Linebacker is the weirdest position on the Packers right now.
It hasn’t quite arrived, but isn’t quite in transition either. It seems like the Packers have been trying to solve a problem there for most of a decade and haven’t quite landed on a solution. And for that matter, the answer to whatever question they’re asking has probably changed several times as they’ve transitioned from Mike Pettine to Joe Barry to Jeff Hafley and now to Jonathan Gannon.
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What are they trying to achieve? What is the vision at linebacker? “To have good ones” is about all I can come up with when looking back on Brian Gutekunst’s acquisitions there over the years. He signed Christian Kirksey to replace Blake Martinez, then Kirksey, true to form, got hurt. Gutekunst and the Packers fell into De’Vondre Campbell, then doubled down after he had the year of his life and pretty much immediately got burned. They tried to pair Campbell with Quay Walker, and when that pairing failed, they tried to pair Walker with Edgerrin Cooper. Now that pairing, too, has run its course, and now they’re teaming Cooper up with former Jonathan Gannon collaborator Zaire Franklin.
None of that adds up to a coherent philosophy at linebacker other than trying to find the best pair of guys you can to soak up the majority of the snaps which, to be fair, is a strategy worth trying. But it’s brought the Packers to the point where they’ve got a big conglomeration of guys and no real clear present or future in which to use them.
Consider Franklin, for instance. A full-time starter in Indianapolis since 2022, he had a down year in 2025 by just about any measure, and it’s a fair question to ask whether we should expect more down years now that he’s on the wrong side of 30, especially since Franklin is not exactly a physical marvel to begin with. If he’s lost a step (or loses one now, or maybe a couple), what’s left?
But on the flip side, could Green Bay be just the right spot to reclaim his career? After all, he’ll be working with Gannon, a former boss of his during his time in Indianapolis. Might Gannon’s defense be a better fit for his skills than what Lou Anarumo ran in Indianapolis? The Colts defense struggled across the board. Could that be exculpatory for Franklin? It’s at least possible.
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And what of Edgerrin Cooper? Recently voted one of the ten best linebackers in the NFL, Cooper had a much different season in 2025 than he did in 2024. Not worse, just different. After being cut loose to be the heat-seeking missile his 40-time would suggest he can be as a rookie, Cooper played a much more conservative, coverage-oriented role in 2025 as the Packers relied on Micah Parsons to do most of their pass rushing. That’s never a bad idea, but it came at the expense of Cooper’s best attributes.
So which version will we get this season? Will Gannon allow Cooper to run and hunt, or will he put him in a box and keep him there? Cooper’s good enough that he can probably succeed in any role, but maximizing his prodigious gifts should be a priority.
Beyond Franklin and Cooper, things get even stranger.
The Packers’ recently extended Isaiah McDuffie, who is one of the most maxed-out players I can remember in Green Bay of late. For better or for worse, McDuffie has reached the ceiling of his abilities, and he gives the Packers everything he can on every play. Unfortunately, what he gives the Packers is occasionally a bit too short to stop opposing teams from throwing over him and a bit too slow to prevent teams from running past him. Still, he’s at least reliable, though you’re not going to make the whole defense out of him.
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Meanwhile, Ty’Ron Hooper remains one of the living embodiments of the Packers’ third round curse, lining up for just 144 defensive snaps over the past two regular seasons despite being healthy for all 34 games. It hardly seems a vote of confidence in his abilities that the Packers went out of their way to trade for Franklin and extend McDuffie this offseason, and you’d think if Hopper was going to claim a bigger role, he’d have done so by now.
And at the very bottom of the depth chart, Nick Niemann, Krisian Welch, and T.J. Quinn all reside, waiting to scrounge up whatever special teams snaps they can.
Niemann is a certified demon on special teams and led the Packers in special teams tackles last year despite only appearing in seven games. But his first defensive snap of the season came in the playoffs, where the Bears found and exploited his special teams-oriented skill set in a key moment.
That’s more than can be said for Welch, who hasn’t yet earned significant defensive playing time on defense at all. He, like Niemann, seems to be a true special teamer, and is already on his second tour of duty in Green Bay.
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Finally, Quinn is shaped more like a safety than a linebacker. Thankfully, he runs like one, too, but an under-tall, underweight linebacker who has very good but not great speed is a hard sell.
It’s a strange accumulation of players, to say the least. And what the Packers are going to do with it is still a mystery. Perhaps Gannon will figure something out, but at this point, the picture at linebacker is as muddled as its ever been.
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