2026 Roster Thread - Semi-Live

[DABIGZ]

Count Jacobs out? You think he’s not doing workouts or something? I highly doubt this. Ok he could take 1 or 2 weeks to assimilate, but we’re talking a seasoned veteran RB, I highly doubt he’ll be out of shape. IMO, you’re underestimating Jacobs ability.

His ability I'm not doubting... but it's week 4 and we've heard nadda about how long he could be out. The only silver lining is that any suspension to be served, these games he's missing should count.

But again, game speed, getting hit, etc. I just hope he isn't that rusty if/when he coems back.

 

[milani]

His ability I'm not doubting... but it's week 4 and we've heard nadda about how long he could be out. The only silver lining is that any suspension to be served, these games he's missing should count.

But again, game speed, getting hit, etc. I just hope he isn't that rusty if/when he coems back.

It is a setback any which way. 10-11 games into the season and we're hoping Jacobs and Parsons can have an impact. At that point your season is pretty much over unless the division tanked.

 

[SudsMcBucky]

I did not think it would be less than $8M honestly.

I betcha that woulda been the case had it been any other team than GB. He's coming home, baby!

 

[tynimiller]

I betcha that woulda been the case had it been any other team than GB. He's coming home, baby!

Very well may have been. His wife immediately posted and was excited!

 

[Voyageur]

Zeitler with the Packers would be coming home for Kevin. I believe he's from Waukesha? Also played with Badgers. A Wisconsin Lutheran HS player if I recall.

He must be somewhere about 35 years old? If he's got anything left in the tank he could be a good add. He always had good footwork.

 

[OldSchool101]

I did not think it would be less than $8M honestly.

I was guessing around $7M but with a 2yr option. Give me 3 Zeitlers! Ahh what the Heck. Give me 5. Is there a fee for credit card? I’ve got 0% for 21 months!

 

[OldSchool101]

His ability I'm not doubting... but it's week 4 and we've heard nadda about how long he could be out. The only silver lining is that any suspension to be served, these games he's missing should count.

But again, game speed, getting hit, etc. I just hope he isn't that rusty if/when he coems back.

I see.
I’m thinking more his legs are fresh. Being able to play just 10 or 11 regular seasons games is huge. The beating these RB’s take is significant. I think you’re maybe more in line with the bigger guys like Mekhi Becton etc. Josh isn’t going to degrade that quickly imo.

 

[OldSchool101]

We’ve been putting Laken Tomlinson (132 Starts at LG) with the #1’s thus far. Very good possibility both Guards will be older Veterans. Zeitler has really played almost exclusively at RG (230 Starts).

 

[Magooch]

Josh also has a HUGE amount of wear on his legs (carries/snaps/etc) and is either AT or well past most the thresholds - age, carries, etc - where most RBs start to noticeably fall off.

Obviously the situation is less than ideal to say the least but any rest is likely beneficial at this point, the less miles the better...and bigger bodies like Tomlinson, Becton, Zeitler, etc should better suit more of a power/gap/duo type scheme which IMO suits Jacobs much better as well

And if nothing else it should help out Lloyd, maybe Johnson too. Given that Lloyd is more or less legally blind in a football sense (Not trying to hate but he has some of the worst gap vision I've ever witnessed lol) at least getting some bigger and more competent line play should give clearer gaps for him/them to hit

 

[DoURant]

Mekhi Becton is one large individual.

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[Pkrjones]

Mekhi Becton is one large individual.

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Hard to hide a 6'-7", 350ish lb. man

 

[milani]

Josh also has a HUGE amount of wear on his legs (carries/snaps/etc) and is either AT or well past most the thresholds - age, carries, etc - where most RBs start to noticeably fall off.

Obviously the situation is less than ideal to say the least but any rest is likely beneficial at this point, the less miles the better...and bigger bodies like Tomlinson, Becton, Zeitler, etc should better suit more of a power/gap/duo type scheme which IMO suits Jacobs much better as well

And if nothing else it should help out Lloyd, maybe Johnson too. Given that Lloyd is more or less legally blind in a football sense (Not trying to hate but he has some of the worst gap vision I've ever witnessed lol) at least getting some bigger and more competent line play should give clearer gaps for him/them to hit

Aaron Jones has even more mileage on his legs and he appears to be getting it done.

 

[AKCheese]

Asking honestly… if Zeitler is such a gem (at this point) why was he sitting there available at such a reasonable cost?

