2026 Roster Thread - Semi-Live

[mradtke66]

I'm starting to think waiting is a better idea.
The reasoning is, we have-

-Reed contracted through 2029
-Watson contracted through 2030.
-Golden contracted through 2029 with 2030 5th year option.

Now I know the goal is to put as much talent on the field as possible. But honestly. Is it worth having three #1 WRs if we can't get them more than 5 touches a game each on average? GB is notorious for spreading the ball around. But that's usually because we have 5 wrs all at different stages of development, who haven't commanded the #1 spot, or been able to stay healthy. Seems like right now we have 3x. #1s and all they need is touches. We will dominate defenses.

Dont get me wrong, I love Kraft. He is pure bred corn fed. But... That ACL. And the fact we don't really need him as a target. In fact his targets will be taking away the #1s targets. And I'm honestly not sure that's a good idea at this point.

My original thought was to offer him a year extension for $12mil. Give him a year more to prove he is back 100% and able to continue his trajectory. If after next year he is the tucker Kraft we all hope he is. Then we can give him the $20m/yr on a 4 year extension.

Another reason for that is to offset the turn over when all those #1 WRs contracts are up in 2029/30. Kraft being contracted for 5 years after this year(1 year prove it extension, and 4 year big extension) will end in 2032, and he could be our stabilizer during the transition of replacing the WRs who don't get resigned.

If he doesn't take it. Let him walk. Honestly, we have only had that star TE 8 games. I know for fact we can live without him if things don't go our way.

Your structure is more for Waston, who missed the first half of his final year. This was mutually beneficial as it took away pressure to hurry back from the injury.

Kraft is apparently on track to be ready by week 1. The Packers will know if he’s ready before the end of the pre-season.

He has no incentive to sign this hypothetical 1 year deal. It only hurts his long term earnings potential.

 

[GreenBaySlacker]

Your structure is more for Waston, who missed the first half of his final year. This was mutually beneficial as it took away pressure to hurry back from the injury.

Kraft is apparently on track to be ready by week 1. The Packers will know if he’s ready before the end of the pre-season.

He has no incentive to sign this hypothetical 1 year deal. It only hurts his long term earnings potential.

I understand that. But he has to understand one tweak on a healing knee makes a long term deal, near the top of the leagues $ at that position. Risky. To say the least.

Watson is a success story. There’s a lot of guys who never come back like that.

I seen Kraft a couple months ago jump up off the ground and sprint , in a training video. Very impressive. Still risky.

I’ll respect the packers brass on their decision, one way or another. But to me, our WR corps allows us to thrive without krafts production. That takes away a lot of his leverage.

 

[GreenBaySlacker]

Your structure is more for Waston, who missed the first half of his final year. This was mutually beneficial as it took away pressure to hurry back from the injury.

Kraft is apparently on track to be ready by week 1. The Packers will know if he’s ready before the end of the pre-season.

He has no incentive to sign this hypothetical 1 year deal. It only hurts his long term earnings potential.

I shouldn't say it takes away from krafts leverage. It's more GB adjusting the inherit need... I'm not sure $20/mil TE is a need.

Maybe near the top? If he wants long term now? Maybe incentives to the $20? But not as much guaranteed. Let's share in the risk. If he wants to be a packer his whole career as he states.

Imo, see if he takes 4 years, 10/ yr guaranteed. $15/ yr deal. +5/yr incentives... Gives him his life changing payday. And gives packers enough incentive to keep him on the roster for his whole deal, even if he doesn't produce like a 1st team all pro.

I don't know. Just seems like a risky move to put the ACL, and combined 8 games at all pro level play, as a non issue. When deciding if he should be paid as a established top 3 TE in the league.

 

[gopkrs]

It's a tough situation because of the injury and how productive he suddenly became before it. There is no doubt that his receiving ability is going to help out our receivers and put defenses on their heels a bit. And I guess he blocks well. I can see a bit of Travis Kelce in him the way he can find an open area. It's going to be interesting to see what we do.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Watson is a success story. There’s a lot of guys who never come back like that.

