The Green Bay Packers’ offseason is finally rolling after the team has brought back two players and made a trade for a new addition. Let’s go through these moves, give some quick thoughts on what the team is trying to do with these actions and assign them all a letter grade. You guys know the drill at this point.
It’s me, the Chris Brooks stan. Brooks not only out-snapped Emanuel Wilson as the RB2 from Week 13 on (excluding the JV game against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 18), but he’s also Pro Football Focus’ highest-graded pass blocker and run blocker.
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Is he a ball-carrier? Not really, but there was little difference between his 3.9 YPC and Wilson’s 4.0 in 2025. He’s here to be a top-tier blocker (be it as the sixth-man in pass protection or in the run game in multiple-back looks). On top of that, he’s basically the only offensive skill player whom head coach Matt LaFleur actually allows to play on teams consistently. His 230 snaps on special teams rank 3rd on the team overall. The next highest offensive skill player is Savion Williams (ranked 31st with 52 special teams snaps on the year, out of just 48 eligible players on gamedays).
If the Packers want to continue to be dead last in WR/TE snaps played on special teams, which allows LaFleur to stash pass-catchers instead of special teams contributors in backup roles, Brooks had to come back. He’s a very unique player (again, 1st in both pass blocking and run blocking) and is quietly a reason why their current roster construction works. That’s well worth the $2.43 million per year they’re paying him over two years, after they elected not to tender him as a restricted free agent at his minimum $3.5 million tender cost. I’m glad they got this one done.
Grade: A
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I haven’t done a deep dive into Zaire Franklin’s film, so I’m having to rely on people who are either film-watchers in the media or with clubs for this one, but the consensus I’ve received early on is that Franklin wasn’t close to as bad as his PFF numbers in 2025 (ranked 87th of 88 qualifying linebackers). What I have been told is that he’s a plugger who is an athletic run defender but can’t contribute much as a coverage player.
This is sort of the mold I figured the Packers would go with to pair next to Edgerrin Cooper in their new 3-4 defense. Coverage matters, yes, but I think the primary driver was always going to be to pair Cooper with a plugger to keep him clean and allow him to be a little more versatile.
This trade helped the Packers get a linebacker, one that they can technically move off of as early as this summer with a $0 cap charge if it’s not looking good in camp, without it impacting Green Bay’s expected compensatory picks. Franklin also has a background with Jonathan Gannon, as they were both with the Colts from 2018-2020. Yes, Gannon was part of the staff that drafted Franklin.
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On the Colby Wooden end, he was part of the Packers’ issues last season. It’s not his fault that the team started him at nose tackle after Kenny Clark was sent to the Dallas Cowboys in the Micah Parsons trade, but he wasn’t able to fill in as an efficient starting nose tackle.
The most telling stat of the Packers’ 2025 defense is that they were essentially the best team in football for two drives and then were arguably the worst defense in the league after that.
In short, they wore down because they couldn’t stop the run in the 2nd through 4th quarters. It sure didn’t help that the team started Wooden, who came into the league at 273 pounds (and has added weight since), at nose tackle full-time.
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Here’s how Green Bay’s nose tackle reps were split in 2025:
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Colby Wooden: 312 snaps (now a Colt)
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Karl Brooks: 97 (mostly in pressure packages)
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Devonte Wyatt: 47 (mostly in pressure packages)
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Quinton Bohanna: 34 (no longer on roster)
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Jonathan Ford: 30 (2026 free agent)
The Packers were always going to have to add a nose tackle in 2026. The trading of Wooden didn’t change that. The hole is even bigger now, though. At the moment, the current starter is probably Nazir Stackhouse, a 2025 undrafted free agent.
I get the swap of Wooden for Franklin in isolation. Wooden is in the last year of his contract and probably wasn’t going to be a priority for re-signing. It’s better to get something for him than nothing. The Packers also needed a Quay Walker replacement, and they apparently didn’t feel the need to offset a comp pick for it (which isn’t a surprise).
My big worry now is how the team fills the nose tackle void (I’ve heard that Javon Hargrave is a name to watch here, a cap casualty who has previously played under Jonathan Gannon and would not impact Green Bay’s comp picks). I feel the least committed to this grade out of this bunch. Depending on how I feel about Franklin’s film (once I can finally sit down and watch it thoroughly) and how the Packers address nose tackle, I could see my opinion being swayed about this one.
