GREEN BAY, Wis. – The entire lineup of defensive ends will return for the Green Bay Packers in 2025. With NFL free agency starting on Monday with the opening of the negotiating window, will general manager Brian Gutekunst settle for the status quo?
Here is our free-agent preview of the edge defenders/defensive ends, starting with a look at Green Bay’s depth chart and including the top available free agents and some tempting draft reclamations.
Packers Depth Chart
Rashan Gary: Coming off a torn ACL, Gary had nine sacks and a career-high 22 quarterback hits in 2023. In 2024, he had 7.5 sacks and 15 quarterback hits but was a first-time Pro Bowler. Out of 80 edge defenders with at least 240 pass-rushing opportunities, Gary ranked 36th in Pro Football Focus’ pass-rush productivity, which measures sacks, hits and hurries per pass-rushing snap, and 34th in pass-rush win rate.
Gary did step up his edge setting, which was a big factor in the Packers fielding their best run defense in more than a decade.
Six seasons into his career, he still doesn’t have a 10-sack season. Will the seventh time be the charm for the 27-year-old? With a $24.0 million annual salary that ranks ninth among edge defenders, the Packers need more game-changing plays.
Kingsley Enagbare: Enagbare suffered an ACL injury in the 2023 playoffs but opted not to have surgery. Rather incredibly, he played in all 17 games with seven starts in 2024. He set career highs with 4.5 sacks and two forced fumbles and added six tackles for losses and eight quarterback hits. By PFF’s metrics, he was 59th in pass-rush productivity and 70th in pass-rush win rate.
Lukas Van Ness: As it turns out, the trade of Preston Smith had nothing to do with Van Ness and everything to do with the rest of the depth chart. Before the trade, Van Ness had two games of 50 percent playing time. After the trade, he had zero of even 44 percent playing time.
The 2023 first-round pick went from four sacks, eight tackles for losses and 10 quarterback hits as a rookie to three sacks, six tackles for losses and six quarterback hits in 2024. By PFF’s metrics, he was 64th in pass-rush productivity and 54th in pass-rush win rate. He still hasn’t started a game.
Brenton Cox: The Smith trade opened the door for Cox, and he stormed through it. A healthy scratch in every game before the trade, Cox had four sacks – more than Van Ness – five tackles for losses and seven quarterback hits in seven games.
Had Cox met our 240-snap threshold, he would have ranked first in PFF’s pass-rushing productivity – better than Myles Garrett, Micah Parsons and Trey Hendrickson – and 11th in pass-rush win rate. Getting 150 fewer pass-rushing snaps than Van Ness, he had three fewer pressures (20 to 17).
Arron Mosby: Mosby played in 16 games with one-half sack, one tackle for loss and two quarterback hits. He dropped into coverage a bit and broke up two passes. According to PFF, he had 10 pressures in 85 pass-rushing snaps; Van Ness had 20 in 247.
Deslin Alexandre: Alexandre had 16.5 sacks in 58 games at the University of Pittsburgh. He spent the entire 2024 season on the practice squad.
Jeremiah Martin: Martin, who had 8.5 sacks and 11 tackles for losses at the University of Washington in 2024, joined Green Bay’s practice squad in December.
Packers Free-Agent Outlook
The Packers don’t have any free agents. Enagbare will be an unrestricted free agent next offseason.
Best Available Free Agents
Here is our ranking of the top available free agents. It’s a class that’s long on depth and but light on elite production. The Packers have depth. They need more production.
For teams wanting a real difference-maker, it will require a trade to get Cleveland’s Myles Garrett, the 2023 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, or Cincinnati’s Trey Hendrickson, the 2024 NFL sacks leader.
(Ages are in parentheses and are for Week 1 of the upcoming season.)
