With Packers’ OTAs underway, Jordan Morgan moves back to left tackle, where athleticism can shine

Paul Bretl | 5/27/2025

GREEN BAY, Wis. — After the Packers attempted to move 2024 first-round draft pick Jordan Morgan to guard last season, where he was competing with Sean Rhyan for playing time, this offseason, he will be competing with Rasheed Walker for the starting left tackle reps.

“Every day you’ve got to earn your spot,” said offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich, “and that’s what I like about the competition that we have in our offense right now is everyone’s going to have to show up and play well in order to keep their spot, because there’s a bunch of good, young players that are hungry.”

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Left tackle is Morgan’s natural position. Of the 2,404 snaps he played in college at Arizona, 2,392 of them came at left tackle, according to PFF. But, unfortunately, we saw very little of Morgan last season.

A shoulder injury over the summer would force him to miss all three preseason games and valuable practice time. In season, he appeared in only six games, playing 186 snaps before being sidelined again with a shoulder injury and then eventually landing on injured reserve.

So, with there being such a small sample size from last season, what gives the Packers the confidence that he can transition back to the tackle spot and compete with Rasheed Walker?

“How athletic he is,” said offensive line coach Luke Butkus about Morgan. “How easy he moves and how smooth it looks. I was just talking to Coach Gordon and sometimes it looks like he’s not straining or playing hard. I think it’s just natural, it’s easy for him to just move, to gain ground, to just skim the blades of the grass. It’s effortless. But really like where he’s headed and the direction he’s going. Love it.”

The Packers put a lot on Morgan’s plate last season. In addition to making the jump up in competition to the NFL level, Morgan was also navigating a position change and switching sides of the offensive line as well, moving from a college left tackle to a right guard with Green Bay.

When it comes to guard vs. tackle, everything happens much more quickly when inside. In terms of moving from the left side to the right side, all the techniques and movements that had been ingrained at left tackle for Morgan essentially had to be flipped with him now on the opposite side of the line.

“The further you go inside, the faster things happen,” Stenavich said. “So you just have to change up how you play as far as tackles are used to taking pass sets and kind of feeling, you get a little time to see what’s going on and then you can react. When you move inside, now everything is obviously happening quicker. You gotta be stouter with your sets, quicker with your hands.”

Morgan’s quick feet to mirror defenders and his play strength are two reasons why the Packers were confident that he could make the transition to guard. But, as Bukus highlighted, Morgan is a very good athlete and a natural mover, two elements of his game that could really shine more brightly at the tackle position than at guard. There is also something to be said for the comfort level that Morgan has at left tackle.

However, while those abilities can help Morgan function well out in space, in this more gap-heavy Packers’ offense, which featured a lot more power running between the tackles last season, and less outside zone where the blockers are in space, there is a level of physicality that Morgan is going to have to showcase in the running game if he’s going to win this starting job.

“With Josh, he’s more of a downhill guy,” Stenavich said. “I think that’s why we shifted a little bit as the season progressed; just more of a downhill run scheme. I think all these guys have the ability to do whatever we can ask across the board.”

While the Packers have a first-round talent in Morgan that they want to give the opportunity to start, it’s not as if Walker has played poorly at left tackle either–a position he’s started at for the last two seasons.

Last season, Walker surrendered just three sacks and four quarterback hits, while ranked right around league average in PFF’s pass-blocking efficiency metric at 45th out of 87 eligible tackles. While not the be-all-end-all, Walker did rank 69th in PFF’s run-blocking grade, which, for the offensive line as a whole, is an area of opportunity as this unit looks to generate more big plays for Josh Jacobs this season.

The mantra when it comes to the offensive line room is that the Packers are going to put the “best five” on the football field. Doing so means leaning heavily on competition as well as the versatility that they have up front to mix and match as they test out different offensive line combinations.

For any offense, consistency starts with the offensive line providing a run game to lean on and time in the pocket for the quarterback.

“In this room, it’s always about competition,” added Butkus. “You know that. That stems from our head coach, from our offensive coordinator, and Rasheed will tell you that he’s working to win that job. Just like everyone else.”

Getting more out of Packers’ pass rush at top of DeMarcus Covington’s to-do list

Paul Bretl | 5/27/2025

GREEN BAY, Wis. — At the top of the to-do list for new Packers’ defensive line coach DeMarcus Covington will be getting more out of the pass rush unit in 2025.

“I think effective pass rush starts with get-off,” said Covington recently. “Like we were talking about, just the technique of get-off. Just your get-off starts with a pad level, then also just making sure that we do a good job of staying tight.”

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If we look at the raw numbers, the Packers’ pass rush would appear fine on paper last season. This was a defense that ranked eighth in sacks and was in the middle of the pack in terms of pressure rate, according to Pro Football Reference.

However, week in and week out, what we saw was inconsistency from the four-man front when it came to getting after the quarterback. This was a unit that feasted at times against lesser opponents and struggled to get to the quarterback against the NFC’s best, with that aforementioned production getting a boost from Jeff Hafley dialing up simulated pressures and blitzes to drum up some pressure.

A more accurate reflection–rather than the raw overall numbers–of the defensive front’s ability to get home in 2024 is perhaps in ESPN’s pass rush win rate metric, which as it sounds, measures how often a defensive lineman wins his one-on-one matchup. In that category, the Packers ranked 26th.

“I mean there was a lot of things that we did looking back and really spending time in the last few weeks that I kind of thought would go differently,” Hafley said of the Packers’ pass rush prior to OTAs. “But then you evolve. I mean, the exotics had success, so we ran them. People will have that film now so they’ll be studying the exotics in the offseason, so again, we can’t sit here and say, it worked last year — it probably won’t work as well because people are studying it right now, so can we rush with four? Can we rush with three?

