When Jordan Love’s pass on 3rd & 15 fell incomplete on Wild Card Weekend vs the Chicago Bears, and the Packers had officially surrendered a 21-3 lead to end their season, change felt imminent. Despite many Packers not being brought back, and serious turnover in the coaching staff, it feels Green Bay still has a lot to solve.
Six former coaches from Jeff Hafley's former team, the Green Bay Packers, would help make up his first-year staff with the Miami Dolphins next season. In addition to adding two former Packers interns and re-signing a former Packers defensive coordinator, the former Packers defensive coordinator took three of his assistants from his final defensive staff in Green Bay.
Whether or not these coaches would have been brought back should Hafley of remained with Green Bay, is unsure. Same goes for Rich Bissacia. After a four-year stint with Green Bay, Bisaccia would lead the Packers special teams unit to a bottom 10 unit each year, with key mishaps in divisional regular season games, and playoff games especially.
Whether it was a mutual parting of ways we may never know, but all we know is Bisaccia would have been returning for a fifth season should he have not stepped down and eventually become the new Clemson Tigers special team’s coach.
While on the topic of special teams, Brandon McManus remains a Packer now closing in on April of the offseason. One of the few veterans on the Packers team, and super bowl winning player.
McManus would be a key ingredient to Green Bay’s blown lead loss to Chicago in the playoffs. Finishing the 2025 year 24-30 in field goals. Along with a missed kick in 2024 Wild Card round loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, the veteran who has been in the big moments before, you’d never be able to guess in his 2-year Packers stint.
Lucas Havrisik was signed to a reserve/future contract at the end of the 2026 season yet remains to be seen if he is the answer to what feels like a continual position of need since Mason Crosby’s final season. Lots of in the moment emotion certainly plays a part, but it’s truly hard to believe Green Bay moves into next August comfortably rolling McManus out once again.
Another position would be cornerback. Exposed once Micah Parsons would go down in week 15, Green Bay simply had no depth at the position. CB1 Keisean Nixon would finish with a PFF grade in the 60s for a third consecutive season (39th of all CBs). CB2 Carrington Valentine would also finish with a 65.7 PFF grade and would occasionally show flashes yet not nearly consistent enough.
Cornerback Benjamin St-Juste earned a two-year, $10 million contract with the Packers this offseason after a "career revival" with the Chargers in 2025. In 2025, PFF ranked him 11th among CBs (75.6 overall), with a 90.1 grade for zone coverage. He is a tall, dependable rotating defender with excellent coverage abilities at 6'3".
Moves like St. Juste are certainly a start to reshaping a room that needs it. After missing on 2025 free agent Nate Hobbs and letting Eric Stokes go, two moves that would backfire on Green Bay, it’s obvious more is needed than just St. Juste.
With contract restructures to players like Aaron Banks and Xavier Mckinney, releases of veterans with major cap hits in Nate Hobbs, Elgton Jenkins, and trading Rashan Gary, Green Bay sits at around 22 million in current cap space.
Javon Hargrave and Zaire Franklin are quality additions to positions of need for Green Bay. Depending on the direction Green Bay heads in the 2026 NFL draft, following suit of GM Brian Gutekunst in the 2025 offseason press conference quote, “Time to start competing for championships” hopefully appears more evident than ever.
From what in the moment felt like the type of loss that you do not come back from on that cold night in Chicago, Green Bay has resonated in that feeling to some degree based on this offseason so far. More change to come whether it be by addition or subtraction feels inevitable.
Remember, Micah Parsons was not traded for until August 28th, as we sit here today in March.
Certainly looks like an offseason of cleaning up the messes of past mistakes for the Packers.
— Zach Kruse (@zachkruse2) March 10, 2026
Some people look at this and see the Packers doing nothing
I look at this and see the Packers finally addressing their horrific special teams unit and weak cornerback room
While not losing a ton really
Theres so many guys left in FA, and we still have the draft to improve pic.twitter.com/v6M1sOms4C
— Matthew S. (@MatthewMKE98) March 11, 2026