the 2019 class and I felt like in round three he was a major steal for the Bears. We had him in the first round of a number of mock drafts over the course of the offseason.

He could become the guy you brag about drafting in your fantasy league, too.

Montgomery’s elusiveness and ability to break tackles were his elite traits coming out of Iowa State. The stage is set for him to make a major impression against a very good team at home on Thursday.

I have to say, I’m about as skeptical as you can possibly be about Rashan Gary playing outside linebacker or standing up whatsoever, but I can’t deny his athletic potential and the Packers are certainly going with a ‘type’ off the edge this year.

Although Gary is very athletic, he’s not a twitchy, speedy pass rusher and that sort of meshes with what the Packers added off the edge in free agency with Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith.

With as much as the Bears play the speed game East-West, it will be interesting to see how they attack Gary when he’s on the field with motion and misdirection. How Gary responds could be the difference in this game.