“We have to get better and I’m talking to myself. I need to be better. Our coaches need to coach better. Our players need to play better. We just don’t wanna stay the same. We wanna be better.”

As a position coach, Covington, like Sean Duggan, Derrick Ansley, and Ryan Downard, will be operating within Hafley’s defensive scheme and the game plans that are put together on a weekly basis.

However, how Covington disperses that information to the defensive line room, or ideas that he has when it comes to implementing a given game plan or how to get more out of a player is where he can really leave his finger print on this position group, especially as a new coach bringing an outside perspective.

When it comes to generating steady pressure on a quarterback and then turning those pressures into sacks, as Covington described, there are really three parts that make up an effective pass rush: the start–or the get-off–the fight zone, and the finish.

“Being effective in all those three phases, so the start, which is the get-off, fight zone is when you’re in your combative zone,” Covington said. “Alright, you’re winning that, and then the finish is, that might be sacking the quarterback, that might be getting him off the spot, that might be pressuring him and making him step up or step out of the pocket, whatever the defense allows.”

Those three elements will be focal points for the Packers’ defensive linemen, and if executed properly, will help those players win their individual matchups. But as Covington added, there is also a marriage that has to take place between the pass rush and coverage, where the two work together.

Even a very good pass rush can be susceptible if the quarterback is getting the ball out of his hands quickly and if the pass rush isn’t getting pressure regularly, that then forces the defensive backs to have to defend for longer periods of time.

“With a defense, there comes rush and coverage, so it has to be a good marriage between rush and coverage,” Covington added. “So you have to have good coverage, good rush. Alright, you don’t have good coverage, and it’s probably gonna be that the ball will go out. You don’t have good rush, then the coverage — so I think it has to work together as you go through it.”

The Packers certainly aren’t short on talent in the defensive trenches. This is a unit that GM Brian Gutekunst has devoted a hefty amount of draft capital and salary cap to over the years. But more is needed from this group. More one-on-one matchups won, more quarterback pressures, and more sacks.

With the resources already committed to this position group, spending big in free agency or using an early-round pick up front may not have been in the cards for the Packers. Instead, internal growth from those already on the roster was going to have to be a key catalyst for improved play, and Covington providing a different voice in that room will have to play a key role in making that happen.

“I don’t think I’ve ever coached a first-round draft pick. So we have first-round draft picks [here] and we do a great job of drafting here. So you’re talking to a guy who can develop players and guys who’ve already established themselves. You’ve got KC, you’ve got RG, you’ve got Van Ness, you’ve got Wyatt, you’ve got all these [first-rounders].

“We, I would say our personnel guys have done a great job of drafting great, talented players. Which provides great competition, which sharpens each other.”

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: the ceiling for this Packers defense will be determined by how good the four-man pass rush is. When the defensive front is generating steady push and getting after the quarterback, every other position group on the defense benefits from that.

Even if the four-man rush does improve, Matt LaFleur said he doesn’t want to go back to rushing strictly four defenders to create pressure. He still wants those blitzes and disguised pressures to be a part of the equation because it puts more on the plate of opposing offenses.

But with that said, to truly maximize the Packers’ pass rush effectiveness, both phases have to work. A defense can become a bit predictable when only rushing four, and designed pressures don’t quite have the same juice if the defensive line can’t win their matchups.

“I think we have a great football team,” said Covington. “One that when I looked at it and came into this place, I told Haf, I said, ‘This is a unit that plays fast. This is a unit that plays fast and runs to the football. When you turn on the tape, you see a talent group that runs really, really fast.’”

Beyond Josh Jacobs, Packers boast well-rounded RB room, which could create difficult decisions

Paul Bretl | 5/23/2025

GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Packers leaned very heavily on Josh Jacobs last season, who finished with the fourth-most carries of any running back in football, and that reliance on his ability to shoulder a heavy workload isn’t going to change.

However, beyond Jacobs at the running back position, the Packers have built out a well-rounded room, and how those final roster spots shake out will perhaps be one of the more intriguing training camp battles to watch this summer.

“That’s the thing—all these guys have different assets that they bring to the table,” said running backs coach Ben Sirmans.

As 2024 third-round draft pick MarShawn Lloyd said at his locker during cleanout day, following the Packers’ loss to Philadelphia, it had been a “very, very rough year.”

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Training camp for Lloyd last summer was delayed due to a hip injury. A hamstring tweak in the Packers’ preseason opener would keep him sidelined until Week 2 of the regular season, at which point he suffered a foot injury against Indianapolis.

That would land him on injured reserve. Then, as Lloyd was working his way back, he was hit by appendicitis. In his recovery from that, Lloyd would tweak his hamstring, which ended his season. He finished his rookie season, appearing in one game and playing 10 snaps.

“I think he’s in a much better spot,” said Sirmans. “Mentally, he’s pretty sharp there in the classroom. He’s moving around pretty good out there on the football field.”

While we saw very little of Lloyd on Sundays, his explosiveness with the ball in his hands was very easy to spot on the practice field, and could provide the offense with some added big-play ability–an element that was missing last season.

As GM Brian Gutekunst put it after the 2024 draft, Lloyd brings something “different” to the Packers’ backfield than the other running backs on the roster. Lloyd measures in at 5-9 – 220 pounds and has terrific burst–running in the 4.4s–and change of direction ability that is easily spotted on the practice field when the ball is in his hands.

Matt LaFleur views Lloyd as a back who can bring a change of pace to the running back position with his speed and also be someone who can impact the passing game as well, giving the Packers a “matchup nightmare,” as LaFleur called him during the offseason, out of the backfield.