Definitely a concern for me with both Kraft and Parsons. I think a lot of folks think that with todays modern medicine, players come back stronger and better. That just isn't the case for many. So while I love Kraft and hope he comes back as strong as Watson has (so far), I sure as heck hope Gute and the Packers don't tie up too much guaranteed money in him.

 

[OldSchool101]

I understand that. But he has to understand one tweak on a healing knee makes a long term deal, near the top of the leagues $ at that position. Risky. To say the least.

Watson is a success story. There’s a lot of guys who never come back like that.

I seen Kraft a couple months ago jump up off the ground and sprint , in a training video. Very impressive. Still risky.

I’ll respect the packers brass on their decision, one way or another. But to me, our WR corps allows us to thrive without krafts production. That takes away a lot of his leverage.

Yes it’s about injury healing timelines What’s amazing is after some research I learned in the bulk of cases (once initially healed up) after a modern day ACL surgery, it can actually be initially stronger than pre injury.

Now medium to long term maybe not as good as the original. Also flexibility can potentially take a small step backwards or be a negative side affect.

I’m not suggesting it’s good to have a surgery by any means either. Only that if properly given over 9 months, it’s not unusual to make a complete initial recovery with a low incidence of reinjury. The studies I saw gave a slightly greater increase in reinjury after year 1-2 though. I know that sounds counterintuitive that’s why I remembered that.

 

[mradtke66]

I shouldn't say it takes away from krafts leverage. It's more GB adjusting the inherit need... I'm not sure $20/mil TE is a need.

Maybe near the top? If he wants long term now? Maybe incentives to the $20? But not as much guaranteed. Let's share in the risk. If he wants to be a packer his whole career as he states.

Imo, see if he takes 4 years, 10/ yr guaranteed. $15/ yr deal. +5/yr incentives... Gives him his life changing payday. And gives packers enough incentive to keep him on the roster for his whole deal, even if he doesn't produce like a 1st team all pro.

I don't know. Just seems like a risky move to put the ACL, and combined 8 games at all pro level play, as a non issue. When deciding if he should be paid as a established top 3 TE in the league.

The issue is he still has one year left on his deal. He doesn’t have to sign an extension at all. Extending him is an effort to keep cost down and maintain good will.

We cannot eliminate the risk. We can only mitigate what we can.

First, your contract is low to the point of insulting. 10m is guarantees ranks about 30th in the league right now (I say approximately because I have to count it off and when we get that far down, it tend to lose count.)

We can chose to not extend him this pre season. If we do and he solidifies himself as the number 1 TE in the league, we’d wish he only wants 20m per year. And there is the risk that he’s miffed and just refuses to re-sign with us. What then?

As far as need, grouping him with WRs is a mistake. His value is being a dual threat to block or go out in a pattern. He’s brings a threat that our WRs don’t yet offer with their YAC.

And then Reed and Watson are on cheap contracts. Golden is on a rookie deal. And all 4 of them are probably your preferred starters.

I still bet my nickel that the contract is either agreed to in principle pending passing a physical OR being healthy week 1.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

We can chose to not extend him this pre season. If we do and he solidifies himself as the number 1 TE in the league, we’d wish he only wants 20m per year. And there is the risk that he’s miffed and just refuses to re-sign with us. What then?

It wouldn't be popular and I think George Pickens is the only current NFL player on one, but the Packers could always place the franchise tag on Kraft after this season. Probably a cost of about $15M while you try to work on a new deal for 2027 and beyond.

 

[mradtke66]

It wouldn't be popular and I think George Pickens is the only current NFL player on one, but the Packers could always place the franchise tag on Kraft after this season. Probably a cost of about $15M while you try to work on a new deal for 2027 and beyond.

They could, but that’s intended to be a negotiation step. If they tag him, it tends not to make the player happy. And you take the full cap hit right now. It’s not a positive.

And I think it’ll be closer to 16m (it’s top five average, right?)

 

[GreenBaySlacker]

The issue is he still has one year left on his deal. He doesn’t have to sign an extension at all. Extending him is an effort to keep cost down and maintain good will.

We cannot eliminate the risk. We can only mitigate what we can.

First, your contract is low to the point of insulting. 10m is guarantees ranks about 30th in the league right now (I say approximately because I have to count it off and when we get that far down, it tend to lose count.)

