Team Changes for Next Season

[Heyjoe4]

I think you will see them give Lloyd one more chance. If he cannot be on the 45 next September that will be it. The backfield we have now can get it done in 2026 provided we fix the OL and design some better blocking schemes instead of leaving Jacobs on an island and telling the defense " Here, he is getting the ball on 3rd and 1." Maybe we need to learn the Tush Push until it gets outlawed.

Thanks milani. You and Sanguine make excellent points about the RB position. The starting OL for now looks pretty good, not amazing - and Morgan will have to come through at LT (I think he will) and Banks will have to show improvement at LG (not convinced) to justify his price tag. And that's just the starters. Decent depth has to be added.

And there are other priorities that Gluten has to fill. So yeah, let's get Lloyd going and decide to keep him or not. He will need a very strong TC and PS to show he's ready and worthy of the 2nd-round pick.

And as you note, even a back as good as Jacobs can't pick up yards if he's constantly running into the backs of his linemen. That happened way too many times last season.

 

[Heyjoe4]

Rhyan as of now not on the team next year. He might end up here but anyone’s best guess

I didn't know that. What is the reason for his departure? He's a FA, I think, so I suppose it could be money. He seemed good at the C position.

 

[Heyjoe4]

Chris Brooks is a capable back that many forget about - and he is still our best pass pro back on our roster. While he didn't have a ton of rush attempts he still had 203 offensive snaps which to put in perspective Emanuel Wilson had 326.

I still feel good about our RB room if we hit 2026 and nothing changes:

Josh Jacobs
Emanuel Wilson (He is a ERFA)
Chris Brooks (He is a RFA)
Marshawn Lloyd
Pierre Strong
Damien Martinez

But I concur with others thinking that it could be a good time to nab a LATE Day 3. Or for sure a priority UDFA

Agree that itt is a solid RB group. We've seen Wilson perform well as a starter and as a backup. And Brooks is a beast blocking. Maybe, just maybe, we get a real look at Lloyd.

There are a lot of other things for Gluten to address this offseason. No need to add RB to that list.

 

[Heyjoe4]

I’m in agreement with others though. Give me an upgrade at OL before really anything on Offense. Preferably a legit upper echelon Center.

Sean Rhyan PFF grade at Center was 31 of 40. His Run grade was good at 11 of 40. His Pass grade ranked dead LAST. That’s unacceptable as a whole and unacceptable in Pass Protect.

I’d offer Sean a lower $$ contract to compete at RG or just walk away. Green Bay deserves better than bottom 25% at Center. That position needs to be Top 25% in 2026 and Sean was nothing more than an emergency place filler.

Thanks OS. I guess I was looking at Rhyan the wrong way. From the stats you provide, he is an unspectacular C. It's time Love got a solid, consistent C instead of the musical chairs we've seen. (That makes Love's performance stand out even more. He hasn't had a consistent presence at C in his 3 years as a starter.)

 

[Heyjoe4]

This week there has been some social media posting about the late Jim Ringo. And plenty of footage of the Packer run game in the years he was in Green Bay. Not the biggest center in the league but he exploded off the ball. He was the best in the game at the time and the Packers were fortunate to have him. I still am astounded when I see the film of simple run plays with him leading the charge.

Another famous Ringo from the 60s. Damn I forgot he played C. Thx for the reminder.

I'm a little surprised the position doesn't get as much attention as T and G. The C has to securely get the ball to the QB and only them think about his assignment, all happening in milliseconds. Seems like a hard position to play - well to me it does.

 

[CarryTheG14]

I’m in agreement with others though. Give me an upgrade at OL before really anything on Offense. Preferably a legit upper echelon Center.

Sean Rhyan PFF grade at Center was 31 of 40. His Run grade was good at 11 of 40. His Pass grade ranked dead LAST. That’s unacceptable as a whole and unacceptable in Pass Protect.

I’d offer Sean a lower $$ contract to compete at RG or just walk away. Green Bay deserves better than bottom 25% at Center. That position needs to be Top 25% in 2026 and Sean was nothing more than an emergency place filler.

I'm not a huge PFF guy, but dead last...