“Obviously, we’ve got a lot of high expectations for him because he brings a different blend to our offense just with his speed and quickness,” Sirmans added. “I’m pretty pleased with him so far and looking forward to getting him out there in a real game situation.”

In addition to Lloyd, the Packers also have Emanuel Wilson and Chris Brooks, who were the second and third running backs on the Packers’ roster last season. Each of these backs brings something different to the offense.

Wilson has 132 carries over his first two NFL seasons, but even with that relatively small sample size, his ability to make defenders miss and create chunk runs has frequently been on display. This past season, Wilson averaged 4.8 yards per rush, making the most out of his 106 rush attempts.

For some context, that 4.8 yards per rush figure was tied for the eighth-highest mark in football. Wilson also forced 28 missed tackles and ranked 24th in PFF’s breakaway rate metric, which measures how often a back generates a run of 15-plus yards.

As Sirmans has described previously, Wilson’s ability to cut on a dime and change directions is what makes him so difficult to bring down. While Wilson’s ability with the ball in his hands is what will stand out, his ability to impact the passing game, both as a receiver and pass blocker, has grown immensely, and those are prerequisites to playing running back in Matt LaFleur’s offense.

“I think he only had one mental mistake,” Sirmans said of Wilson, “even though he didn’t play as much as a rookie but he played a lot this (past) year, to have only one mistake just speaks volumes to how he has grown so even this year he seems a lot more comfortable in the offense, he’s practicing a lot harder, so I think he’s finally gotten to that point where he’s kind of evolved a lot more. So definitely expecting a lot of things out of him.”

Brooks, meanwhile, filled a do-it-all role at the running back position last season. Brooks would carry the ball 36 times and averaged 5.1 yards per rush, and he also caught 13 passes.

But oftentimes when Brooks was on the field, he was a blocker, and that ability particularly stood out in pass protection, specifically when it came to picking up blitzers. We also saw Brooks’ versatility utilized with him lining up across the formation, including out wide and in the backfield as more of a fullback with Jacobs.

“Us having the ability to utilize him not just as a runner or in pass protection but even through some of the run-blocking stuff that you would do with a traditional F, him having the ability to do that and then still have the skill set as a runner,” said Sirmans. “I mean, that’s a plus for us because some of the things he does, we don’t use anybody else in the backfield in that way.”

Those four players already make this Packers’ running back room fairly crowded, but the depth extends beyond them.

In the short time that the Packers have had with the rookies, UDFA signings Amar Johnson and Jalen White have already caught Sirmans’ attention, although he did add the caveat that it is still early and the Packers won’t truly know what they have in those two players until training camp and the preseason takes place.

“I’m actually pretty excited about both of those guys,” said Sirmans. “Because they both move around pretty well. Obviously Amar, he’s pretty fast, and I think looking at Jalen, he has really good feet.”

On a Packers roster that had very little turnover this offseason, compared to some seasons, there aren’t all that many roster spots that are truly up for grabs. But one of the more intriguing positional battles that could take place this summer may be at running back, where behind Jacobs, there are three players vying for potentially just two spots.

Tucker Kraft, Luke Musgrave pairing can unlock more of the Packers’ offense

Paul Bretl | 5/22/2025

GREEN BAY, Wis. — This Packers’ offense may still be young in terms of average age, but we are now past the point where this unit is young in experience. For many of the key contributors on that side of the ball, the 2025 season will be Year 3 and beyond for them.

However, even with that being the case, there is still one portion of the playbook that we haven’t seen a lot of yet, and it includes tight ends Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave being on the field together.

“The one thing about Luke, and I know it’s the offseason, and we’re in Phase II, but he’s been working his tail off and he’s been doing a great job getting back,” said tight ends coach John Dunn. “Every year’s a new year. He’s had a couple setbacks during the season due to no fault of his own, but it’ll be fun to see. That’s kind of the answer, and the more he can do, the more we will do. So I think it’ll be fun having those guys out there together.”

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A question that has often come up over the last two years centers around what this Packers offense can do when both Kraft and Musgrave are able to share the field. The reason it is asked so frequently is that we haven’t seen much of that pairing.

Various injuries during Musgrave’s first two seasons, which include a lacerated kidney in 2023 and an ankle injury in 2024, have limited him to just 18 out of a possible 34 regular-season games.

With an impressive combination of size and speed, Musgrave brings a field-stretching presence to the tight end position. But even in games he’s appeared in, we haven’t seen the full extent of that playmaking potential regularly on display. While he’s been a reliable target, catching 77% of his 61 career targets, Musgrave is averaging a modest 9.9 yards per catch.

Last season, specifically, even before the ankle injury he sustained in Week 4, Musgrave had a relatively quiet training camp, and through the Packers’ first three regular-season games, he had just four targets.

“I think for him it’s just playing the game,” said Dunn. “This is a game where you have to play it, especially at that position. And these guys are still, going into Year 3, they’re young in the position, so just playing the game, so you look at the first year, he was playing-playing-playing and getting better and better every single week. Obviously had the setback, so for him just playing the game is kind of how you get back to that spot.”

Kraft, meanwhile, has emerged as a do-it-all threat within this Packers offense, able to make an impact as a run-blocker, in the passing game, and his versatility allows him to be moved around the formation and fill a variety of roles.

When an offense has that well-rounded skill set at the tight end position, it unlocks a level of unpredictability for an offense. Defenses aren’t able to get a beat on what’s coming simply based on who is on the field or where the tight end is lined up.

