The first public practice of Packers training camp is here, and with it comes the annual rush to turn every rep into a revelation. That’s part of the fun. It’s also a good way to get fooled.
Green Bay will open camp later today, and by the following week the pads will be on for the first time, which means the real football feel of the 2026 season is about to show up in a hurry. The trick, as always, is figuring out which early clues matter and which ones are just noise.
One of the biggest things worth watching is how the Packers use Zaire Franklin and Edgerrin Cooper in Jonathan Gannon’s defense. Franklin’s arrival already pointed to a meaningful shift on that side of the ball, and his existing connection with Gannon only sharpened the questions around the off-ball linebackers.
By the time organized-team activities rolled around, the answer to at least part of that mystery was clear: the Packers want Franklin to be the voice of the defense.
“Zaire has been awesome, just a real leader, an alpha, you can feel him, he does a great job communicating,” head coach Matt LaFleur said in May. “He wears the green dot, so, naturally, you’re the quarterback of the defense. I think he holds himself to a high standard, and he holds those around him to a high standard.”
That setup makes Franklin easy to identify. The bigger question is what it means for Cooper.
If Franklin is handling the communication duties as the “green dot” player, does Cooper’s snap count dip in this new-look defense? And if that happens, which situations will send him to the sideline?
In Other News...
Packers Get A Brutal Reality Check About Their 2026 Roster
The Packers are heading into 2026 with a roster that already looks thinner than it should, and the concern starts with the players who are no longer there. Romeo Doubs, Quay Walker and Rashan Gary are among the notable departures, leaving Green Bay with fewer proven pieces and a lot more pressure on the players still standing. For a team that expects to contend, that kind of turnover makes every injury a little more dangerous than it ought to be.
Mike Taniers read on the situation was blunt in a way Packers fans wont love: the margin for error is shrinking fast. The offensive line and secondary are the spots that stand out most, because the depth behind the starters is so untested that any absence could quickly turn into a problem. If Green Bay is going to get through next season intact, health may matter even more than usual. [Read more 🡒]
Former Packers Corner Corey Ballentine Just Got Another NFL Lifeline
Corey Ballentine is getting another shot to stick in the NFL, and for Packers fans, his name still carries a little relevance from his time in Green Bay. The veteran cornerback has bounced around the league for seven seasons, and his most productive stretch came with the Packers, where he logged a career-high workload in 2023 and showed he could handle a meaningful role on defense.
Now the challenge is simply earning a spot in camp all over again. Jacksonville had to make a corresponding roster move to bring him in, and Ballentine enters a crowded cornerback picture with little margin for error, needing to prove he belongs before the Jaguars sort out the rest of the secondary. [Read more 🡒]