Later this week, the Packers will head into training camp and, in practical terms, the 2026 season starts to come into focus. The attention around Green Bay has mostly centered on the players who need to break through. But there’s another side to that conversation now: the veterans who may be out of chances if they don’t show something in camp and the preseason.
Some names feel safer than others. Lukas Van Ness still has time to turn his promise into production, and MarShawn Lloyd, now apparently healthy, can still change the backfield if he can stay on the field. Even if neither one fully delivers, both are still expected to be around for 2026.
That doesn’t hold true for everyone.
Travis Glover and Jacob Monk are two 2024 draft picks who enter camp with real pressure hanging over them. The Packers’ starting offensive line looks mostly settled, with the bigger questions centered on whether Aaron Banks can rebound after a disappointing first year in Green Bay, whether Anthony Belton can find his footing at guard after a rough midseason move, and whether Sean Rhyan has finally locked down center. Behind that group, though, the picture gets murkier.
Darian Kinnard is back as a swing option at tackle and guard, while rookie Jager Burton spent the offseason program as the top interior backup. But Kinnard spent most of 2025 as a backup right tackle and “jumbo” tight end, and Burton’s standing won’t really be known until he proves himself in pads. That leaves Glover and Monk needing to push hard just to keep the Packers comfortable with their depth.
Glover has already logged meaningful snaps, including playoff action. Monk, by contrast, has mostly survived because he was a draft pick, playing just six offensive snaps outside of what was basically an exhibition against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 18 last season.
Glover’s season-ending shoulder injury kept him from making a run at a top backup job in 2025, and Monk now has Burton drafted over him. Glover brings tackle-guard versatility and the kind of size Green Bay has emphasized the last two offseasons, and Matt LaFleur praised him when the injury wiped out his 2025.
Still, praise only goes so far. Monk, meanwhile, has to earn even steady reps in practice and preseason work with the No. 1 or No. 2 offense.
The math is not kind here. It would not be a surprise if only one of Glover and Monk survives to the initial 53-man roster, and there’s even a path where neither one makes it.
Ty’Ron Hopper is in a different spot, but the pressure is just as real. Brian Gutekunst bucked the consensus when he took him in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft, even though Hopper had started games at Florida and Missouri. The issue has been that his physical traits never matched the kind of elite profile that usually pushes linebackers into the top 100.
Two full seasons later, the Packers still haven’t gotten much from him on defense. Hopper has played in every game, but he has only 144 defensive snaps to his name, and almost half of those came in the meaningless regular-season finale at Minnesota. He has been useful on special teams, but that may not be enough to keep him safe when roster cuts arrive.
He’ll also be working with new coaches in 2026. Jonathan Gannon is in as the new defensive coordinator, and the Packers also changed special-teams coordinators after Rich Bisaccia’s departure.
That gives Hopper a fresh chance to make an impression. But if Green Bay believed strongly that he was about to carve out a real defensive role, it probably wouldn’t have extended reserve linebacker Isaiah McDuffie.
Messiah Swinson is another player who has hung around Green Bay long enough to know the stakes. The Packers didn’t draft him, but they’ve still invested plenty of time in the former UDFA, who has already had three separate stints with the team. His latest run started in early January, when Green Bay signed him to the practice squad.
Swinson’s size jumps off the page. At more than 6-foot-7 and around 260 pounds, he brings real value as a blocker and on special teams, especially with the league leaning more heavily into 12 and 13 personnel over the past year. He also has a solid college background, splitting time between Missouri and Arizona State.
The problem is that the Packers have added competition at tight end, bringing in 2025 draft pick Luke Lachey and UDFA RJ Maryland. Lachey is the most direct threat, especially because he and Swinson bring similar size to the table.
Swinson could still win his way through that crowd. But if he doesn’t, Green Bay probably won’t be bringing him back for a fourth try.
In Other News...
Packers Suddenly Linked To Veteran Pass Rush Help They May Need Fast
Micah Parsons is expected to open the 2026 season on the Physically Unable to Perform list while he works back from a torn ACL, and that creates an obvious problem for a Packers defense that was counting on him to change the edge in a hurry. With Parsons sidelined, Green Bay may have to lean on less proven options to hold the line early, which is exactly the kind of hole that tends to send front offices scanning the veteran market for a quick fix.
One name now being floated in that conversation is Von Miller, whose own future has become a talking point after he said he regrets his previous signing and could be looking for a new team for 2026. For a Packers club trying to stay in the Super Bowl mix while sorting out its pass-rush depth, the appeal is easy to understand, even if the timing and fit still leave plenty to sort through. [Read more 🡒]
DJ Moore Goodbye Came With One Last Shot At Packers
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For Packers fans, the more interesting part is how the farewell landed beyond the usual thank-you note. Chicago supporters got the gratitude, the memories and the reminder that Moores time with the Bears had plenty of moments worth revisiting, but the message also carried one last piece of old rivalry energy before the family turned the page on his next stop. [Read more 🡒]
Packers Addition Earns Leaguewide Recognition As Depth Debate Heats Up
Green Bays offseason push to thicken the roster has already started to draw notice beyond Lambeau Field, and one of the newer faces is getting a pretty useful kind of attention. Benjamin St.-Juste, signed by the Packers as part of a broader effort to add reliable depth, was included on ESPNs NFL All-Backup Team after his work at cornerback with the Chargers, a nod that suggests he can be more than just an emergency option if Green Bay needs him in 2026.
The Packers have also brought in Zaire Franklin in another targeted move aimed at making the roster sturdier from top to bottom, and that is where the real interest lies. Depth is often the difference between surviving a long season and being forced to patch holes on the fly, so recognition like St.-Justes only adds to the sense that Green Bays front office is trying to build something more resilient, even if the biggest questions about how those additions fit will have to wait. [Read more 🡒]