And while all of that is true, there is still more out there for Kraft, particularly in the passing game. After the Packers’ playoff loss to Philadelphia, Matt LaFleur would say that the coaching staff has to do a better job of “featuring” Kraft at the tight end position.

Featuring Kraft in the passing game doesn’t only mean giving him more targets, but it’s also about where in Jordan Love’s progression he is the read, what levels of the field he is being asked to attack, and also moving him around the formation more often to create mismatches and to present the defense with different looks.

“There is,” said offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich when asked if there were more opportunities for Kraft. “That’s one thing we spent some time on this offseason is just kind of where we can get him to take the next step and I think just his route-running ability, getting him on more individual things like that, and just kind of growing him there. I think he did a really good job in the run game. That’s one thing that hopefully he can keep improving there to be a dominant player up front. Just trying to find different ways to give him the ball, that’s gonna be the big thing for us.”

Even when the Packers have been without Musgrave, using 12 personnel–or two tight end sets–has still been a common occurrence in the LaFleur offense. However, that unpredictability element previously described has the potential to be enhanced with Musgrave’s skill set in the mix.

Although Musgrave may be known for his pass-catching presence, the Packers very much believe in his ability as a blocker as well. So for a defense, when two tight ends are on the field, a decision has to be made: go bigger and play the run, which can then create mismatches for Kraft and Musgrave to exploit through the air, or go smaller to defend against Kraft and Musgrave in the passing game, but then be exposed to Josh Jacobs and the ground game.

Early in LaFleur’s tenure, we often heard him use the phrase “the illusion of complexity.” In short, it’s about keeping defenses off-balanced and guessing, and one way to accomplish that is by running a variety of plays from just a few personnel packages. Having the skill sets that Kraft and Musgrave possess, and then having them on the field together, enhances that ability.

“I think having Musgrave back is going to help us in 12 personnel,” Stenavich said. “You can do a lot of good stuff out of 12 personnel as far as the play-action game. And then just his juice and speed down the field is another area of our offense we’ve kind of scratched the surface on. But yeah, we’re always looking for different ways to amp up that play-pass game, so that’s one thing I think this offseason we’re really going to focus on for sure.”

Along with the opportunities that can be created for Kraft or Musgrave to take advantage of, their presence on the field together for the reasons mentioned can help generate mismatches for others on the Packers’ offense to exploit as well.

Two years ago, this was a brand-new tight end room in Green Bay. However, that is no longer the case, and with that continuity and familiarity with the offense, at a position where there can be endless possibilities when it comes to how these players are utilized, there are still aspects of this LaFleur system that remain untapped, particularly when it comes to two tight end sets.

“You start over every year in the NFL, but we’re not always starting from scratch,” Dunn said. “So the language we speak, it just advances it that much more. The comfort they have in each other, how they can coach each other because it’s been the same drills, the same language, the same that type of stuff, so they can help each other off the field. You see it.

“In leadership roles, these guys are helping each other behind the scenes when they see something. It’s not just my eyes. And not only are they helping each other but most of the time now they’re starting to get to a point where they know what to correct or what to fix before I tell them because they’ve done it enough times. So the continuity part is cool in terms of camaraderie but also on the field, it really goes both ways.”

After impressive rookie season, what’s next for Packers LB Edgerrin Cooper in Year 2?

Paul Bretl | 5/21/2025

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Coming off a very impressive rookie season, what is next for Packers’ linebacker Edgerrin Cooper as he heads into his second NFL season?

If you ask Jeff Hafley, it’s all about consistency.

“Consistency,” Hafley said when asked about Cooper. “We talked and sometimes joked about he might’ve had that gap, but he made the play over there, right? Like there was a toss run over there that instead of going over the top of the blocker, somehow he ran underneath the blocker and still made a TFL.

“Now it’s getting the details down. Now it’s lining up exactly where he needs to line up and doing it over and over and over again because then he’s gonna show up faster and he’s going to make more plays and he’s going to become a more consistent player.”

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From the moment that Cooper stepped onto the practice field last summer, his speed, athleticism, and playmaking potential were all evident. However, like any first-year player, there was a learning curve that had to be navigated when it came to making the jump from college to the NFL level.

This includes learning a new, and often more advanced playbook, adjusting to the play speed and strength, along with the preparation during the week that goes into actually playing the game on Sunday.

At times, extending this learning curve for Cooper were injuries that he had to navigate. Cooper would miss valuable reps during training camp and in preseason games due to being sidelined. He missed three regular-season games as well, and even when he was on the practice field at times, as a limited participant, that hindered what Cooper could do and the number of reps available to him.

“This Year 2 for him, he knows what it’s going to take,” Hafley said. “He knows what he has to do now to stay healthy because as much as we talked about not having him on the field last year, he was injured quite a bit, where he missed a lot of time and didn’t practice and couldn’t play.

“Now he knows what it’s going to take to stay healthy in this long season and you can tell he’s dedicated that time into caring for his body and changed his body and now when you sit with him in that room it’s, I mean, he’s locked in and he’s focused.”

During the latter portion of the 2024 season, Cooper returned from an injury in Week 15, and at that point, all of those banked reps and time in the meeting rooms that had accumulated over the previous months seemed to come together for him.

From Weeks 15-18, no linebacker had a higher PFF grade than Cooper. During that span, he also recorded the ninth-most quarterback pressures, the fifth-most stops, and his 5.4 yards per catch allowed was the fifth-lowest. Cooper was also just one of six linebackers to record an interception over that stretch of games.

Twice as a rookie, Cooper was named the NFC’s Defensive Player of the Week and he was named the NFC’s Rookie of the Month in December as well.