 

[Pkrjones]

Asking honestly… if Zeitler is such a gem (at this point) why was he sitting there available at such a reasonable cost?

He's 36 yrs old, coming off of qudracep surgery and wasn't ready for action for camp. He's still probably a top-20 RG, but injury-risk, old, vet that teams don't want to rely on. At this point, GB doesn't have a choice. He's the best OG on the roster, right now.

 

[OldSchool101]

Aaron Jones has even more mileage on his legs and he appears to be getting it done.

I agree. I think some of our own fanbase sometime does sabotage our own players, almost to validate how bad we must be by embellishing a bit.
I watched a condensed version of our playoff game at Soldier recently and while Josh didn’t have some remarkable game, he’s very noticeably grinding yards after contact. Our blocking was suspect and he’d still plow for +5. Go watch a condensed version he doesn’t look tired or washed up. He looks powerful and had he been behind an average blocking OL he’s an easy 100 yards RB IMO.

 

[Magooch]

Aaron Jones has even more mileage on his legs and he appears to be getting it done.

That’s the thing, Jones actually doesn’t have more wear. Despite playing in ~24 less games Jacobs has approximately 200 more scrimmage touches

 

[milani]

That’s the thing, Jones actually doesn’t have more wear. Despite playing in ~24 less games Jacobs has approximately 200 more scrimmage touches

AJ played on a balanced offense in GB. Jacobs was on poor one with the Raiders.

 

[GBkrzygrl]

The only hotness he should feel is pressure to change his freaking staff. One of the biggest issues I've had with MLF has never been his playcalling, his demeanor or even how capable I personally think he is. He is his own worst enemy. Overthinks playcalling...but the worst trait is VASTLY TOO LOYAL TO HIS OWN. He keeps guys on staff a year or two longer than he should...

I honestly don't see what Stenavich brings to the offense. I also have some questions about Butkis.

 

[tynimiller]

I honestly don't see what Stenavich brings to the offense. I also have some questions about Butkis.

Oh my thought there is I start with the closest to the biggest and clearly untrained problem....if that doesn't fix it then Steno has some time to pack bags too

 

[Voyageur]

Interesting fact. Moving the chains. Make of it what you will.

In 2025 the Packers were 2nd in the NFL in moving the chains on key downs, which is essentially 3rd down. They were at 48.2%. Romeo Doubs was one of the best in the league with a 74.6% efficiency ratio based on his number of catches. He moved the chains 41 times with 55 catches.

In 2026, we are dead last. That's #32. We are not moving the chains, and our offense stalls out too often. Our efficiency is 27.8%.

You can blame it on the O-line if you want, but reality says that your offense should be able to throw the quick passes that move the chains and we no longer have that without Romeo Doubs. I keep hearing how he's failing in New England, but that's far from true. He only has 6 catches and 4 of them moved the chains and he's 2 for 2 when it comes to 3rd down which keeps drives alive. You can expect to hear more out of him as the season rolls along.

Both Golden and Watson are trying to fill that gap, but the fact is both of them don't have the physical characteristics that allows them to take the repeated hard hits you get when you're that "go to guy" to keep the chains moving. As far as Tucker Kraft, it's normal for a TE to move chains and he can be one of the best in his group. It's just a matter of getting the offense to recognize that they need to design plays that have quicker releases from Love. The ball needs to come out in about 2.0 seconds flat because he's only getting 2.3 seconds on average to throw the ball. If it was 2.6, you could add a couple yards to each catch.

Synopsis, every team needs a guy who will sacrifice his body to make those catches. Over the years the Packers were blessed with that kind of talent. Jordy did it when necessary, Donald Driver earned his spot on the team accepting that role and moved forward, and there are others. Right now, that guy isn't taking the field in GB. Until they find someone, don't expect the chains to move efficiently.

 

[SudsMcBucky]

I honestly don't see what Stenavich brings to the offense. I also have some questions about Butkis.

I actually thought Sten had some good lines when he was JUST the OL coach. He brings nothing as an OC. Butt-kiss is a TERRIBLE OL coach. I'd can him, put Sten back at solely OL, and look for a REAL OC in the offseason.

 

[mradtke66]

Both Golden and Watson are trying to fill that gap, but the fact is both of them don't have the physical characteristics that allows them to take the repeated hard hits you get when you're that "go to guy" to keep the chains moving.

