An Overview of the Green Bay Packers Defense
From a scoring perspective, the eleventh-place finish made last year's Packers a fairly good defense. When we look at all the other statistics, we get the picture of a very mediocre unit. Green Bay was middle of the pack against the run in both yards and yards per carry. The pass defense was a strong fifth in completion percentage but made up for it by allowing the tenth-most yards per attempt. They finished in a four-way tie at twenty with 36 sacks and were tied for 26th with 14 turnovers, while just four teams had fewer interceptions.
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This kind of outcome would have most teams focusing on the defensive side of the ball. The Packers didn't ignore it, but they may not have done enough to improve, especially considering all of the other factors. Green Bay lost star pass rusher Micah Parsons to an injury late in the season. He could open the year on the PUP list and will not be 100% whenever he does return. They then traded their second-best pass rusher, Rashan Gary, to Dallas and lost starting inside linebacker Quay Walker, corner Nate Hobbs, and backup edge Kingsley Enagbare to free agency. Arguably the biggest loss, however, was defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley leaving to become head coach at Miami.
The organization addressed the secondary with their highest draft pick, taking Brandon Cisse in round two, and signed journeyman Benjamin St-Juste. They filled the hole at linebacker with bargain-priced free agent Zaire Franklin, and beefed up the interior of the defensive line with tackles Javon Hargrave in free agency and second-day draft pick Chris McClellan. The only reinforcements for the pass rush, however, come in the form of fourth-rounder Dani Dennis-Sutton, who will not be enough. Unless Parsons makes a miraculous recovery between now and week one, the Packers' defense could again struggle to pressure the quarterback and create turnovers.
Improving in those areas with their current personnel will be a challenge for new DC Jonathan Gannon. The biggest change he brings is a return to an odd front (3-4) look. Gannon has an impressive record as a defensive coach and coordinator, which is why the Cardinals hired him as a head coach for three seasons.
Green Bay Packers Defensive Linemen
The Packers poured first- and second-day draft choices into their defensive line for many years. It never worked out as well as they would have liked, so they are trying a different approach. The trade for Parsons was huge. With 12.5 sacks before the injury, he had more than a third of the team's total. Once he is fully recovered, Parsons will be a force. The question is, how long will that take? As of early summer, expectations are that he could miss at least the first six games, and it often takes edge players two seasons to regain full strength and complete confidence.
With last year's top three edge defenders either on the shelf or wearing different colors, Lukas Van Ness is in line to be a starter. The 13th overall pick in 2023 has been a major disappointment to date. Van Ness showed some promise as a rookie, going 24-8-4. His numbers have declined each season since. Entering year four, Van Ness owns 8 career sacks, a forced fumble, and a recovery, and is coming off a season that produced fewer than 20 combined tackles. In his defense, Van Ness was young when he entered the league. He turns 25 in July, so that excuse is off the table in this make-or-break year. I believe the team will be in the market for a replacement next spring.
Take away Parsons, Gary, and Enagbare, and the rest of the Packers roster produced 14 sacks in 2025. So thin and unproven is the edge group that rookie Dani Dennis-Sutton could find a path to playing time early on. Brenton Cox Jr., Barryn Sorrell, and Collin Oliver are the others in the mix. Cox had 12 tackles, 4 sacks, and a forced fumble as an undrafted rookie in 2024, but barely got on the field last season. Sorrell was the team's fourth-round pick last year. He managed 15 stops, a sack, and a forced fumble on about 175 snaps. Oliver's only action last season was 31 snaps in week 18.
The scouting report on Dennis-Sutton suggests that he is an early-down run defender with limited pass-rush ability or upside, but he is tough and plays hard. His stat sheet from Penn State sends a somewhat different message. Dennis-Sutton recorded 23.5 sacks for the Nittany Lions, 17 of them in the last two seasons. He forced 7 fumbles over the last three years, recovering 2, and totaled 84 stops between 2024 and 2025. There will be an open competition to determine a pecking order among this group. The Dennis-Sutton may never be a great player, but he should be smack in the middle of the competition this summer.
The Packers have solid players at the interior positions. They've had good ones there for a long time, including multiple first- and second-day draft picks. Kenny Clark gave us useful production now and then, but none of them have provided fantasy-friendly numbers with any consistency. There is no reason to expect a change in 2026.
Journeyman Javon Hargrave was signed and is expected to play nose tackle. Devonte Wyatt, Karl Brooks, and rookie Chris McClellan should make up the outside tackle rotation. A big part of the problem is that, like many 3-4 based schemes, the interior guys lack sufficient playing time. Brooks led the way in 2025, with 618 snaps. Wyatt would have been around that number had he not missed seven games.
That is enough opportunity to make a good player into a marginal IDP value. Which is what both Brooks and Wyatt were last year. Brooks totaled a respectable 50 combined stops, but put a zero in the sack column. Wyatt managed four sacks, which is solid for a ten-game season, but could muster only 27 combined stops, which was not.
My suggestion would be to completely avoid all Green Bay linemen. If one of the steps up early in the season, there is a strong possibility you can snag him on waivers.
- Edge Micah Parsons – He's a star when healthy, but that may not be this season
- Edge Lukas Van Ness – Make-or-break season
- Edge Barryn Sorrell – Deep sleeper at best
- Edge Brenton Cox Jr. – No grand expectations
- Edge Dani Dennis-Sutton – Interesting rookie prospect
- DT Devonte Wyatt – DT3 potential
- DT Karl Brooks – Marginal value at best
- NT Javon Hargrave – Unlikely to bring past value to this situation
- DT Chris McClellan – Deep rookie sleeper
- DT Warren Brinson – No impact
- NT Jordon Riley – No impact