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Grade: C+
This one was surprising to me, because the Packers haven’t typically kept five off-ball linebackers on their roster when they’ve played a 3-4 defense. With Zaire Franklin, Edgerrin Cooper, Isaiah McDuffie, Ty’Ron Hopper and now Nick Niemann, they have five rosterable off-ball linebackers, even if Quay Walker walks in free agency, which is now fully expected.
Niemann was a true special teams ace, contributing on everything but the field goal team and field goal rush units. He was one of the best, if not the best, special teams players on the roster in 2025. (Other candidates include Bo Melton, Zayne Anderson and Arron Mosby.)
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I’m happy to see him back on a one-year contract, even if he’s basically a special-teams-only player. That fifth linebacker spot under Jeff Hafley was really the only slot that the team has dedicated to a true special-teams-only guy. Mosby was a player in this mold, too, but was only activated to the 53-man roster in Week 10, and I don’t think the team is going to bring him back now that he’s vested and his salary will be fully guaranteed if he makes the team in Week 1.
We don’t have contract details yet, but I doubt Niemann got more than something like the minimum salary plus a $500,000 roster bonus/per-game signing bonuses, which is typically what the Packers give to special teams contributors who are also backups on offense or defense.
Brought back a special teamer. The care level on special teams didn’t drop to 0 immediately after Rich Bisaccia left, which was the case before Bisaccia. That’s a big plus to me.
Grade: A (but surprised the team did it)
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So the starting offensive line is locked up for the foreseeable future. Jordan Morgan is under contract until 2028 (with the potential of 2029 if his fifth-year option is picked up). Aaron Banks, Anthony Belton and Sean Rhyan are now under contract until 2029, and Zach Tom is under contract until 2030. Outside of Banks potentially being a cap casualty in 2027, if his 2026 season doesn’t go great, this is your starting five moving forward.
I’ve been a big proponent of re-signing Rhyan for a while now. I thought there was a chance to sign Rhyan at a little lower of a figure, but the baseline comparison I had for Rhyan was Jon Runyan Jr.’s three-year, $10 million per contract he signed in 2024 after being a part-time starter. Two years later, Rhyan got one million more per than Runyan. That seems about right.
My optimism for getting Rhyan for cheaper sort of went out of the window this week because of the overall center market. There were three retirements from starting centers, and a bunch of teams that had poor starters at the position pulled the trigger on making them cap casualties. That’s one reason why Tyler Biadasz was snatched up almost immediately after being released by the Washington Commanders, and Connor McGovern was re-signed by the Buffalo Bills. It’s also why we’ve seen the Chicago Bears trade for Garrett Bradbury and the Detroit Lions trade for Juice Scruggs, too. There’s simply going to be way more demand for center than there is supply.
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Here are all of the top-200 ranked centers, on consensus, who are left after Rhyan, Biadasz and McGovern were taken off the market heading into free agency:
Seven teams still need a new starting center for 2026 and only three real plugs are available in free agency. In the draft, there’s currently only one center prospect who is ranked as a top-80 player on the consensus draft board, Auburn’s Connor Lew — who is coming off a torn ACL.
On top of that, it’s smart to get a deal done with a center before Linderbaum comes in and resets the top of the market, which could have a trickle-down effect for the rest of the position. As crazy as it sounds, it’s cheaper right now to grab a starting center, a full-time player, than a starting nickel defender, a part-time player. Slot defenders are getting in the $13 million per year range, at least leading into this year’s free agency cycle.
McGovern just just $13 million per this offseason. The only other centers to crack north of that were Creed Humphrey and Cam Jurgens, if you’re not including Elgton Jenkins, who originally signed his deal as a guard before converting to center. Center is due for a salary explosion on the market. Mays, who was released from the Carolina Panthers at the 2024 cutdown deadline, might be the biggest benefactor of this next week.
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Grade: B
I, like many Packers fans, can’t believe we got a fourth-round pick for sending out Rashan Gary’s $19.5 million in cash he’s due in 2026. Gary had a historically bad year last season and has fallen off from his prime.
Since 2018, there have been 206 edge defenders who have, in a single season, played at least 377 snaps as pass-rushers, like Gary. Among those players, the average was 24 quick pressures per season. Gary has just six in 2025. The average quick pressure rate in this group was 5.5 percent. Gary is at 1.6 percent.
So, Gary is playing at less than one-third of the efficiency of a player who typically commands his level of playing time, which is maybe one reason why he was finally out-snapped by both Lukas Van Ness and Kingsley Enagbare in Week 17.
Out of those 206 edge defenders, only two posted fewer than six quick pressures in a single year.
Jerry, I love you.
Grade: A+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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