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It has been 15 years this week since the Green Bay Packers last played in a Super Bowl.<\/p>\n
As the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots meet in this year\u2019s Super Bowl on Sunday, it\u2019s worth noting that\u00a0former 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\u2019 personnel department for eight seasons in the 2000s, while the Patriots\u2019 Eliot Wolf is the son of legendary former Packers general manager and Pro Football Hall of Famer Ron Wolf. Eliot worked in the Packers\u2019 personnel department from 2004 to 2017.<\/p>\n
So how does Packers\u2019 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\u2019s assist him by identifying the top 10 positions the Packers must address to reach the sport\u2019s biggest stage a year from now.<\/p>\n
These could be positions where the Packers must improve, where there\u2019s 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\u2019s dive in.<\/p>\n
The Packers didn\u2019t exercise Quay Walker\u2019s fifth-year option, so he\u2019s 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 \u2014 that was one of the two picks from the Las Vegas Raiders in the Davante Adams trade \u2014 but he\u2019s also left sporadic doubts as to whether he\u2019s 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\u2019t return to Green Bay, perhaps 2024 third-round pick Ty\u2019Ron Hopper\u2019s playoff interception against the Chicago Bears can serve as a springboard into a bigger role alongside Edgerrin Cooper and Isaiah McDuffie next season.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s been a playoff flop and those three missed kicks in Chicago will be hard to forget.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s that Gutekunst will always try to stock his roster with multiple talented quarterbacks.<\/p>\n
Whether it\u2019s 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\u2019s offensive line didn\u2019t quite look like your father\u2019s 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\u2019s to come. With Jenkins and left tackle Rasheed Walker likely on their way out of Green Bay \u2014 we\u2019ll see what happens with unrestricted free-agent center Sean Rhyan \u2014 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.<\/p>\n
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?<\/p>\n
Losing defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt for the season on Thanksgiving wasn\u2019t quite like losing Micah Parsons for the year two weeks later, but Wyatt\u2019s absence hardly went unnoticed. Parsons sang Wyatt\u2019s praises this past season and the Packers don\u2019t 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\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n
You\u2019d 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\u2019 third season was stunted by a lingering foot injury. If the Packers release Gary \u2014 doing so before June 1 would free up about $11 million in cap space, per OTC \u2014 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?<\/p>\n
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Former first-round pick Lukas Van Ness has had 8.5 sacks in three seasons with the Packers. (Andy Lyons \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Keisean Nixon\u2019s first full season as the Packers\u2019 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\u2019d say yes, and the Packers might, too, but those who prefer him as a No. 2 aren\u2019t entirely misguided. Nate Hobbs was supposed to be Gutekunst\u2019s free-agency find opposite Nixon, but that didn\u2019t pan out and Carrington Valentine wasn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n
Spotrac has Rasheed Walker slotted to earn a contract worth about $20.3 million this offseason. He\u2019s a serviceable starting left tackle and those don\u2019t grow on trees. The Packers probably aren\u2019t paying that, though, and they\u2019ll gladly take the 2027 compensatory pick that comes with Walker leaving. That likely leaves Jordan Morgan to start on Love\u2019s blind side next season. The 2024 first-round pick impressed at left tackle while Walker nursed an injury last preseason, but we don\u2019t know for certain whether he\u2019d hold up there as a full-time starter since he played right guard (not well) and right tackle (better) this past season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Perhaps the most important question facing the Packers ahead of next season surrounds Jordan Love’s blind side.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42859,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[48],"class_list":["post-42858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-green-bay-packers","tag-green-bay-packers"],"yoast_head":"\n