It has been 15 years this week since the Green Bay Packers last played in a Super Bowl.

As the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots meet in this year’s Super Bowl on Sunday, it’s worth noting that former Packers personnel executives constructed both teams. Seahawks general manager John Schneider grew up just outside of Green Bay and was a high-ranking member of the Packers’ personnel department for eight seasons in the 2000s, while the Patriots’ Eliot Wolf is the son of legendary former Packers general manager and Pro Football Hall of Famer Ron Wolf. Eliot worked in the Packers’ personnel department from 2004 to 2017.

So how does Packers’ ninth-year general manager Brian Gutekunst join them as an executive to help lead his team to a Super Bowl? His pursuit of that goal has already begun this offseason, so let’s assist him by identifying the top 10 positions the Packers must address to reach the sport’s biggest stage a year from now.

These could be positions where the Packers must improve, where there’s uncertainty entering next season or both. And do the Packers add from outside the building at some of these spots or rely on improvements from within? Let’s dive in.

10. Third middle linebacker

The Packers didn’t exercise Quay Walker’s fifth-year option, so he’s scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent in a couple of months. Walker has shown flashes of dominance over the four years since the Packers drafted him No. 22 in 2022 — that was one of the two picks from the Las Vegas Raiders in the Davante Adams trade — but he’s also left sporadic doubts as to whether he’s worth what he might command on the open market. That number is estimated at around $8.3 million annually, according to Spotrac. That would appear to be a bargain for the Packers, considering 22 off-ball linebackers make more per year, according to Over The Cap. Walker turns only 26 in May, too. If he doesn’t return to Green Bay, perhaps 2024 third-round pick Ty’Ron Hopper’s playoff interception against the Chicago Bears can serve as a springboard into a bigger role alongside Edgerrin Cooper and Isaiah McDuffie next season.

9. Kicker

The Packers should at least bring in competition for Brandon McManus this offseason, and that might come in the form of more than just Lucas Havrisik. McManus has been solid from manageable distances the last two regular seasons (when not injured, and maybe some of those early-season misses were on him more than the quad), but he’s been a playoff flop and those three missed kicks in Chicago will be hard to forget.

8. Tight end depth

Tucker Kraft caught eight more passes, had 237 more receiving yards and hauled in six more touchdowns than Luke Musgrave despite playing in nine fewer games. Enough said. The expected precipitous drop-off in production at tight end after Kraft’s Week 9 torn ACL became a reality. Tight end John FitzPatrick is set to be an unrestricted free agent and is rehabbing a torn Achilles suffered in Week 16. Even if Kraft plays in Week 1 and FitzPatrick re-signs and returns at some point in the first half of next season, the Packers might want to improve their reinforcements at the position.

7. Backup quarterback

Malik Willis is as good as gone after earning at least a chance to start elsewhere next season with how he played over the last two seasons when filling in for Jordan Love. Spotrac projects Willis to sign a contract worth around $10.6 million annually. Love has missed two full games in each of the last two seasons and chunks of others because of various injuries, so it will never hurt to have a sturdy insurance plan behind him. The only other quarterbacks on the roster are Desmond Ridder and the recently signed Kyle McCord, who set the ACC single-season passing record in 2024 at Syracuse. Might the Packers try to salvage the career of a guy like Anthony Richardson after doing so with Willis? If one thing is for certain, it’s that Gutekunst will always try to stock his roster with multiple talented quarterbacks.

6. Offensive line depth

Whether it’s David Bakhtiari, Zach Tom or Elgton Jenkins, prominent Packers offensive linemen have dealt with significant injuries in recent years that have sidelined them for extended periods. This past season, Tom, Jenkins and left guard Aaron Banks all battled injuries and Green Bay’s offensive line didn’t quite look like your father’s Packers offensive line. According to TruMedia, the Packers ranked 29th in pressure percentage allowed, and according to ESPN Analytics, they ranked 19th in run-block win rate. You can probably pencil in another flurry of injuries to that group next season, too, if history is any indication of what’s to come. With Jenkins and left tackle Rasheed Walker likely on their way out of Green Bay — we’ll see what happens with unrestricted free-agent center Sean Rhyan — there could be several Packers depth pieces asked to shoulder prominent roles next season, and therefore a need for potentially new-and-improved depth behind them.

5. Center

Jenkins improved at his new (and college) position as the season progressed, but his reported season-ending leg injury in Week 10 put his Packers future even more in doubt. According to OTC, the Packers are about $1.4 million over the cap, and cutting the 30-year-old Jenkins before June 1 would free up about $19.5 million in cap space. Rhyan significantly improved after filling in for Jenkins and might be available to the Packers for cheap ahead of or during free agency if they want him to snap for Love again next season. Spotrac forecasts him earning a deal worth $6.5 million per year. If not, Tyler Linderbaum, anybody?

4. Interior defensive line depth

Losing defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt for the season on Thanksgiving wasn’t quite like losing Micah Parsons for the year two weeks later, but Wyatt’s absence hardly went unnoticed. Parsons sang Wyatt’s praises this past season and the Packers don’t exactly have a stable of horses behind him. Maybe the likes of Warren Brinson and Nazir Stackhouse take a Year 2 jump alongside Colby Wooden and Karl Brooks, but the Packers can’t again be a two-man show up front or a one-man show on the interior. Wyatt should be ready by training camp after his leg and ankle injuries and is scheduled to enter the final year of his rookie deal on the fifth-year option.

3. Defensive end depth

You’d be hard-pressed to name a more disappointing player on the Packers this season, especially in the second half of the year, than Rashan Gary. He hardly lived up to his $24 million annual price tag as he wilted down the stretch, exposing a glaring need for better depth behind Parsons. The first-team All-Pro loves Lukas Van Ness, on whom the Packers have a decision to make this spring regarding his fifth-year option, but Van Ness’ third season was stunted by a lingering foot injury. If the Packers release Gary — doing so before June 1 would free up about $11 million in cap space, per OTC — do the Packers think Van Ness can finally live up to his first-round billing? Do they bring back unrestricted free agent Kingsley Enagbare (Spotrac projects his average annual value around $6 million)? And how much more will Barryn Sorrell and Collin Oliver play in their second year?

2. Outside cornerback

Keisean Nixon’s first full season as the Packers’ No. 1 cornerback was a tale of two halves. The first was strong. The second was not. He might ask for a pay raise entering the final year of his contract, given his current deal pays him like a nickel. Is Nixon, who turns 29 in June, a true No. 1 corner? He’d say yes, and the Packers might, too, but those who prefer him as a No. 2 aren’t entirely misguided. Nate Hobbs was supposed to be Gutekunst’s free-agency find opposite Nixon, but that didn’t pan out and Carrington Valentine wasn’t exactly a lockdown corner once Hobbs was benched. After not addressing the position last offseason, it would come as a surprise if Gutekunst approached this offseason the same way, given what we saw in 2025.

1. Left tackle

Spotrac has Rasheed Walker slotted to earn a contract worth about $20.3 million this offseason. He’s a serviceable starting left tackle and those don’t grow on trees. The Packers probably aren’t paying that, though, and they’ll gladly take the 2027 compensatory pick that comes with Walker leaving. That likely leaves Jordan Morgan to start on Love’s blind side next season. The 2024 first-round pick impressed at left tackle while Walker nursed an injury last preseason, but we don’t know for certain whether he’d hold up there as a full-time starter since he played right guard (not well) and right tackle (better) this past season.