What do you do with the line?
Sheed is gone
Banks was horrible and will be owed more money if we keep him
Jenkins wasn't great
And apparently Rhyan was awful.

I can't imagine going into next season without all four of them.

Morgan-?-?-Belton-Tom

 

[tynimiller]

I didn't know that. What is the reason for his departure? He's a FA, I think, so I suppose it could be money. He seemed good at the C position.

He is a FA so just like Walker we cannot really know if he is going to be here or not.

 

[mradtke66]

Thanks OS. I guess I was looking at Rhyan the wrong way. From the stats you provide, he is an unspectacular C.

It's hard to rank him. I mostly like PFF, but I'll always wonder here and there because of their lack of transparency.

Looking over their own stats, he gave up too many pressures (37th) but only a single sack (12th). I wouldn't throw him away without looking to see if his short comings can be fixed. Or if he had jitters when he first moves over and calmed down (70.7 pass block grade against Detroit at the end of the season. Remember ~60 is average.) Or if he looked worse when playing next to Morgan, who is/was a pretty poor guard.

 

[mradtke66]

I'm a little surprised the position doesn't get as much attention as T and G. The C has to securely get the ball to the QB and only them think about his assignment, all happening in milliseconds. Seems like a hard position to play - well to me it does.

The difficulty for each position isn't the same. Tackles are typically the biggest, but have to be the best athletes because of the freak athletes at defensive end. Guards can be powerful, smart, technicians, and fast in varying amounts and still get the job done.

Center, by comparison, tends to do the least physically. Yes, snapping the ball is a niche skill, but on most running plays, the playside guard and center are going to double team a DT and then one of them will release to a linebacker. If you're in a scheme that doesn't ask the center to make protection calls, he doesn't need to be any smarter than the other 4. Not all schemes require the center to pull, or if they do, pull infrequently. In short, you can hide an "inferior" athlete at center due to how the game works. And you only need 1 starting center vs. 2 guards and 2 tackles.

 

[OldSchool101]

Chris Brooks is a capable back that many forget about - and he is still our best pass pro back on our roster. While he didn't have a ton of rush attempts he still had 203 offensive snaps which to put in perspective Emanuel Wilson had 326.

I still feel good about our RB room if we hit 2026 and nothing changes:

Josh Jacobs
Emanuel Wilson (He is a ERFA)
Chris Brooks (He is a RFA)
Marshawn Lloyd
Pierre Strong
Damien Martinez

But I concur with others thinking that it could be a good time to nab a LATE Day 3. Or for sure a priority UDFA

Yes I agree. It’s a tricky year for our RB room. Do you won’t likely get any immediate upgrade over Jacobs for his $8M+ saved. But to mention he’s just a terrific teammate.

Wilson was worth more than his $1.03mil type deal. With him being “in system” and can play tomorrow, he’s a really easy choice to keep imo.

Lloyd can’t be trusted. Not because of anything ethical but for injury concern. Yet do we really want to give up on a 3rd Rounder at $1.42mil annual $ for 2 years? Now had he not caught a 40 yard pass on play #1 maybe!
That stuff just isn’t coincidence it’s all about availability

Adding a 3rd RB pushes Chris Brooks out the door where he’s likely gone.
This is why the more I build my mental roster, I think I’d at most go after a late 7th RB or Priority undrafted that every team has passed on.

 

[OldSchool101]

It's hard to rank him. I mostly like PFF, but I'll always wonder here and there because of their lack of transparency.

Looking over their own stats, he gave up too many pressures (37th) but only a single sack (12th). I wouldn't throw him away without looking to see if his short comings can be fixed. Or if he had jitters when he first moves over and calmed down (70.7 pass block grade against Detroit at the end of the season. Remember ~60 is average.) Or if he looked worse when playing next to Morgan, who is/was a pretty poor guard.