Josh Sweat, Eagles (28): In seven seasons, Sweat has 43 sacks, including a career-high 11 in 2022. That’s his only season of more than eight. And yet, he’s going to get a top-of-market contract. In 2024, he had eight sacks, nine tackles for losses and 15 quarterback hits. By PFF’s metrics, he was 19th in pass-rush productivity and 14th in pass-rush win rate. He dominated in the Super Bowl with 2.5 sacks.
Khalil Mack, Chargers (34): Mack is the 2016 NFL Defensive Player of the Year and a member of the NFL’s all-2010s team. In 11 seasons, he has recorded 107.5 sacks and 32 forced fumbles. He tallied a career-high 17 sacks for the Chargers in 2023 but fell back to six sacks, six tackles for losses and 15 quarterback hits in 2024. PFF’s metrics show a larger impact, as he finished 25th in pass-rush productivity and 16th in pass-rush win rate.
Dayo Odeyingbo, Colts (25): A second-round pick in 2021, Odeyingbo had eight sacks and 17 quarterback hits during a breakout 2023. He was elevated into the starting lineup in 2024 and had just three sacks but matched the QB hit count. By PFF’s metrics, he was 57th in pass-rush productivity and 37th in pass-rush win rate. After missing the start of 2021 with a torn Achilles, he has played in 61 consecutive games. He’s got the size the Packers covet.
Malcolm Koonce, Raiders (27): A third-round pick in 2021, Koonce had a breakout 2023 season with eight sacks, nine tackles for losses, 17 quarterback hits and three forced fumbles. He missed all of 2024 with a knee injury. He was 20th in pass-rush productivity and 30th in win rate when he was healthy in 2023.
Baron Browning, Cardinals (26): A third-round pick in 2021, Browning in four seasons has 11.5 sacks, 19 tackles for losses and 25 quarterback hits. He was an off-the-ball linebacker as a rookie before moving into a pass-rusher role. He was traded from Denver in 2024 and had two sacks and four TFLs in eight games. His pass-rush win rate was 16.4 percent, 11th in the league and sandwiched between Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter. At 240 pounds, though, he’s probably ill-suited for a 4-3 scheme.
Anthony Nelson, Buccaneers (28): Nelson spent all six seasons with the Buccaneers. He’s ranged from three sacks to 5.5 sacks the past four seasons. In 2024, he played in all 17 games with six starts and recorded four sacks, six TFLs and a career-high 13 quarterback hits. Over the past four seasons, he’s missed just one game. By PFF’s metrics, he was 40th in pass-rush productivity and 45th in pass-rush win rate.
Chase Young, Saints (26): The second pick of the 2020 NFL Draft and the Defensive Rookie of the Year, a devastating knee injury limited him to 12 games in 2021 and 2022. He had 5.5 sacks, eight tackles for losses and 21 quarterback hits in 2024. He finished seventh among edge defenders with 66 pressures. By PFF’s metrics, he was 19th in pass-rush productivity and 26th in pass-rush win rate.
Bargain Buys
Harold Landry, Titans (29): Landry had 12 sacks in 2021, missed 2022 with a torn ACL, 10.5 sacks in 2023 and nine sacks in 2024. That’s a lot of production – 31.5 sacks, 43 tackles for losses and 58 quarterback hits in three seasons. It’s all or nothing, though. By PFF’s metrics, he was 70th in pass-rush productivity and 80th (last) in pass-rush win rate in 2024.
Azeez Ojulari, Giants (25): A second-round pick in 2021, Ojulari had eight sacks as a rookie, 5.5 sacks in just seven games in 2022 and six sacks in 11 games in 2024. All told, he has 22 sacks, 21 tackles for losses and 37 quarterback hits in 46 games (30 starts). If he had enough pass-rushing snaps, he would have finished 61st in PFF’s pass-rush win rate. He’s probably just a designated pass rusher; the Packers have not had that kind of player.
