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Going into the new league year, the Green Bay Packers are expected to have $42 million in available cap space, despite losing the least amount of returning snaps of any team in the NFL. In short, the fact that the Packers are going to return 46 players who have previously been on their active roster means that the team has put itself in a position to take a couple of big swings this offseason.<\/p>\n
The question now is just where should they add talent to the roster? Outside of quarterback, running back, tight end and safety, where the team appears to be set with their starters, you can make the argument for any of their other positions being their biggest need.<\/p>\n
So what do you think? We\u2019re going to break down the case for each position below. Make sure to vote in our poll and drop a line our the comment section so your voice is heard.<\/p>\n
Christian Watson tore his ACL and is expected to be out until around Week 12, according to his own father. Without Watson, the Packers do not have a receiver who can consistently run off deep coverage to open up space for the likes of Romeo Doubs, Jayden Reed, Dontayvion Wicks, Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave. Even when Watson does return in 2025, who knows how effective he will be as a deep threat immediately. On top of that, Watson is entering a contract season, meaning a partial year in 2025 might be the last we see of the receiver in green and gold.<\/p>\n
Starting center Josh Myers is set to be a free agent. There\u2019s a good chance that if Myers doesn\u2019t re-sign with the Packers, Elgton Jenkins will kick inside to center, leaving Sean Rhyan and 2024 first-round pick Jordan Morgan as the team\u2019s starting guard options. With that being said, is Morgan\u2019s long-term position going to be guard or tackle, and do the Packers want to pay Rasheed Walker, their left tackle, starting bookend money? Walker is entering a contract season in 2025. So is right tackle Zach Tom, though, Tom has performed well enough to earn a contract extension without any hesitation.<\/p>\n
Head coach Matt LaFleur, defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley and general manager Brian Gutekunst have all stated that they believe their defensive end room can play better than their 2024 production. The fact that the team fired defensive line coach Jason Rebrovich shows that the team was serious about that statement. Still…what if Lukas Van Ness, who still hasn\u2019t started a game since high school, isn\u2019t going to blossom into the talent that the Packers believed he would become when they took him in the first round of the 2023 draft?<\/p>\n
The Packers\u2019 defensive tackle unit went as T.J. Slaton went in 2024. When he was on the field, they were able to stop the run and could not rush the passer. When Slaton was off of the field, they struggled to stop the run but were able to get after the quarterback better. Now, Slaton is set to become a free agent this offseason. With so many one-way players on the team, and Kenny Clark disappointing last year, could the team use a quality two-way player to steady the ship?<\/p>\n
Isaiah McDuffie and Eric Wilson are set to be free agents going into 2025. If they leave, this means the Packers only have three off-ball linebackers under contract coming back from their 53-man roster: Quay Walker, Edgerrin Cooper and Ty\u2019Ron Hopper. Green Bay needs to play three of those linebackers, considering that the team runs a 4-3 base unit, and Hopper was essentially a special teams-only player as a rookie in 2024. On top of that, the Packers need to make a decision about Walker\u2019s fifth-year option this offseason.<\/p>\n
If Jaire Alexander and the Packers can\u2019t agree to some sort of restructure this offseason, then there\u2019s a big question mark about who will start opposite of Keisean Nixon as an outside cornerback in 2025. Eric Stokes clearly wasn\u2019t the answer, as he lost out in a battle to Carrington Valentine. Stokes is also going to be a free agent in 2025. Valentine, while good in coverage, struggled to fit perimeter runs down the stretch and was attacked in the screen game in Green Bay\u2019s playoff loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.<\/p>\n
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Vote in our poll<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-green-bay-packers"],"yoast_head":"\n