Carrington Valentine has to get better or get benched. (Photo: Kevin Sabitus, Getty)
By Mark Eckel
If the Green Bay Packers want to put the "Title'' back in "Titletown'' they need to get better in three different areas.
And to their credit they made offseason moves to do just that.
In case you haven't been paying attention the Packers haven't gone to a Super Bowl since the 2010 season. They haven't gone to a NFC Championship Game since 2020. They haven't even won the NFC North since 2021.
That four-year division drought matches the longest since they went four years from 1998-2001. That included three different head coaches — Mike Holmgren, Ray Rhodes and Mike Sherman. To find a streak longer than that you have to go back to the Awful '80s and into the start of the Holmgren Era.
So how does the 2026 team return to glory? Here are the three key areas that need to get better.
Better Cornerback Play
This isn't a reinvention of the wheel. Anyone who watched the Packers the second half of last season knows the cornerbacks weren't good enough, especially when the opposing QB wasn't getting hurried by the front.
Yes last year's starters Keisean Nixon and Carrington Valentine are back. But the addition of free agent Benjamin St. Juste and second-round draft pick Brandon Cisse could push one, or both, of those holdovers. If Nixon and Valentine aren't better they could now be replaced. Would it be a major shock if St. Juste and Cisse are the starters by the end of the season?
Mixing with Micah
This is two-fold. The defense needs someone on the edge to step up and fill in for Micah Parsons while he continues to rehab a torn ACL for the first month of the season and then to pair with him when he does return.
Since departed Rashan Gary did just that the first half of 2025 when he had 7 1/2 sacks, but disappeared in the second half and was totally invisible when Parsons went out with the knee injury.
Lukas Van Ness is first in line and the organization thought enough of his potential to pick up his fifth-year option in 2027. When healthy, Van Ness has shown glimpses of why the team selected him in the first round. He needs to show more.
The Packers don't lack in quantity here. Second-year players Barryn Sorrell and Collin Oliver will be given long looks as will rookie Dani Dennis-Sutton. And don't forget Brenton Cox, who was the team's best pass rusher at the end of the '24 season before injury ruined his '25 campaign.
Special Teams
You're not going to believe this but the Packers special teams have not been very good during these droughts. Really, they haven't.
Last year, in particular, the team had nothing even resembling a punt return team, averaging just 5.6 yards per return.
The kicking game hit new lows as well. A blocked extra point turned into a two-point return cost them a win over Dallas and a blocked field goal in the final minute cost them a win over Cleveland. Two missed field goals and a missed extra point were also crucial in the playoff loss to Chicago.
So additions were needed.
Skyy Moore, signed as a free agent, averaged 11.6 yards per punt return and 27.6 per kickoff return.
On the final day of the draft the team traded two seventh-round picks for a sixth-round pick to select Florida's Trey Smack, considered the best kicker in the draft.