Sure. I think we all should know PFF isn’t football gospel. Yet we can absolutely use it as 1 of several tools to grade player performance. Sean seemed to play better at RG. It’s a more natural position. Now I will say he has value as an experienced backup Center. So that’s a +

I’d get him competing at Guard but only if he stays on a smaller deal. I’m talking under <=$3mil annual area. Thats an area where I can live with him getting beat out by Belton and Sean being one of the first guys off our bench. Like a 2yrX7Mil type offer at most. Preferably, I’d go replace Center with either a trade, FA purchase or even a Day 2 selection, where I see 3 or 4 guys that would likely offer an upgrade and at lesser cost. My main goal would be to get better production at iOL. I have Sean as a very pedestrian (Newman Level) or “forgettable” OL. No He’s not terrible, yet he’s just NOT going to take us off our current middling plateau.

Go get a stud inside like Chicago did at their interior in 2025. We don’t need to switch all 3 spots at G, C, G. We do need at minimum 1 noticeable upgrade. If we had an immediate fix at Center? Then any increase in quality at LT, LG (which is likely now that Banks is adjusted and not injured) plus Belton fighting for Starter with Ryan or whomever? I think we’d see some notable improvement at OL.

 

[tynimiller]

Yes I agree. It’s a tricky year for our RB room. Do you won’t likely get any immediate upgrade over Jacobs for his $8M+ saved. But to mention he’s just a terrific teammate.

Wilson was worth more than his $1.03mil type deal. With him being “in system” and can play tomorrow, he’s a really easy choice to keep imo.

Lloyd can’t be trusted. Not because of anything ethical but for injury concern. Yet do we really want to give up on a 3rd Rounder at $1.42mil annual $ for 2 years? Now had he not caught a 40 yard pass on play #1 maybe!
That stuff just isn’t coincidence it’s all about availability

Adding a 3rd RB pushes Chris Brooks out the door where he’s likely gone.
This is why the more I build my mental roster, I think I’d at most go after a late 7th RB or Priority undrafted that every team has passed on.

Yup we are together 100% on RB thoughts.

 

[OldSchool101]

Yup we are together 100% on RB thoughts.

Amen. RB is one of a very few (Kicker etc) positions that you can get a top 250 athlete and have a legitimate chance at early production. If you miss you don’t feel too bad for spending a #246 pick overall or whatever.

It’s really difficult to expect early rookie production using a Priority Undrafted at QB, OL, DL, Edge, TE, WR. Might might get a box LB (like we did with Dumas last year but he never got much chance) and get some immediate contribution.

 

[GreenBaySlacker]

Good points milani. It surprises me that MLF doesn't use Jacobs more as a receiver. He can catch the ball, we've seen that. And with just a little space, can get substantial YAC. It's amazing he has only two receiving TDs in his career. Seems he'd be very dangerous sneaking out of the backfield - in the red zone, especially.

With Doubs almost certainly gone, it will be a good season the get the ball to Golden, and to design more pass plays for Jacobs.

You know, I remember that TD catch. Was up out of my chair. "Who caught that?!?! Jacob's???".

I'm sure Jacob's would agree, catching a dump off is a lot easier than running right at the Nose tackle. Lol.

 

[DoURant]

Agree that itt is a solid RB group. We've seen Wilson perform well as a starter and as a backup. And Brooks is a beast blocking. Maybe, just maybe, we get a real look at Lloyd.

There are a lot of other things for Gluten to address this offseason. No need to add RB to that list.

Wilson has given us just shy of 1100 yards rushing, 4.5/att, plus 7 TD's, plus 30 rec, 170yds, 1 TD as a backup since joining the team 3 yrs ago ( most of those stats are from the past 2 seasons)
The thing I truly like about Wilson the most though is hus ball security. He has never lost a fumble (only 2 fumbles, w/ none lost) over 287 touches at RB, Rec, and KR.

 

[Sanguine camper]

I’m in agreement with others though. Give me an upgrade at OL before really anything on Offense. Preferably a legit upper echelon Center.

Sean Rhyan PFF grade at Center was 31 of 40. His Run grade was good at 11 of 40. His Pass grade ranked dead LAST. That’s unacceptable as a whole and unacceptable in Pass Protect.

I’d offer Sean a lower $$ contract to compete at RG or just walk away. Green Bay deserves better than bottom 25% at Center. That position needs to be Top 25% in 2026 and Sean was nothing more than an emergency place filler.