“Just the way he worked and attacked learning and working on his craft every day, it was really impressive,” said linebackers coach Sean Duggan about Cooper. “And, you know, you saw a payoff. He got better and better throughout the year.

“Right now, he’s working really hard, and he looks good moving around. He’s in a great head space where he’s eager, he’s ready to get going. But he understands we still got a long way to go, and there’s a lot of things he can still get better at.”

Cooper was listed at 230 pounds last season, but Hafley mentioned that after the offseason, he is up around the 240-pound mark currently.

As good as Year 1 was for Cooper, oftentimes it is in Year 2 where players make their biggest jump. That comes from the experience they’ve gained as rookies, having a full offseason to work on their craft, and the continuity of being within the same system for a second season.

The skill set that Cooper possesses can result in some big plays for the Packers’ defense, but for Hafely, it also affords him quite a bit of flexibility as he puts together game plans because there is a lot that he can ask of Cooper, which then impacts what Hafley asks of the defenders around him.

“Now he knows what he’s doing,” Hafley added. “You’re first rookie year you’re kind of in survival mode a little bit too. So he just needs to be more consistent. He’s gotta stay healthy and continue to improve and he’s a guy that we’re really excited about because he can do a lot of different things too.”

How will Packers sort through endless possibilities at nickel position?

Paul Bretl | 5/20/2025

GREEN BAY, Wis. — While the Packers have some unknowns right now at cornerback, one specific position where they have several different players they could lean on is at the nickel.

Starting options for the Packers in the slot include Keisean Nixon, Nate Hobbs, and Javon Bullard. So, how will Jeff Hafley determine who takes those snaps?

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In today’s pass-heavy NFL, the nickel defender is a de facto starter, often on the field for two-thirds of the defensive snaps in any given game. Unlike on the outside, where there is additional time to react, when playing in the slot, everything happens much more quickly, not to mention that being a capable run defender becomes a much more important quality for that player to have.

“Just the ball, the timing of the ball comes to you fast,” said Nixon on playing the nickel vs. outside. “You don’t really have time to look at–like read formations in nickel. You gotta react. At corner you can read routes and you have timing and breaking on balls. It’s just different.”

It is different, or drastically different, as defensive backs coach Derrick Ansley said last season. So the fact that the Packers have two cornerbacks in Nixon and Hobbs who can handle either responsibility isn’t common, and maximizing that versatility can be an advantage for Jeff Hafley from a schematic standpoint.

So circling back to the original question of ‘who starts at the nickel,’ there probably isn’t any one answer to that question. Instead, it’s going to be dependent upon the matchup and what the in-game situation is.

“I see Nate can play outside and Nate can play inside,” Jeff Hafley said. “So we’re going to have him do both. His film was, you know, when you’re getting ready for free agency and you’re evaluating tape, it’s one thing that you love about him. He’s had a lot of success inside, and I thought his tape outside was equally as good.”

Perhaps the easiest solution comes if Nixon and Hobbs are the primary outside cornerbacks, which would allow Bullard to fill the nickel role. However, even if that is the case, I don’t envision that being a static alignment either.

We could see a scenario where, during obvious passing situations, one of Nixon or Hobbs slides inside with Carrington Valentine taking over at one of the outside positions. Then, on more run-heavy downs, Bullard could potentially be the nickel in those down-and-distance situations.

The week-to-week decision could also be matchup-driven. If there are instances where the opponent has their tight end or a bigger-bodied wideout in the slot often, that could be an opportunity for Bullard to take more nickel snaps that week. Whereas with a more traditional slot presence, Hafley could opt to put one of his cornerbacks in that role.

“We knew with Javon he had the positional flex, he had the versatility,” said defensive pass game coordinator Ryan Downard. “We knew that, and we verified that last year. .. “I think Javon, he did a great job playing violently. I mean, that guy plays the game the right way.”

This versatility element that the Packers have at the nickel is quite prominent throughout their entire secondary and can be an added stressor for opponents to contend with.

A versatile defense can put a lot on the plate for an opposing offense. From a preparation standpoint, there’s a lot to watch and be ready for throughout the week when the defense is putting a variety of looks on tape.

Then pre-snap, quarterbacks won’t as easily get a beat on what’s coming based solely on where defenders are lined up because it’s either a different look or where players are aligned could change once the ball is snapped.

“I think the possibilities are endless,” said Downard about the nickel position. “I think the more guys that you have that can play more positions the better off you are. You’re more versatile. Offenses don’t know who’s going to line up where. You can cater it to what they do. You can cater it to what we do. You can cater to what type of defense we’re in, more of a coverage defense, more of a run defense, with just so many different variables. There’s a lot of different combinations to answer the question.”

To state the obvious, there is plenty of time for these decisions to be worked out, and what Hafley decides on for Week 1 doesn’t mean that’s how things will remain for the entire season. But when it comes to this position, the Packers have given themselves options, and options are a good thing.

Following a lot of change in 2024, stability at Packers’ safety position in 2025 can lead to big jump

Paul Bretl | 5/19/2025

GREEN BAY, Wis. — This offseason for the Packers’ safety room and defensive backs coach Ryan Downard has been quite different than what it was this time a year ago.

“So much different,” said Downard. “So much different. From the players and a coach, going through a first year in a system, you kind of figure out the snakes in the system as well too. Like, okay, this is an issue for us and certainly they’re probably feeling the same thing. I don’t want to speak for our players but they’re probably feeling the same thing. They’re so far ahead of where we were last year. Just naturally because it’s Year 2.”

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During the 2024 offseason, Downard himself was learning a new defensive system under first-year coordinator Jeff Hafley and then helping teach that scheme to the players. However, it wasn’t only a defense that was being implemented, but the safety position for the Packers had undergone a lot of turnover as well.