We can chose to not extend him this pre season. If we do and he solidifies himself as the number 1 TE in the league, we’d wish he only wants 20m per year. And there is the risk that he’s miffed and just refuses to re-sign with us. What then?

As far as need, grouping him with WRs is a mistake. His value is being a dual threat to block or go out in a pattern. He’s brings a threat that our WRs don’t yet offer with their YAC.

And then Reed and Watson are on cheap contracts. Golden is on a rookie deal. And all 4 of them are probably your preferred starters.

I still bet my nickel that the contract is either agreed to in principle pending passing a physical OR being healthy week 1.

You’re right.
The 10 mil guaranteed is a reflection of where he is at. He can definitely take on all the risk, play this year for peanuts, and risk losing everything if he gets reinjured.

The $10m/ guaranteed doesn’t look too bad then.

My reasoning is that he comes back as a mid? Not top 5 or top 3, that $15m/yr starts looking like overpaid.

If he comes back as top 3 like he was when he got injured. The $20m/yr is in place.

There’s no doubt GB is a better team with a 100% kraft on the roster. But $20/mil is not chump change. With the players we have coming up for contracts in the next couple years. I worry we are spending money on a luxury now, to come up short when keeping others who are more important pieces to the continuity of other groups. Cooper, the safety’s, DT, RB… At some point we will have to save up to extend Jordan love too. If he wins a championship or MVP or two. We better be in a position to pay him, without a complete rebuild.

What makes GB a better team? A do all TE who always seems to be open and always seems to break the first tackle? Or having an all pro caliber RB standing behind Love, keeping defenses honest?

I haven’t sat down and looked at the numbers and roster the way GB brass does. Maybe the dead cap we have been losing out on from Clark and Gary, when they’re off the books, we can afford to keep everyone happy. I love how GB has built their team. We are lucky to have such a great team making these decisions.

 

[GreenBaySlacker]

It's a tough situation because of the injury and how productive he suddenly became before it. There is no doubt that his receiving ability is going to help out our receivers and put defenses on their heels a bit. And I guess he blocks well. I can see a bit of Travis Kelce in him the way he can find an open area. It's going to be interesting to see what we do.

I cant see GB letting him walk. Besides his production on the field. I love his toughness and grit. GB needs that ingrained into their culture. We need more corn fed Iowa farmer, and less diva. In general.

 

[GreenBaySlacker]

Seeing some chatter on YouTube about Golden having a breakout year. Golden being a super star in the making, one guy said. One tried to be objective and touted Watson as the consensus #1. And how reed, being a 2nd round pick. Leading the team in 2/3 of the years he played. Seems to be on the edge of his own break out season..... The guy still said Golden should be unstoppable....

And I agree. Golden running the 4.2s, with Watson and reed keeping the defense honest outside.... Love should have that speed dialed in... And literally they should be able to exploit the defense on every single down. Moving him around. Hit him in stride and it's 20+.
Those three with Love throwing, will be breaking defenses.

Jacob's and Kraft rounding out the 5 skill positions. A couple potential all pros...

Seriously. Who is stopping that?

 

[OldSchool101]

We’re actually pretty set for a couple of seasons at iLB and WR. Not to imply we quit trying to better our Roster, but these WR and LB extensions so far allow us to really focus in on other positional needs.

 

[OldSchool101]

And I agree. Golden running the 4.2s, with Watson and reed keeping the defense honest outside.... Love should have that speed dialed in... And literally they should be able to exploit the defense on every single down. Moving him around. Hit him in stride and it's 20+.

Good post. One thing that’s i still see show up in Jordan’s game are underthrows. It was super apparent in 2023, but even as recent as 2025 the highlights show Receivers having to dramatically slow down and adjust back to the ball. I realize it’ll never be perfect but I still see some plays being left out there that could put Jordan in another class. That 30TD- 35TD’s and 4,200-4,500 yards area puts him into Elite territory.

In 2026 we have the weapons and we’re no longer the youngest team, so we have the experience and ability to raise the bar on timing.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Seeing some chatter on YouTube about Golden having a breakout year. Golden being a super star in the making, one guy said.