Ryan had basically half a season to get acclimated to the center position. Is that adequate to judge if he can play the position long-term ?

I think the Packers need to draft a center but handing a starting job to a rookie if you let Ryhan walk could be a disaster.

One way approach the O line is draft a center and resign Ryhan. If the rookie is good, Ryan can compete for the RG position. If the rookie isn't ready, at least you have a back up plan with Ryhan at center. Ryhan could still improve his pass blocking enough to avoid being a liability.

 

[Sanguine camper]

Shouldn't it be about time the Packers dedicated their WR #6 position to be a kick returner. This past season the Packers averaged only 5.6 yards per punt return on only 26 returns in 17 regular season games.

If they went out and drafted a proven punt returner or got one via a trade or free agency, the value would be tangible. For example, if they finally had somebody who could average ablut 10 yards per punt return, they could realistically also take fewer fair catches. Instead of fielding 1.5 punts at 5.6 yards per return, a good returner could field 2 punts per game and give you 20 return yards (2×10 ypr).

That would be close to 12 yards of additional field position per game or two additional drives per game that start 6 yards closer to the end zone increasing the chances of a successful scoring drive.

Does a WR #6 who bounces between the roster and the practice squad give those higher scoring odds n 2 drives per game? Very doubtful.

Finding a good punt returner isn't easy, but spending the staff time and draft resources sure seems to be worth the effort when you compare the impact of a typical WR #6 with a good punt returner.

 

[Magooch]

Maybe means something, maybe it doesn't, but I can't help but find it a bit interesting that other teams are interested in signing our QB coach to be their offensive coordinator, but seemingly NO ONE is interested in hiring our *actual* offensive coordinator

Similarly I note that our coaching staff seems to be getting picked over in a lot of spots (DC, DB, LB, D pass game, D quality control, QB, d consultant, etc)....but NO ONE is (from what we can tell) trying to hire our OC, OL coach, ST coordinator, etc... Our staff is getting plenty of interest overall, and there are approximately a million decent openings around the league right now, but it seems like nobody wants to bother trying to hire some of these guys from us

And that would be fine except that it also seems like - to our best knowledge - we are not really considering replacing them either. So it feels like we have some coaches - who have overseen some of our biggest "trouble spots" last year - and we are seemingly the only team who wants to employ them right now lol

 

[mradtke66]

No He’s not terrible, yet he’s just NOT going to take us off our current middling plateau.

I guess I don't see him as "middling." He's strong and nasty, and we could really benefit from that. I like his work in the run game and don't see how that'd be different for him at RG. He gets guys off their spot and creates movement. This is all a good thing. Full disclosure, about half of my positive opinion of him is watching Mike Whale's breakdown on Youtube. He seems to be a fan and highlights the things Rhyan is doing right.

I do also think he needs to improve in pass protection, but I don't think there's a huge gulf. In hindsight, we'd have a better read on him if he could enter camp primarily as a center. To my eye, again, he settled in the more he played. Had he gone through all camp maybe even the center, I wonder how much better he would have been.

I'm leaning toward giving him a legitimate, if mid to lower range, 2 year starting center money, with incentives and/or the understanding that an extension is coming mid 2026 (EDIT:typoed the year) if he demonstrates that he can lock down the position.

 

[mradtke66]

Maybe means something, maybe it doesn't, but I can't help but find it a bit interesting that other teams are interested in signing our QB coach to be their offensive coordinator, but seemingly NO ONE is interested in hiring our *actual* offensive coordinator

To be fair, the only job that we HAVE to let him interview for is head coach. What is the incentive for him to interview for OC at another org? What is the incentive for MLF to allow him to interview for a lateral move in another org?

QB coach -> OC is a promotion, and while MLF doesn't have to allow it, it's generally poor for to block promotions baring extenuating circumstances.

 

[SudsMcBucky]

Shouldn't it be about time the Packers dedicated their WR #6 position to be a kick returner. This past season the Packers averaged only 5.6 yards per punt return on only 26 returns in 17 regular season games.