From the 2023 roster, the only returning players for the 2024 season were Zayne Anderson and Anthony Johnson, who was eventually waived during roster cutdowns and then claimed by the New York Giants.

To reshape this room due to so many departures and also there being a need for improved play, GM Brian Gutekunst signed Xavier McKinney in free agency and then used three more draft picks on the safety position as well, selecting Javon Bullard, Evan Williams, and Kitan Oladapo.

As impressive as last season was for McKinney, there is still certainly more that is out there for him in Year 2 with the Packers. A lot of that growth can come from the continuity of being in the same defensive system for a second year, because with that, not only comes a greater understanding of what his roles and responsibilities are, but also those around him, and how offenses are trying to attack Green Bay’s defense.

“Not to get into too many details, but there are things within the game that him and I have communicated about that he wants to grow in,” Downard said about McKinney. “Things that they didn’t come up in Year 1, but we’re trying to get the system down and his technique and his job, so he’s done a great job trying to learn different pieces of the game.

“Whether it’s other positions, what’s going on around him, what’s happening up front, what’s the offense trying to do to attack our system, what’s the offense trying to do formationally, just things like that.”

Bullard and Williams, like McKinney, will benefit from that continuity element as well. But also further propelling them forward will be the experience gained during their rookie years.

It’s one thing to know the playbook and your responsibility on paper, but it’s an entirely different ball game to execute it on the football field when there are so many variables in play.

“They were just trying to figure out and stay afloat last year as rookies, whether they’ll tell you that or not I think they did a hell of a job,” Downard said of Bullard and Williams. “But as a rookie you’re coming in and you got so much going on.

“See when X came in, he had more experience than those guys. He was in the league for however many years, four years, so last year he was speaking to these young guys trying to share some of that with them. So they’ve acquired one year, so we’ve just got to keep getting them more and more reps. It’ll keep making them better because of the process.”

As we look at the Packers’ safety room, depth and versatility are two hallmark traits that this unit possesses. As Downard described last week, every safety last season saw snaps at some point during the 2024 season.

Oladapo played 68 defensive snaps over the final three games of the regular season and played 75 snaps on special teams throughout the year. Anderson was, again, a core special teams contributor and played 122 defensive snaps, which included making two starts. Undrafted rookie Omar Brown would see a few opportunities of his own late in the season as well.

Just like at other positions on the roster, Downard heavily promotes competition within his safety room. But along with that competitive nature, there is also a hefty dose of collaboration as well. McKinney sets the example for how things should be done and is always more than willing to share that information with others, and everyone else then follows suit, which helps elevate the entire unit.

“Xavier has done a good job of setting the example of it doesn’t matter the guy in the room, it could be one of these younger guys we just brought in, these undrafted free agent guys, he’s still out there in the CRIC coaching these guys,” Downard added.

“And so when he sets that example, Javon and Evan are doing the same thing, they’re sharing knowledge. Zayne’s talking to this guy and KT’s talking to Omar (Brown) and when you can continue promoting that type of environment I think the whole group gets better.”

The versatility that the Packers have at safety and throughout the secondary can be a real advantage for them. From a game planning perspective, it can put a lot of prep work on an opposing offense because there can be so many looks to account for. Jeff Hafley also has an immense amount of flexibility when it comes to how he utilizes players and how he attacks offenses.

Then, when in the game, pre-snap it becomes very difficult for an opposing offense to decipher what is coming just based on where defenders are lined up, not to mention the potential for unscouted looks.

As I detailed recently, the continuity that the Packers have on defense as a whole in Hafley’s second season can be a real catalyst for growth for this entire group. However, the safety position, more than any other, may benefit the most from the experience gained over the last year.

New Packers DL coach DeMarcus Covington eager to work with bevy of first round picks: ‘Sign me up’

Paul Bretl | 5/15/2025

GREEN BAY, Wis. — I’m going to guess that DeMarcus Covington’s path to being a defensive line coach and former defensive coordinator at the NFL level is a bit of an unconventional one.

Unlike many defensive line coaches, Covington doesn’t have a background playing that position. In fact, during his playing days at Division I-AA Samford, Covington didn’t even play on the defensive side of the football. Instead, he was a wide receiver.

“I think when you think about coaching, coaching is teaching,” Covington said on Thursday. “And when you’re looking at it like that, if you can teach, and you can get the guys to buy into what you’re saying and then understanding and being able to express those things, not only just what you know. Because it’s really not about what I know, it’s what they know and what I can get them to understand and go out there and perform. So I look at it as just being able to teach.”

“That’s how I do it. If you’re able to teach effectively, you should be able to go down the line and teach anything and apply principles to it. Because principles never really, they don’t change. Not ‘not really,’ they don’t change. So, that’s how I look at it. And then obviously you put in the factor of getting the players to buy into you.”

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However, to state the obvious, in order to be an effective teacher, there has to be a deep understanding of whatever that topic might be. And, to a degree, Covington was effectively starting over when he moved to the defensive line.

This transition to coaching the defensive line came in 2012 when Covington was a grad assistant at UAB. Admittedly, at that time, when he was told that he was moving to the defensive line, Covington wasn’t thrilled. But following that “ugh moment,” as Covington called it, he turned the page and jumped right in.

Motivating Covington to not only make progress as he learned to coach a new position, but to make progress quickly was that he didn’t want to be looked at as someone who didn’t know what they were talking about.

“I did a good job of taking great notes, putting myself in those positions doing the drills, so I can feel the techniques, feel the different things and then when you look at receiver and you look at D-line, there’s a good amount of hand combative that’s just the same,” Covington said. “So footwork, hand combatives, it’s not like much of a difference outside of the size and speed and all that stuff.