Until it actually happens on the field, I will believe it when I see it.

I'm not trying to be negative about Golden or any other player, but we see this kind of chatter every offseason. Fans and media love to talk about "potential".

Now if someone says that they think Golden will improve upon his 2025 season, sure I would say the likely hood of that is there.

 

[tynimiller]

Until it actually happens on the field, I will believe it when I see it.

I'm not trying to be negative about Golden or any other player, but we see this kind of chatter every offseason. Fans and media love to talk about "potential".

Now if someone says that they think Golden will improve upon his 2025 season, sure I would say the likely hood of that is there.

If you told me place in order of guys likely to have a 1,000 yard receiving year Golden to me is the fourth name I speak behind Watson, Reed and Kraft. So many would say I'm in the same boat as you.

Personally I kinda feel a like 700 yard 7TD type year coming from Golden with some creative big play "run" on end arounds or "screens" "bubble screens"

 

[Cornelius Weems]

If you told me place in order of guys likely to have a 1,000 yard receiving year Golden to me is the fourth name I speak behind Watson, Reed and Kraft. So many would say I'm in the same boat as you.

Personally I kinda feel a like 700 yard 7TD type year coming from Golden with some creative big play "run" on end arounds or "screens" "bubble screens"

I definitely agree with you on this, normally I would want more out of a first rounder, not only would that big growth, I think with this still crowded receiving room that would be realistic.

 

[OldSchool101]

I definitely agree with you on this, normally I would want more out of a first rounder, not only would that big growth, I think with this still crowded receiving room that would be realistic.

That’s where I’m at.

Last year Doubs (to his credit) was a recipient of us losing Watson for 1/2 season + Reed in Q1 game2??

That left Doubs, Kraft and Wicks and each stepped up. Yet imo if you put Golden in Year 2 in Doubs place but with 2025 conditions of targets? I’m about 60% certain he’d match close or surpass Doubs. Just imo.

Fast forward. Reed is back. Watson is back. Kraft looks like an early candidate if he misses even a couple games, Musgrave and Savion are both capable now. I just think there’s too many weapons and Love has not been known to single a favorite like Rodgers did.

Too many mouths to feed. If Golden hits 750 yards I think that’s surpassing Doubs production due to conditions. It’s more likely we see Golden hit 600-800 yards and 5-7 TD’s just imo.

 

[gopkrs]

I watched the Packer bear game when bears completed a long td pass in overtime. Man did LaFleur call too many end around plays. Brady even laughed that there wouldn't be any Packers after the game that hadn't run one. Example of having a game plan in mind and keeping at it even when it didn't work. And of course at least one Packer got hurt.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Man did LaFleur call too many end around plays. Brady even laughed that there wouldn't be any Packers after the game that hadn't run one. Example of having a game plan in mind and keeping at it even when it didn't work. And of course at least one Packer got hurt.

Yup and a pet peeve of mine with MLF. Sometimes I think he outcoaches himself. He studies all the film on the opposing defenses and decides before the game what will work on them. Even if it doesn't work, he says to himself "but the film says it will work, lets keep doing it!"

This points to one of the reasons why I think MLF needs to give up one of his hats. He isn't quick enough to make in-game adjustments. Either he should be the HC or be the OC, but doing both, at the same time, isn't getting the 2 jobs done completely or extremely well.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

LOL.....by a show of hands, when you verbally say "MLF" out loud, do you say "MiLF" or "M....L....F? I wish I had a dollar for every time I have typed MiLF in this forum and when I post, all I see is "****".

Someone fix that spelling bot, why can't we talk about MiLF or MiLF's for that matter?

I mean have you seen Jay Cutler's ex lately? Man, that guy can't even get a break off the football field, how did he throw that away?

You must be logged in to see this image or video!

 

[mradtke66]

I watched the Packer bear game when bears completed a long td pass in overtime. Man did LaFleur call too many end around plays. Brady even laughed that there wouldn't be any Packers after the game that hadn't run one. Example of having a game plan in mind and keeping at it even when it didn't work. And of course at least one Packer got hurt.

Context matters.

