So far this offseason, we are starting to see a changing of the guard at edge rusher for the Green Bay Packers. Out go Rashan Gary and Kingsley Enagbare, and the young duo of Collin Oliver Jr. and Barryn Sorrell are next up in the clubhouse to replace them. It’s a change that, while much needed in my humble opinion, is likely going to be anxiety-inducing for Packers fans.
For all their warts, Gary and Enagbare are proven NFL pass rushers with years of experience on their résumés. Sorrell and Oliver are just heading into their second seasons, with Oliver missing much of his rookie year. Are the Packers making a mistake in their hope that the two youngsters can produce? Or will this look like a good move by Brian Gutekunst come season’s end?
After trading Rashan Gary to the Dallas Cowboys for a 2027 fourth-round pick (thanks again, Jerry) and Enagbare signing with the New York Jets on a one-year, $10 million deal, the Packers have roughly over 1,100 snaps to replace at defensive end for the 2026 season. Micah Parsons will also likely miss the first month as he returns from his torn ACL suffered in December.
As things currently stand, Oliver and Sorrell are next up, and the Packers will count on them to soak up those snaps for Jonathan Gannon’s defense. Both showed flashes in 2025 during their rookie seasons, even though they experienced different paths during their first professional campaign.
Sorrell enjoyed the more complete season. The 2025 fourth-round pick out of the University of Texas played sparingly for most of the season as a backup behind Gary and Enagbare. Still, he made an impression on the coaching staff and fans alike with a standout performance against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 18, when the Packers were resting their starters.
In that game, he led the Packers’ defensive line with 52 snaps, eight total tackles, his first full sack as a pro, and a very heads-up play to recover a fumble in Green Bay’s red zone. Leading up to Week 18, he only broke the 13-snap mark one time and, with his performance, earned 28 snaps on defense the following week in the Wild Card matchup with the Bears.
As Gary ended the season on a whimper, Sorrell ended the season with tons of positive momentum.
Let's go!
📺: CBS pic.twitter.com/UaySEgV9dh
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) January 4, 2026
In his end-of-season press conference, Brian Gutekunst went out of his way to talk up the youngster, and Gutey’s words go a long way in proving this team will be relying on him in a much bigger way in 2026.
“Really excited about Barryn,” he said. “With the opportunities he was given last year, I thought he performed very, very well, especially late in the season when we needed him. I think he’ll be a major part of that core group moving forward.”
If Sorrell can build off of that end-of-season performance and take a second-year jump, then he will have the inside track to be the starter on the other side opposite Lukas Van Ness to start the season until Parsons is back.
The good thing for him is that there are going to be plenty of snaps to go around during the offseason program and camp. The team has not made any additions at the position during the first few waves of free agency. With limited draft assets and the interior of the line and offensive line depth to address, he would all but surely get the first crack at a starting job over a mid- to late-round rookie. If things break just right for him, 2026 could be a pivotal year in Barryn Sorrell’s career.
The Packers also drafted Collin Oliver in 2025, and he’s as much of an unknown as there is on their roster. After the Packers drafted him in the fifth round out of Oklahoma State, he injured his hamstring during his final season in college, and the Packers didn’t even see him on the field until they activated him off the PUP list in December.
Every time it seemed he was inching closer to finally getting on the field, he suffered multiple setbacks, and he finally made his NFL debut in the same game where Sorrell made his name during Week 18 in Minnesota.
In that game, Oliver played 31 snaps on defense and flashed with a tackle for loss against the run and two quarterback hits as a pass rusher. In speaking about where he fits on the 2026 defense now that he is healthy, Gutekunst called him the “wild card.”
“The last game was really nice to get him out there to see what he could do,” Gutekunst said. “He can really run, and then his ability to chase the quarterback is something you need in this league. I think there’s a lot of versatility and upside in Collin.”
More of a tweener at 6’2”, 240 lbs., Oliver’s biggest strength is his speed as a rusher and his ability to play as an off-ball linebacker on the inside. Given his nickname “Baby Micah,” Oliver will be an interesting chess piece for Jonathan Gannon to move around, and the Packers will count on him early in the season to play meaningful snaps on the edge to make up for the loss of Gary and Enagbare.
It will also be nice to have a linebacker who can close the gap on someone like Caleb Williams, outside of Parsons. Gary was noticeably just jogging at half speed in their matchups last year when Williams broke the pocket.
One last little jog for team captain Rashan Gary in green n gold? pic.twitter.com/G0BvW6EAMi
— Andy Herman (@AndyHermanNFL) January 11, 2026
Extending Brenton Cox Jr. for a year will give the Packers another option to help the 2026 unit. However, his contract far from ensures that he’ll make the team. Based on Gutekunst’s comments after the season and the way they ended 2025 on a high note, Sorrell and Oliver are the future of this group behind LVN and Parsons. Due to a lack of enticing free-agent options left and the limited high-end draft capital, there isn’t much help on the way in terms of new bodies.
If they can build off of their short and injury-riddled rookie seasons, the 2026 Green Bay Packers defense is going to be in much better shape to make a deep run than the 2025 unit was with Gary and Enagbare.