The Packers traded Aaron Rodgers to the Jets less than three years ago, but in NFL terms, it feels like a lifetime.
Plenty has changed since then, with Green Bay quickly rebooting with a young core of players and not skipping a beat, making the playoffs in three straight seasons, even if the results have not been what the team or the fans would have ultimately hoped.
For three straight years, from 2023 to 2025, the Packers had the youngest team in the league, as the fledgling team grew around Jordan Love as the starting quarterback.
But Green Bay’s moves early in this offseason indicate a change in the air.
After shying away from adding older players to the roster since Rodgers departed, Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst has begun to dip into the experienced market once again as he looks to push his team over the top to win a championship.
The Packers did not have a single offensive or defensive player play a snap of football for them in 2025 while aged 30 or older. Elgton Jenkins was their oldest position player, and he did not turn 30 until December, after he had already been lost for the year.
There were only two players who got on the field on offense or defense for Green Bay over the age of 30 in 2024: Eric Wilson and Preston Smith, and Smith was traded at the deadline.
In 2023, it was David Bakhtiari and De’Vondre Campbell, along with Smith, who were still on the team as holdovers from the Rodgers era. Even then, Bakhtiari was barely able to play in what would turn out to be his final season.
Not including special teams, the Packers did not sign any players entering their age-30 season or older in 2025, 2024 or 2023. They made a commitment to getting younger after becoming a veteran-laden team at the end of Rodgers’ time in Green Bay.
In 2022, his last year with the team, the Packers had six position players in their age-30 season or older. That was the last time they signed such a player, adding Jarran Reed on a one-year deal.
They had seven players over 30 in 2021, including two that they signed in Dennis Kelly and Whitney Mercilus.
The Packers were trying to get over the hump and finally get back to the Super Bowl in those days. The moves they have made in the last few weeks are a strong sign they are firmly back in ‘win now’ mode.
First, Gutekunst traded away 25-year-old Colby Wooden for linebacker Zaire Franklin, who turns 30 in July. Franklin is really replacing Quay Walker who left in free agency, and who himself only turns 26 this year.
Their corresponding move to strengthen the defensive interior and essentially replace Wooden was to bring in 33-year-old Javon Hargrave, signing him to a pretty substantial two-year deal worth $23m.
Hargrave is the team’s oldest external free agent signing since they signed 35-year-old Tramon Williams in 2018.
Even cornerback Benjamin St-Juste is a little older for a Packers free agent signing. He will turn 29 in September and was signed to a two-year contract worth $10m.
Gutekunst has indicated multiple times he does not see the team’s youth as a problem as it pertains to closing out tight games in the playoffs, but these moves seem to indicate the Packers wanted to add some experience, and are ready to spend resources on short-sighted moves.
The Packers have shifted the dial further towards ‘all-in’ again after a patient approach over the last three seasons.