Dante Fowler, Commanders (31): Fowler had a blast-from-the-past season with 10.5 sacks – his first double-digits season since 2019. He added 14 tackles for losses and 12 quarterback hits. By PFF’s metrics, he was 12th in pass-rush productivity and 49th in pass-rush win rate. Fowler has played every game the past three seasons but with just seven starts (all in 2024).
Chauncey Golston, Cowboys (27): A third-round pick in 2021, Golston started three games his first three seasons but 13 games in 2024, when he set career highs with 5.5 sacks, five tackles for losses, eight quarterback hits, five passes defensed and 56 tackles. By PFF’s metrics, he was 64th in pass-rush productivity and 59th in pass-rush win rate.
Patrick Jones, Vikings (26): A third-round pick in 2021, Jones had a breakout season. In 15 games with just one start, Jones had seven sacks, nine tackles for losses and 12 quarterback hits. He had five sacks and 13 hits his first three seasons combined. Some of that was scheme-driven, though; by PFF’s metrics, he was 62nd in pass-rush productivity and 71st in pass-rush win rate.
Michael Hoecht, Rams (27): Hoecht started all 17 games in 2023, when he had six sacks and 11 quarterback hits. He started only five games in 2024 and tapered off to three sacks and six hits. If he had enough pass-rushing snaps, he would have finished 60th in PFF’s pass-rush win rate. He’s played in all 68 games in four seasons.
Matthew Judon, Falcons (33): Judon was a Pro Bowler from 2019 through 2022, highlighted by 15.5 sacks for the Patriots in 2022. After missing most of 2023, Judon had 5.5 sacks, seven tackles for losses and nine quarterback hits in 17 games (15 starts) for the Falcons. By PFF’s metrics, he was 67th in pass-rush productivity and 74th in pass-rush win rate.
Charles Omenihu, Chiefs (28): In 11 games in 2023 sandwiched between a six-game suspension to start the season and a torn ACL in the playoffs, Omenihu had a career-high seven sacks. He came back for the stretch run last year and had one sack in six games. Had he enough pass-rushing snaps, he would have finished 67th in PFF’s pass-rush win rate. In 2023, though, he ranked 45th.
Draft Reclamation
Joseph Ossai, Bengals (25): A third-round pick in 2021, Ossai missed his rookie year with a knee injury. In three seasons, he has 9.5 sacks and 32 quarterback hits – including career highs of five sacks and 15 quarterback hits in 2024. He was 56th in PFF’s PRP.
Clelin Ferrell, Commanders (28): With six seasons in the NFL, Ferrell might be too old for the “reclamation” category but he was the fourth pick of the 2019 draft. He’s got 17 career sacks, including 3.5 in 17 games (17 starts) with the 49ers in 2023 and 3.5 in 14 games (10 starts) with the Commanders last year. If he played enough snaps, he would have finished 69th in PFF’s win rate.
K'Lavon Chaisson, Raiders (26): The 20th pick of the 2020 draft had five sacks in four seasons with the Jaguars and five sacks in 15 games (four starts) with the Raiders in 2024. His five-season totals: 10 sacks, 31 quarterback hits, 18 tackles for losses. He was 50th in PFF’s PRP.
Wild Card
Joey Bosa, Chargers (30): The 2016 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and five-time Pro Bowler has seen his career derailed by injuries. The last three years, Bosa recorded 13.5 sacks, 27 quarterback hits and 13 tackles for losses in 28 games (18 starts). Bosa had 31 quarterback hits and 18 tackles for losses alone in 2019.
Bosa was a Rashan Gary-style Pro Bowler in 2024. In 14 games (nine starts), he had five sacks, five TFLs and 13 quarterback hits. Of 80 edge rushers with at least 240 pass-rushing opportunities, he ranked 40th in pass-rush productivity and 24th in pass-rush win rate.
Here's our preview of NFL free agency and the offensive line, with the #Packers' depth chart and free agents, the top available at every position and a handful of draft reclamation projects that might be worth taking on. ⬇️https://t.co/OaW1GerJq6
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) March 8, 2025