Nick Niemann doesn’t jump out first when you scan the Packers roster, but his role is a real one, and Green Bay clearly treated it that way this offseason.
The Packers handed Niemann a one-year, $2.25 million extension after what they saw from him on special teams in 2025, and the message was plain: this is a player they trust in a phase of the game that has been a headache for years. That matters even more now with Cam Achord stepping in as special teams coordinator.
Green Bay has lived through enough uneven special teams play to know that coaching alone won’t fix it. Personnel matters.
Execution matters. And Niemann has become one of the pieces the Packers are counting on to steady that unit in 2026.
Technically, he’s a backup linebacker and could factor into Jonathan Gannon’s defense at times. But that’s not the main reason he’s on this list. His value comes from the third phase, where he’s built a reputation as a core contributor.
That reputation was earned before injury cut his 2025 season short. Niemann missed nine games after suffering a torn pectoral muscle in Week 8, but before that he had piled up 10 solo tackles and two assisted tackles. At the time he went down, he led the NFL in total tackles on special teams.
If he stays healthy in 2026, the Packers may have one of the league’s better special teams players on their hands. The article even leaves the door open to Niemann being an All-Pro if everything breaks right. For a team trying to sharpen every edge in a season with Super Bowl expectations, that’s not a small thing.
Niemann checks in at No. 37 in the Packers’ ranking of the top 50 players heading into 2026, sitting just ahead of Warren Brinson and behind Carrington Valentine.
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