If they went out and drafted a proven punt returner or got one via a trade or free agency, the value would be tangible. For example, if they finally had somebody who could average ablut 10 yards per punt return, they could realistically also take fewer fair catches. Instead of fielding 1.5 punts at 5.6 yards per return, a good returner could field 2 punts per game and give you 20 return yards (2×10 ypr).

That would be close to 12 yards of additional field position per game or two additional drives per game that start 6 yards closer to the end zone increasing the chances of a successful scoring drive.

Does a WR #6 who bounces between the roster and the practice squad give those higher scoring odds n 2 drives per game? Very doubtful.

Finding a good punt returner isn't easy, but spending the staff time and draft resources sure seems to be worth the effort when you compare the impact of a typical WR #6 with a good punt returner.

I have commented in the Draft section that I would specifically look to take Kaden Wetjen in the 6th or 7th for this exact spot. And with the kickoff rules that result in more returns, he would have the opportunity to make a sizeable contribution.

 

[mradtke66]

Shouldn't it be about time the Packers dedicated their WR #6 position to be a kick returner. This past season the Packers averaged only 5.6 yards per punt return on only 26 returns in 17 regular season games.

If they can identify and acquire this person, I'm in favor. As is, we've had some pretty lukewarm returner candidates. I don't know if I'd give up a developmental WR6 for an extra 3 yards per return on a dedicated returner. 5+ yards to exceed 10 yard per return average? Now I'm interested.

 

[Magooch]

To be fair, the only job that we HAVE to let him interview for is head coach. What is the incentive for him to interview for OC at another org? What is the incentive for MLF to allow him to interview for a lateral move in another org?

QB coach -> OC is a promotion, and while MLF doesn't have to allow it, it's generally poor for to block promotions baring extenuating circumstances.

I was a bit mistaken as Stenavich did reportedly interview (or is going to) for the Tennessee OC position.

Last year Matt allowed him to interview for multiple lateral moves as well (Houston, Seattle)

I don't know what the incentive is for Matt (other than just doing the guy a solid, I guess) but for Stenavich I have to think that taking an OC job elsewhere is a "promotion," practically speaking (if not in name/title). Kind of feels like he is essentially a glorified offensive assistant for us.

 

[Magooch]

Shouldn't it be about time the Packers dedicated their WR #6 position to be a kick returner. This past season the Packers averaged only 5.6 yards per punt return on only 26 returns in 17 regular season games.

If they went out and drafted a proven punt returner or got one via a trade or free agency, the value would be tangible. For example, if they finally had somebody who could average ablut 10 yards per punt return, they could realistically also take fewer fair catches. Instead of fielding 1.5 punts at 5.6 yards per return, a good returner could field 2 punts per game and give you 20 return yards (2×10 ypr).

That would be close to 12 yards of additional field position per game or two additional drives per game that start 6 yards closer to the end zone increasing the chances of a successful scoring drive.

Does a WR #6 who bounces between the roster and the practice squad give those higher scoring odds n 2 drives per game? Very doubtful.

Finding a good punt returner isn't easy, but spending the staff time and draft resources sure seems to be worth the effort when you compare the impact of a typical WR #6 with a good punt returner.

I'm in agreement.

Philosophically speaking I'd rather have a dedicated returner who "can" provide a possible option at WR than a developmental WR who "can" return kicks if need be.

I mean to your note, last year as a team we were dead last in punt returns, and I believe our best returner was Doubs, who individually ranked 29th at 6.3 yards per game. The league average for yards per punt return is about 10.2 - even just getting someone who is AVERAGE would be gaining us 4-5 yards per return.

Or, to put it another way...we had 26 punts returned for a total of 146 yards. Again just an "average" return bumps that up to ~265 yards on the season.

Looking at our roster right now the #6 WR (yardage wise anyways) is Heath, who finished with 6 rec for 86 yards on the season. Now to be fair this is just an "ideal" replacement in theory, as i don't know who that player actually would be for us - but if we could find someone who is consistently a league-average returner (And I am not considering at all right now the impact our ST as a whole has on the returner themselves, lol)...would that not be worth rostering instead?

 

[gopkrs]

What I took it to mean was that our final receiver should be our returner. Sounds simple to me. And I agree. So we go out of our way to land a decent one.