The Packers’ early-season margin for error looks thin, and that puts Lukas Van Ness squarely in the spotlight.
With All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons working back from a torn ACL on the Physically Unable to Perform list, Green Bay is expected to need someone else to help carry the pass rush through the opening stretch. That someone, for now, is Van Ness.
The pressure on him has rarely been this intense. He’s entering a season where the Packers need him to look like the player his draft status suggested, because the defense needs disruption without Parsons.
ESPN’s Ben Solak named Van Ness the Packers’ biggest X-factor for the 2026 season, and the reasoning is straightforward. “The Packers anticipate playing without Micah Parsons for at least the first six weeks of the season,” Solak points out.
“As he returns from a torn left ACL. Van Ness must give Green Bay a three-down presence as a penetrator who creates negative plays.
I’m not sure where those negatives would come from otherwise. He has all the physical tools of a highly disruptive player - strong, quick and long with inside/out versatility - but the pieces have yet to come together.
Over his career, he has a pressure rate of 10.2% (the average for a league edge rusher is 12.7%) and a QB hit rate of 4.2% - right on league average. Most of these snaps were as a rotational player, too.
Now that Rashan Gary and Kingsley Enagbare are gone, Van Ness will have to take a higher percentage of snaps this season.”
That’s the challenge in plain view. Van Ness has the traits, but the production has not matched them yet. Through his first three NFL seasons, he has 8.5 sacks, and now the Packers may need him to be their most important defensive player for the first month of the season.
In Other News...
Packers Players Spark Debate With Their Night Out In Chicago
Several Packers players made the trip to Soldier Field in Chicago for Night 2 of Yes homecoming concert, taking in a show that drew 70,000 fans and featured multiple special guests. Jordan Love, Micah Parsons and Dani-Dennis Sutton were among the players who shared upbeat reactions on social media, giving the outing a little extra visibility at a time when every public appearance by prominent athletes tends to travel fast.
Yes return to touring in the United States after several years made the concert a noteworthy event on its own, and the Packers presence only added to the conversation around it. For a team whose players are already under the microscope, a night like this can quickly become more than just a night off, especially when reactions from the locker room start to circulate before the next round of football headlines takes over. [Read more 🡒]
Packers May Have An Undrafted Receiver Fans Can't Ignore
J. Michael Sturdivant did enough in the preseason to make the Packers keep paying attention, and for an undrafted rookie receiver, that is no small feat. A six-catch, 112-yard game helped him turn a camp body label into a legitimate roster spot, and it came at a time when Green Bay was sorting out a receiver room that already features Christian Watson, Jayden Reed and Matthew Golden at the top.
Sturdivant is not being asked to step in as a primary target, but his size and speed give the Packers another different look in the passing game. The expectation is that he can help stretch the field and work the sidelines, the kind of role that can matter even without a heavy target share, especially if Green Bay keeps looking for depth behind its established receivers. [Read more 🡒]
Packers Pass Rush Gamble Will Get An Early Reality Check
With Micah Parsons recovering, the Packers are asking a lot from a pass rush built around youth, opportunity and projection. Lukas Van Ness and Barryn Sorrell are expected to be front and center early, and Green Bays first three weeks of the 2026 season should offer a cleaner look at how ready that group really is when the pressure starts to build.
The schedule is soft enough to give the Packers some breathing room, but it also means the evaluation could come quickly if the edge rush does not show up as hoped. If Van Ness and Sorrell struggle to make the kind of impact Green Bay wants, the front office may not wait long before exploring veteran help, with names like Josh Sweat or Maxx Crosby looming as possible fixes. [Read more 🡒]