The Packers’ defense has a new tone-setter in Zaire Franklin, and Green Bay paid a real price to get him.
With Quay Walker allowed to leave in free agency after leading the team in tackles, the Packers moved quickly to fill the hole next to Edgerrin Cooper. General manager Brian Gutekunst sent third-year defensive tackle Colby Wooden to the Indianapolis Colts and brought back Franklin, a veteran linebacker with a long track record of piling up stops.
Franklin’s path to this point is the kind of climb NFL teams love to point to. The Colts took him in the seventh round of the 2018 NFL Draft out of Syracuse, and he worked his way from special teams contributor to starting linebacker. By 2024, he had already reached Pro Bowl and second-team All-Pro status.
Now he lands in Green Bay with eight seasons, 132 games and 82 starts behind him. His career totals tell you exactly what he is: 738 tackles, including 417 solo stops, plus 34 tackles for loss, 19 quarterback hits, 10 sacks, 10 forced fumbles and one fumble recovery.
He also comes off another productive season. In 2025, Franklin started all 17 games for the Colts and finished with 125 tackles, 62 of them solo, along with seven tackles for loss, six quarterback hits, two sacks and one forced fumble.
Franklin said, "I just feel like every moment that I've had in my career has prepared me for this moment. I truly feel like God placed me here.
I feel like this is just a divine timing. I'm just blessed to be on a team and organization that's ready, that's got everything we need.
The building's got everything we need. The organization's got everything we need.
I'm just trying to come here and do my part."
The expectation is clear: Franklin will start next to Cooper and give the Packers both steady production and a veteran voice in a rebuilt front seven.
The ranking sits inside a broader countdown of the top 50 Packers heading into 2026, with Sean Rhyan at No. 19, Lukas Van Ness at No. 20 and Isaiah McDuffie at No. 21.
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Packers Suddenly Have A Josh Jacobs Problem With Real Week 1 Stakes
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For Green Bay, the football question and the off-field uncertainty are suddenly intertwined. Jacobs was arrested earlier this year but has not been formally charged, and the NFL has not announced any disciplinary action, leaving the Packers to prepare for a possibility they cannot yet fully define while still trying to map out their backfield plan for the start of the season. [Read more 🡒]