“I took pride in that and getting to know the fundamentals and technique and the details of making sure that no one, nobody can question me on what I know to this day.”

Having coached in New England since 2017 and having held various roles, Covington got his “master’s degree” while working alongside Bill Belichick. As a coaching assistant his first two seasons, Covington helped out in all aspects, including on offense and on special teams. On defense, he was an outside linebackers coach for a season, a defensive line coach for four years, and he was the Patriots’ defensive coordinator under head coach Jerod Mayo in 2024.

That season as a defensive coordinator, where Covington is not only in charge of one position, but the entire unit, has given him a different lens to look through now in Green Bay. He doesn’t see the game only through the defensive line position.

“I don’t see the game as just a defensive line coach,” said Covington. “You’re talking to a guy who played offense in college, a guy who coached multiple positions, so I don’t see the game just as a defensive line coach. I see it from a coordinator’s perspective, too, so that helped me, that experience doing it and calling it and getting the real game experience and game-like experience.”

One thing about Covington that drew Jeff Hafley to him during the interview process was that he has taught in a number of different schemes. “They’ve done a lot over there,” said Hafley on Monday. In addition to that, Hafley added that Coving can coach a lot of different techniques, and he’s operated in a variety of fronts.

“I love his demeanor, I love the way he coaches, I love the relationship he has with his players,” Hafley said.

Covington will now be tasked with getting more production and consistency out of the Packers’ pass rush. The inconsistencies last season from the four-man rush are well-documented at this point. The lack of pressure at times even resulted in Hafley having to make a fairly big shift in how he built out game plans, relying more heavily on blitzes and simulated pressures to get home.

For Covington, however, he sees tremendous potential and plenty of pure talent within that Packers’ defensive line room. As Covington recalled, he doesn’t believe he’s ever coached a first-round draft pick before, and he now joins a team where there are four–Rashan Gary, Lukas Van Ness, Kenny Clark, and Devonte Wyatt–just at his position group.

“I would say our personnel guys have done a great job of drafting great, talented players,” Covington said. “Which provides great competition. Which sharpens each other. So, when you as a defensive line coach and you’re looking at players and where to go, I mean, sign me up. Anybody would sign up for this job. Not only just being 1 of 32 to be a defensive line coach [in the NFL], but when you look at the talent we have across the board at each position, sign us up for it.”

New Packers QB coach Sean Mannion has been preparing for coaching opportunity for a long time

Paul Bretl | 5/15/2025

GREEN BAY, Wis. — New Packers’ quarterbacks coach Sean Mannion has some big shoes to fill, taking over a role that was previously held by Tom Clements, who during his career coached Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers, and most recently Jordan Love.

“Tom was a great mentor for me to work with last year, to just be around in the QB room was awesome,” Mannion said when speaking with reporters on Thursday. “Such a unique thing, for him to have his fingertips on three great quarterbacks in one organization. To me, Tom was just the picture of stability, being a stable presence in the QB room, even-keeled at all times. There’s a lot of stuff that the quarterback position has to juggle, but he was always a stable presence. And then I think just the focus on the details and the fundamentals, he was a great example of that.”

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Mannion joined the Packers’ coaching staff in 2024 as an offensive assistant and often worked with the quarterbacks. Following his own playing career, which began in 2015 as a third-round pick by the Rams, Mannion jumped right into coaching after retiring as a player in 2023.

Mannion’s playing career includes spending the 2017 season with Matt LaFleur when the two were with the LA Rams under head coach Sean McVay. That time with LaFleur and being in a similar offense helped Mannion assimilate to the Packers’ scheme last season because of the overlap. But beyond that element, Mannion really gained a greater understanding for playing the quarterback position during that 2017 season.

“I think the big thing was just our vision of the quarterback position was in perfect alignment because like I said when Matt got there with coach McVay in ’17, that was a really transformative experience for me in terms of learning how to play the position,” said Mannion. “I know as a player, it helped me greatly and again, having this in mind, it was always like, ‘Oh this is how you teach the quarterback position.’ I got to learn that from Matt directly.”

Even before Mannion made it to the NFL as a player, he knew that he wanted to be a coach. His dad was a longtime high school coach, so Mannion has spent most of his life around the game. So Mannion’s goal early on in his NFL career was to play as long as he could and then make the transition to coaching.

With playing opportunities drying up heading into Mannion’s final 2023 season, that summer, he really dove into the process of preparing himself to make that switch over to coaching. This included reaching out to LaFleur.

“I was reaching out to a bunch of people that I was fortunate to cross paths with, Matt being obviously one of them, so we spoke over the summer and I was getting things ready, kind of through our summer break, as a player, working on an interview presentation, working on learning to draw on the computer,” said Mannion. “I had my own film library. I was kind of working to hit the ground running in this field.”

Before interviewing with LaFleur and the Packers during the 2024 offseason, Mannion had another interview scheduled with the Chicago Bears. Beforehand, Mannion and LaFleur met virtually, at which point LaFleur let him know that after interviewing with the Bears, he and the Packers wanted that same opportunity.

“I had touched base with Matt and then when the season ended,” recalled Mannion, “I was following up with a bunch of people and Matt got right back to me and I was like, hey, I got this interview with the Bears, but i just wanted to circle back and follow up basically.

“So he said, we met over Zoom briefly and just chatted for a little while and he was like, yeah, go do your interview. And he let me do the interview and then he’s like, but we wanna interview you tomorrow so just make sure you fly here so we have an opportunity to interview as well, so I was really fortunate in that regard and went interviewed with the Bears and told them I was gonna interview here as well. Came here and I felt like it was a great fit and I was really thankful for the opportunity from Matt, but that’s kind of how it came together.”

