The Green Bay Packers are preparing for their first preseason game of the 2025 season which will take place Saturday night. The team has made the playoffs in each of the last two seasons and believes it can extend that streak to three this year. While GM Brian Gutekunst has drafted some quality players since taking over in 2018, many of the team’s first round selections have struggled to live up to their draft status. As we get ready to start the 2025 campaign, the Packers need more from these former first round picks if they hope to contend for a Super Bowl.
LB Quay Walker
This will be Walker’s fourth season with the team since the Packers took him in the 2022 NFL Draft. The Georgia alum became an immediate starter and has led the team in tackles in each of his first three years with the team, but he has yet to become in impact player.
Walker has great speed and athleticism but has struggled to get off blocks and read plays well at times. As a result, many of his tackles have come downfield after the opposing offense has already gained several yards.
To live up to his first-round expectations, Walker will need to make more big plays and anticipate where he needs to be quicker.
This will be a critical season for Walker as he is in the final year of his contract. The Packers declined his fifth-year option. While Gutekunst stated he wanted to ink Walker to a long-term extension, until that happens, his future in Green Bay remains uncertain.
DT Devonte Wyatt
Wyatt has shown pass rush ability and recorded a total of 10.5 sacks over the past two seasons. But in three years with the team, the former Georgia star has started only five games with all of them coming in 2023.
Wyatt has yet to establish himself as a starter and has never played more than half of the team’s defensive snaps. In fact, last season, he played only 41 percent of the team’s defensive snaps in the 14 games he appeared in.
Wyatt is a solid player, and the Packers did pick up his fifth-year option. But to live up to his draft status, he needs to become a starter or to become more of an impact player going forward. The Packers are hoping that he and Kenny Clark can provide the team with a strong inside pass rush this season if both players can stay healthy. Now it’s up to Wyatt to provide that.
DE Lukas Van Ness
Van Ness will start his third season with the team. He has yet to start a game for the Packers in his first two years with the team. In fact, he hasn’t started a game since high school.
The former Iowa star played the first 11 games last season with a broken finger that hampered his ability to use both hands to evade blockers. Hopefully, that will change this year now that he is fully healthy.
Van Ness recorded just three sacks last season after getting four in his rookie campaign. He did play the run better in 2024, but still only played 39 percent of the team’s defensive snaps.
When the Packers traded Preston Smith at the trade deadline last year, it was Kingsley Enagbare who won the starting job opposite Rashan Gary over Van Ness.
Right now, “Hercules” is practicing with the first-string defense, so the job appears to be his to lose. The Packers are hoping Van Ness has a breakout season this year. They need to make a decision on his fifth-year option during the offseason in 2026.
OL Jordan Morgan
Injuries limited Morgan to just six games in his rookie season and he started just one. Morgan played left tackle in college. After cross training him at tackle and guard at OTAs, the coaching staff had him concentrating on right guard at training camp, saying that would be his best chance to win a starting job as a rookie. He didn’t win the job but ended up alternating into the lineup for several series per game behind Sean Rhyan.
Again, Morgan is fighting for either the left tackle or right guard job. The front office and coaching staff certainly want to see him playing regularly somewhere in his second NFL season.
Most scouts feel Morgan is better suited to guard than tackle in the NFL because of his relatively short arms. A healthy Morgan will again attempt to crack the starting lineup in 2025.