That is the game Love left with a concussion. MLF needed to manufacture something, so slightly more of end around looks were called. Even still, only 5 seem to have been called. I wouldn’t call that a lot for an offense that wants that motion manufacture opportunities. About 3 per game seems typical normal for them.

Overall, they weren’t bad. Williams ran 2 for 4.5YPC. Reed ran 1 for 6 YPC. Golden did poorly, 2 for 2 YPC. I’m going off box scores here. Every other carry was by a running back or quarterback.

As far as injuries, that seems to be incorrect. ESPN notes our injuries in that game as LB Welch on a KO and TE Fitzpatrick. Neither was carrying the ball during their injuries.

 

[gopkrs]

It was Fitzpatrick. Not carrying the ball. Just part of the play as blocker. That kind of play garners lots of people flying around the ball because the defense sees it coming. You make a good point about Love being out but Willis was throwing the ball very well and Williams was running the ball very well. I'm not sure but when Brady made his comment; it seemed like we had just done it like at least 3 times in a short amount of time. We were moving the ball with pretty much normal plays.

 

[mradtke66]

It was Fitzpatrick. Not carrying the ball. Just part of the play as blocker. That kind of play garners lots of people flying around the ball because the defense sees it coming. You make a good point about Love being out but Willis was throwing the ball very well and Williams was running the ball very well. I'm not sure but when Brady made his comment; it seemed like we had just done it like at least 3 times in a short amount of time. We were moving the ball with pretty much normal plays.

Part of the point of the end around IS to see it coming. While of course you want positive yards on a play, it’s not meant to be a grinder. The offense is built around the motion to get the defense to tip their hand. Man vs zone can be disclosed (defender going with the motion man). It also changes strength of the formation. The defense has to do something.

The give on the jet motion is to force the defense to account for just one more thing. Getting 3 yards on average is probably enough if you make it back on all the plays where the linebacker waits half a beat to make sure the give went to the RB rather than the motion man. Or the times that the quarterback had a good completion on an easier read.

I still think 5 of them in a game isn’t significantly high. Brady is still human and we see patterns even when there aren’t any.

For Fitzpatrick getting hurt, he’s no more vulnerable on those plays than any other outside run.

 

[OldSchool101]

Part of the point of the end around IS to see it coming. While of course you want positive yards on a play, it’s not meant to be a grinder. The offense is built around the motion to get the defense to tip their hand. Man vs zone can be disclosed (defender going with the motion man). It also changes strength of the formation. The defense has to do something.

The give on the jet motion is to force the defense to account for just one more thing. Getting 3 yards on average is probably enough if you make it back on all the plays where the linebacker waits half a beat to make sure the give went to the RB rather than the motion man. Or the times that the quarterback had a good completion on an easier read.

I still think 5 of them in a game isn’t significantly high. Brady is still human and we see patterns even when there aren’t any.

For Fitzpatrick getting hurt, he’s no more vulnerable on those plays than any other outside run.

Good points. What I really like about our Roster on O is what I indicated earlier (not that you said anything related just throwing my loose thoughts) the Receiving Target distribution highly likely won’t look like last year where Kraft and Doubs were on 1,000+ yards pace through the first 2 Qtrs. That was a result of Reed going on IR early Week 2 and no #9 Watson.

Reed played 5 Snaps in week 2 before going on IR, so might as well say he only finished 6 contests. As our leading WR in both 2023,2024 it’s not hard to envision him being heavily involved.

Watson didn’t play until week 8, hence the increase in targets to Wicks and Doubs and Kraft. Watson returned and immediately showed his talent. Logging an astounding 60% (6/10) of his games in 2025 at 20.0+ yards per catch and per game yardage totals between 45-113 yards per game. That’s Terry McClaurin type dynamite.
Now we have our 2 time season leader and most dynamic deep threat player back.

Kraft looks to be working back in early September and he proved he’s a reliable and dangerous weapon in the Passing game.

Golden is now in his second season where our Staff tends to let a player loose more. imo Golden won’t have the pressure of replacing Doubs directly either. He might even be 4th man on the totem pole to start if we’re healthy. Savion is quite possibly a 5th option and that’s arguable with Musgrave entering Year 4.

This is a deep and formidable and experienced Roster now. No more “youngest in the NFL” labels.