Having nine years of recent NFL experience at the quarterback position, Mannion brings a different perspective to the Packers’ quarterback room–one that has walked in similar shoes as Jordan Love, Malik Willis, and the rest of the Packers’ quarterbacks. As Mannion put it, he can speak to what these players are going through from a preparation and on-field standpoint.

While Mannion may be stepping into a new and more prominent role, there is still a lot of continuity in the Packers’ quarterback room, within the coaching staff, and on the offense as a whole. So Mannion doesn’t have to step in and reinvent the wheel by any means either. A lot of the coaching and teaching points will remain similar because it’s still the same scheme and quarterbacks that he’s working with, but there will also be opportunities for Mannion to “sprinkle” in some of his own experiences when applicable.

Providing each player with an “honest assessment,” as Mannion called it, and being a clear communicator are two of his top priorities. And while Clemens may be retired, footwork and fundamentals will still remain at the core of every quarterback conversation that is had. At the end of the day, it’s Mannion’s job to support Love and the other quarterbacks as best he can to help put them in positions to be successful.

“He’s a great talent,” Mannion said of Love. “He’s a great person. He’s a great person to work with every day and he has great habits, so I think really when you combine those three things, really the sky is the limit. For him, what we’re really trying to focus on I think is the fundamentals and the footwork. I think, like I kinda spoke before, that’ll help you be your most consistent accuracy wise, decision making wise and timing wise.

“So that’s really our main area of focus with him. But it’s a pleasure to work with him and all the quarterbacks we have in the room on a daily basis because of their level of talent but then kind of the way they attack each day as a teammate and then as a quarterback.”

CB Nate Hobbs bringing versatility, competitive play style to Packers secondary

Paul Bretl | 5/14/2025

GREEN BAY, Wis. — The majority of Nate Hobbs’ snaps during his four-year career with the Las Vegas Raiders came lined up in the nickel. However, Jeff Hafley and the Packers view the free agent as someone who can play both inside and out, and that is what he is going to do in Green Bay.

“I see Nate can play outside and Nate can play inside,” Hafley said when speaking with reporters on Monday. “So we’re going to have him do both. His film was, you know, when you’re getting ready for free agency and you’re evaluating tape, it’s one thing that you love about him. He’s had a lot of success inside, and I thought his tape outside was equally as good.”

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Over the last two seasons with the Las Vegas Raiders, Hobbs has been the team’s primary nickel cornerback. However, he has experience on the boundary as well, playing over 700 career NFL snaps lined up outside, 500 of which came during the 2022 season. Going back to his days at Illinois, Hobbs spent most of his college career on the boundary, playing over 2,100 snaps there over four seasons.

So lining up outside certainly won’t be new for Hobbs.

Although the Raiders tasked Hobbs with playing the nickel, he has the measurables that we often see GM Brian Gutekunst covet at the boundary cornerback position. Hobbs has size and length, listed at 6-1 – 195 pounds and is a good athlete, posting a Relative Athletic Score of 9.61 coming out of Illinois.

“I just think he’s, he’s a really talented football player,” said Rich Bisaccia, who coached Hobbs during his time in Las Vegas. “He’s a lot bigger than you think, until you get up there and shake his hand. He can really run. He’s a physical player. He’s got great length, and you know, he’s played multiple positions.”

Hobbs is coming off of his best statistical season in the NFL in 2024. He would rank 10th out of 42 eligible slot cornerbacks in yards per snap allowed. He was also 16th in snaps per reception allowed, and Hobbs had the 11th best coverage EPA (expected points added) among all defensive backs who saw 40 or more targets.

Versatility is going to be one of the cornerstone elements of the Packers’ secondary this season. Along with Hobbs’ ability to be moved around the defensive backfield, Keisean Nixon, Javon Bullard, Evan Williams, and Xavier McKinney all provide impressive versatility, which for Hafley gives him flexibility as he puts together his weekly matchups.

The ability to mix and match and move defenders around, for one, better equips a team to handle injuries. But in addition to that, putting a variety of different looks on tape leaves an offense with a lot to prepare for. Then, in the game, pre-snap, it becomes more difficult for the quarterback to decipher who is going to be where and what might be coming, which in turn can keep opponents off-balanced and guessing.

Game planning-wise, having interchangeable defenders with differing skill sets affords Hafley the ability to really play matchups and design the play-calls for the week around what the opponent does well and what the Packers want to take away.

Hobbs’ presence in the secondary only adds to that already prominent versatility element that is present.

“He is competitive, he’s tough, he is physical, he plays the game fast, you can tell he loves it,” added Hafley. “It just jumps off the tape. I don’t know if you guys watched any of it, but it certainly jumps off the tape the way the guy plays. And he’s been a great addition and he does give you that versatility where you can move him around and again, I’m a big fan of that.”

The Packers signed Hobbs in free agency to a four-year, $48 million deal. But as Hobbs described when he arrived to Green Bay back in March for the first time, the former Day 3 draft pick who was under-recruited coming out of high school is always going to have an underdog mentality.

With the current unknowns at the cornerback position for the Packers as it pertains to Jaire Alexander’s future with the team, Hobbs is going to play an important role in providing stability at that position group.

“I just think we’re getting a really good guy that loves football and loves the opportunity to compete, and you know, he’s back with Keisan,” added Bisaccia. “That was a good thing at one time, and now we have certainly the leadership of X and the play of X back there. So we’re expecting really good things for Nate.”

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