Welcome back to another edition of the mailbag, where you send me your questions and I…answer them. It’s hard to believe we’re less than one month away from the 2026 NFL Draft. The offseason really does fly by. This mailbag does, too, so let’s jump in.
“Reading the mail about naming rights to Lambeau I thought about MLB. The teams have sponsored patches on their jerseys. I’d rather see that than a name or brand on Lambeau. Is the jersey thing up to individual teams or would it have to be league wide approval by the NFL? I’m guessing the latter. Thanks.” - David
Hi David! You’re right that it’s the latter. It’s an NFL policy to not allow brands on team jerseys in regular season games. You probably have seen the Bellin Health patches on Packers jerseys during training camp, though, so teams do wear brand patches during the offseason program. Only NFL partners are allowed to show their branding. Players can wear equipment/products from other brands, but they have to remove the logo.
The NFL is the highest-earning sports league in the world. Every aspect of the game ties into sponsorship in some capacity. I feel like, at some point, brand patches will eventually wind up on NFL jerseys. And I do agree with you that I’d prefer that to “Lambeau Field presented by…” on the facade. But I’m going to appreciate Roger Goodell and the league leaving jerseys alone for as long as possible. There are already how many commercial breaks per game? How many pieces of marketing material and brand deals inside each individual stadium? The Packers may need to find creative ways to keep up with the rest of the league down the line, but it won’t be through jersey branding (at least not how the rules stand now).
“Heading out of free agency and into the draft, I am apprehensive about a couple of things. Can you rank these by what you think is most likely to happen: A) The special teams will not be bad, B) The cornerbacks will be fine, or C) The offensive line will be good?” - Tony
Oh this is fun. If we’re going strictly pre-draft so we aren’t thinking the Packers will have any extra bodies in any of these rooms, I’ll start with C and say I think it’s most likely from this list that the offensive line will be good. Zach Tom will be back healthy at right tackle. Jordan Morgan will finally have the opportunity to play the position he played for his entire collegiate career and will no longer have to take snaps everywhere (he played every position but center in 2025). Aaron Banks looked better as the season progressed and he got healthy. Sean Rhyan started to come into his own at center and looked like a better fit there than guard. The only question left to me is Anthony Belton who’s still developing as an interior player, but I think he’s the first candidate for the right guard job unless the Packers draft a lineman early.
Next I’ll say A, that special teams will not be bad. But this is tricky because I look at special teams in multiple parts. The addition of Skyy Moore really excites me. He has true field-flipping potential and the ability to make a house call at any moment. That’s going to dramatically impact the groove the offense is able to get into, being able to start drives with better field position. The flip side of this is that I’m not confident in Brandon McManus. He was 100% on field goals inside 39 yards but only 6-of-12 on kicks longer than 40 yards. Fifty. Percent. In a league where some kickers make 60-plus yards look automatic. But if it truly was all injury-related for McManus, maybe he has a bounce-back year and performs better in 2026. Daniel Whelan is still on the roster and he’s a superhero, so I’m cautiously optimistic.
That leaves B, that the cornerbacks will be fine. In this very column I wrote about Benjamin St-Juste and why I liked him as a free agency addition. That said, I still have a lot of concerns with that room as a whole. Nixon led the team with 17 passes defensed but also gave up some of the most memorable (for the wrong reasons) touchdowns of the season. I feel better about him being out there than Valentine, though, and I suppose that says something. It felt like towards the end of the season the Packers kept trying to bench Valentine, but then whoever replaced him would get hurt and he’d end up back out there out of necessity. Nate Hobbs was released. So that leaves the Bo Melton experiment at cornerback (he literally didn’t take a defensive snap in 2025), Kamal Hadden who’s recovering from injury, Shemar Bartholomew, and Tyron Herring (both undrafted guys) as the only other corners on roster. I would certainly think corner is a position they target early in the draft, and they may still look to free agency (Micah Parsons is still working out with his buddy Trevon Diggs). But as the roster currently stands on paper, cornerback is by far my biggest concern.
“Hey Maggie! With the bulk of free agency in the rear view mirror, are you holding out hope for anyone in particular? Or is it simply “on to the draft”? Thanks!” - Jim
I personally have started turning my attention to my draft deep dive and falling in love with prospects that will never end up in Green Bay. But there’s plenty of talent out there after the first few waves of free agency! DJ Reader is taking visits, and he’s a more prototypical nose tackle. I know the Packers made a move to sign Javon Hargrave, but he was always going to operate more as a pass rusher than a space-eating run stuffer. Not that Reader can’t rush the passer, too, it’s just that he fills more of that traditional NT role. Trevon Diggs is interesting if the Packers could bring him back as a low-cost option. Dan just wrote an article about that. The only other position I could see them actually kicking the tires on would be a veteran presence at edge rusher. Micah Parsons might not be able to come back until October, and that doesn’t leave a ton of depth in the room. It’s Lukas Van Ness, Brenton Cox, Arron Mosby, and second-year players Barryn Sorrell and Collin Oliver. Even if you like the upside of some of those guys, that’s a lot of snaps to fill before Parsons returns. And signing a veteran on a one-year deal isn’t going to prohibit Green Bay from drafting an edge rusher or giving those snaps to Sorrell if he outperforms the vet. But it’s nice to have an extra body on the depth chart that’s seen their share of NFL action.
The next time we have a mailbag, the Cheesehead TV Draft Guide will be out! Make sure you grab your copy on April 2nd so we can chat about draft prospects you love, loathe, and long to see in Green and Gold. And as always, send any questions you have to [email protected]. See you next week! Buy the Draft Guide!