Huh? Watson is almost exactly the same build at Doubs. Watson is 6'4", 215. Doubls is 6'2", 210.

As far as Tucker Kraft, it's normal for a TE to move chains and he can be one of the best in his group. It's just a matter of getting the offense to recognize that they need to design plays that have quicker releases from Love.

Almost every pass play for every team has multiple depth of targets on pass plays. Over simplified, but on every play, you typically have some kind of

1. post, corner, go, or fade to pull a safety and/or take the shot if he's in single coverage
2. quicker hitting slant/in/out
3. something late developing that lets the receiver run away with the ball. Dig/deep in
4. if it's a zone better, a hook or similar for the TE to settle in
5. The checkdown back route.

The problem we have now is with our line, the defense can sit on the short routes, taking away 2 and to a lesser extend 4. 3 is a non-starter. Love doesn't have time to consider 5. All we're left with is the lower chance 1s and the defense can more actively defend them as they are the few things we have that work, so the can focus on them.

We're once again in the spot where the defense can take away certain things and not be punished for it because we cannot execute the counters to punish them.

 

[Magooch]

One thing that's interesting to consider too is that I think a lot of folks would consider James Campen to be the "architect" of some of the best OL's of the Rodgers-era. He was an assistant OL coach for ~3 seasons, OL coach for ~12 years, and running game coordinator for one as well. That span was basically from 2007-2018 and Stenavich took over as OL coach in 2019. A lot of the guys who we look back on as some of our best OL in recent memory seem to have more coming out of the "Campen-Era," guys like Linsley (2014-2020), Bulaga (2010-2019), Sitton (2008-2015), Bakhtiari (2013-2023...technically), Lang (2009-2016), etc

So that's not to say we didn't have good OL play during the years Stenavich headed up the unit, but at the same time it feels like a lot of the "core" of the OL during the Stenavich years were really brought up and molded under Campen. When considering Stenavich's contribution it's kinda hard for me to nail down how to specifically credit developments one way or the other. Perhaps to ask something like...how much of the quality OL play in those years did Stenavich "inherit" and how much did he bring up and develop on his own?

I guess I just mean that to say...YES, I do think our OL started to pretty noticeably decline when Stenavich transitioned to OC and Butkus took over as OL coach.
But I'm not sure if that means that:

- Stenavich was a great OL coach and we declined because he moved out of that role
- OR, is it not so much that Stenavich was great but that Butkus is awful and makes Stenavich look great by comparison?
- OR, did we decline in the Post-Stenavich years not because Stenavich is so great or Butkus is so bad but more simply because many of the core pieces from the Campen years left and were not adequately replaced?

I don't really know where I'm going with all that but I guess it's just all a little bit grey to me.

 

[Voyageur]

Yes, Watson is about the same size, but he has a history of getting contact injuries that sideline him. If you look at his injury history, you can see that he's not the guy you want to throw into that meat grinder over the middle. We need him on the field, not out for the year. I thought Reed was going to be the guy who could replace Doubs, but he went down and might never be back with a neck injury. Doubs, on the other hand, had two concussions but no contact injuries despite taking all the hits he did.

No doubt, the line is not living up to expectations. Hopefully the new blood will help. But still, Le Fleur should have realized he had to look at moving Love around to help avoid the rush. It would also open up more options in the shorter passing routes.

Yup! The routes you indicated pretty much covers what each passing play includes. But, when you don't have the time to throw deep because of the pass rush, of what value is that guy on a fly route? None. You may pull a safety off but in all honesty does it matter, because he's far enough off the ball, he's not going to be the guy who makes the stop at 5 to 6 yards.

This whole thing is a cluster. I just hope they can put the pieces together and start to realize that they have serious weaknesses in their offense and it includes the line play, injury to Reed, and suspension of Jacobs, along with lackluster game plans. Accept the weaknesses and play away from them with the offense you can still use effectively.

 

[Magooch]

I feel like it's a little chicken vs egg too.

On one hand - as outlined above we are often finding ourselves in other situations where Love simply doesn't have enough time to work through all his reads. It's first or maybe second read and then pull the trigger or he's getting hit.

On the other hand there's also been instances where we've kept more bodies in protection but only have 2-3 guys running routes in the first place. So there's more protection and less reads to work through...but then when the opponent gets pressure without sending a ton of extra blitzers, then it just ends up with that lower number of routes all being blanketed.

Obviously both outcomes are less than ideal lol