athlonsports.com

Green Bay Packers 2025 NFL Season Preview

[Editor's note: This article is from Athlon Sports' 2025 NFL Preview Magazine.Order your copy today online or pick one up at retail racks and newsstands nationwide.]

Brian Gutekunst delivered his declaration just days after the Green Bay Packers’ season had come to a dispiriting end. His team had lost to the eventual Super Bowl LIX champion Philadelphia Eagles, and even after making the playoffs in back-to-back seasons following the Aaron Rodgers era, the Packers general manager seemingly wanted to emphasize that good isn’t good enough.

“I think for me, the thing that’s been on my mind as we concluded this season is, we need to continue to ramp up our sense of urgency,” Gutekunst said that afternoon. “These opportunities don’t come [often]. The life of a player in the National Football League is not very long. We’ve got a bunch of good guys in that locker room, we’ve got a bunch of talented guys in that locker room, and I think it’s time we started competing for championships.

“I think they’re ready.”

More NFL team previews

AFC East: Bills | Dolphins | Jets | Patriots

AFC North:Bengals | Browns | Ravens | Steelers

AFC South:Colts | Jaguars | Texans | Titans

AFC West: Broncos | Chargers | Chiefs | Raiders

NFC East:Commanders | Cowboys | Eagles | Giants

NFC North: Bears | Lions | Packers | Vikings

NFC South: Buccaneers | Falcons | Panthers | Saints

NFC West: 49ers | Cardinals | Rams | Seahawks

In their two seasons since transitioning away from Rodgers, the Packers have gone 20-14 and earned the seventh and final NFC postseason berth each year with 2020 first-round pick Jordan Love as their franchise quarterback.

But after they finished the 2023 regular season on a three-game winning streak, dismantled a Dallas Cowboys team in the NFC Wild Card Round and had the San Francisco 49ers on the ropes until a late collapse, the 2024 Packers lost their final two regular-season games to the NFC North rival Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears, then turned the ball over four times and accomplished next to nothing offensively in the loss to the Eagles.

Now, though, they feel like they are primed to truly contend.

“But, at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter how you feel. It’s about what you do. I think that’s the challenge,” says Matt LaFleur, who is 67-33 in the regular season (3-5 in the postseason) through six seasons as head coach. “To me, if you want more and you want to go further, you’ve got to be willing to give more. That’s what we’ve got to do.”

Offense

Love described his second season as the starter as “inconsistent,” which feels like a fair assessment. Early-season knee and groin injuries hampered his mobility, and his would-be pass-catchers dropped 33 passes, which certainly did not help his 63.1% completion rate. Still, he wasn’t good enough, and what’s great about him is that he’s the first to admit as much.

Packers head coach Matt LaFleur

Bruising running back Josh Jacobs was the engine that made the offense go last season (1,329 rushing yards, 15 touchdowns in his first season in Green Bay), and LaFleur began the offseason seemingly intent on running the offense through Jacobs and the dynamic duo of Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave at tight end, with Kraft (50 receptions for 707 yards and a team-best seven touchdowns) the passing game centerpiece.

That emphasis could shift after Gutekunst drafted Texas wide receiver Matthew Golden in the first round and TCU wideout/Swiss army knife Savion Williams in the third. Even with Christian Watson sidelined likely until November, the Packers believe Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks will make major Year 3 jumps after not elevating their games as much as they’d hoped last year.

Up front, the Packers are in transition and appear to want bigger, road-grading linemen to bolster Jacobs’ physical running style. The free-agent signing of 6-foot-5, 325-pound left guard Aaron Banks and the selection of 6-foot-6, 335-pound tackle Anthony Belton in the second round of the draft fit that narrative.

The rest of the line is in flux, with Pro Bowl guard Elgton Jenkins moving to center and incumbent starting left tackle Rasheed Walker competing in training camp with 2024 first-round pick Jordan Morgan to keep his job. Only athletic right tackle Zach Tom and right guard Sean Rhyan appear entrenched at their positions.

“We’re always looking for opportunities to upgrade and/or bring in more competition,” LaFleur says of the offseason moves on offense. “I think that’s exactly what we did.”

Defense

After years of mediocrity — or worse — on defense, the Packers seemingly have found something in defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, whose unit finished 2024 ranked sixth in scoring defense (19.9 points per game) and fifth in total defense (314.5 yards per game) and somehow managed to tie for eighth in sacks (45) despite a pedestrian front four.

Gutekunst didn’t address the defensive line until Day 3 of the draft in April, which lent credence to his claim that the Packers had “everything we need” to generate a pass rush with recent first-round picks Rashan Gary, Kenny Clark, Devonte Wyatt and Lukas Van Ness as their front four.

Rashan Gary celebrates a sack

Dan Powers - USA Today

“We’ve invested in that quite a bit already, and I’m excited to see the growth that those guys will have,” Gutekunst says.

The same could be said at cornerback, where the team didn’t address the position until the seventh round despite offseason uncertainty about Jaire Alexander after back-to-back injury-derailed seasons. Despite confidence in Keisean Nixon, Carrington Valentine and offseason free-agent addition Nate Hobbs, corner would seem to be the biggest question mark on the roster.

The opposite is true at safety, where veteran Xavier McKinney got three rookie cohorts last year (Evan Williams, Javon Bullard, Kitan Oladapo) and not only earned first-team All-Pro accolades himself but also mentored his young teammates into significant contributors.

Second-year linebacker Edgerrin Cooper emerged as a field-tilter during the second half of his rookie season (3.5 sacks, 13 tackles for a loss, seven quarterback hits, an interception, a forced fumble and two fumble recoveries). “Obviously he’s incredibly gifted, incredibly talented. And everybody can see the splash plays,” LaFleur says in challenging Cooper to continue growing. “It’s, can you make all the routine plays when they’re there? I just think the more he plays, the better he’s going to get and the more big plays he’ll be able to make.”

Specialists

It took only two failed rookie kickers for the Packers to finally find a reliable veteran, which is exactly what Brandon McManus was. He missed just one field-goal attempt — and nailed two game-winners — after joining the team in mid-October, and after he signed a three-year deal, the job is in good hands. Punter Daniel Whelan is also trending in the right direction, and if Nixon resumes his All-Pro return form, the special teams units could become a strength instead of a liability.

Final Analysis

Love confessed after the season that “there were definitely a lot more expectations coming into” the 2024 season, and the team did not rise to the occasion, going 1-5 in the NFC North and a combined 0-6 against the Eagles, Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings. After having the NFL’s youngest roster each of the past two years, it’s time for Love to prove that he’s a top-tier quarterback; for LaFleur to show he belongs in the conversation with Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan as one of the league’s brightest offensive minds; and for the young receivers and tight ends to elevate their games. If those things happen, and the defense is even better in Year 2 in Hafley’s scheme, this is a Super Bowl-caliber crew.