The Packers have an opening in Week 2, and it comes with a big name sitting out on the other side.
New York will be without star safety Minkah Fitzpatrick after he suffered a groin injury in the win over Tennessee, according to NFL insider Jordan Schultz. Schultz reported that Fitzpatrick is expected to miss two to three weeks, a significant blow to a secondary that was supposed to get a major lift from his arrival.
That absence matters because the Jets had brought Fitzpatrick in from the Miami Dolphins early in 2026 to help stabilize the back end of the defense. A first-round pick in 2018, Fitzpatrick has now had two separate stints with Miami and also spent time with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
New York still has options, though, and Dane Belton is set to fill the role Fitzpatrick handled once he exited the Titans game. Sophomore Malachi Moore has shown flashes, and Andre Cisco is likely to start alongside Belton.
Cisco’s path makes him an interesting part of this matchup. He was a third-round pick by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2021, broke out in 2022, then regressed over the next two seasons.
He signed with the Jets last year but missed a large portion of the 2025 season after a pectoral tear. He has shown ballhawk ability before, but there’s no hiding the fact that New York is dealing with a downgrade while Fitzpatrick is out.
That gives Green Bay a chance to press the issue after a Week 1 loss to Minnesota in which the passing game was hardly the problem. Matthew Golden backed up the offseason buzz, Christian Watson looked like the explosive weapon the Packers hoped for, and Tucker Kraft looked fully recovered from the ACL tear he suffered in 2025. The three combined to catch 15 of Jordan Love’s passes for 307 yards and two touchdowns.
The offensive line is still a concern, and if the Packers can’t keep Love upright, it won’t matter much who is missing in the Jets’ secondary. The coaching staff has already hinted at changes up front to give their quarterback better protection.
Still, this is the kind of game Green Bay has to have. It’s winnable, and it carries extra weight if the Packers want to avoid falling further behind in the NFC North race. Fitzpatrick’s injury only makes that path a little clearer.
In Other News...
Packers O-Line Issues Just Turned Into A Bigger Coaching Debate
The Packers opening-week loss quickly pushed the offensive line into the center of the conversation, and offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich tried to frame the problems as more about communication than anything structural. He said the choice to start Donovan Jennings at left guard came down to what the staff saw in practice, and he also left open the possibility of moving Anthony Belton back to guard as Green Bay continues to search for the right mix up front.
What makes the issue linger is that the discussion has started to bleed beyond the line itself. Stenavich and Matt LaFleur offered different explanations about how Tucker Kraft was used on one particular play, a small detail that points to a larger question about how cleanly the offense is being coached and executed. For a unit already under pressure after Week 1, those kinds of differences matter because they can reveal whether the problem is simply timing, or something deeper. [Read more 🡒]
Josh Jacobs Update Leaves Packers Facing A Serious Off-Field Question
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The remaining issue now centers on what happens with the evidence from the incident itself. The victims legal team has asked to seal surveillance footage related to the case, and the Packers are left monitoring a situation that has moved beyond the courtroom but not fully out of the spotlight. [Read more 🡒]
Aaron Rodgers Sent A Message Steelers Fans Will Love After Week 1
After Week 1 in Pittsburgh, Aaron Rodgers took a moment to reach across the aisle and salute a familiar face. The former Packers quarterback sent ZaDarius Smith a handwritten note after the Steelers game against the Falcons, praising the veteran pass rushers energy and the way he worked his way back into the action.
Rodgers and Smith spent three seasons together in Green Bay, so the message carried the kind of respect that usually comes from shared locker rooms and a few battles together. Smith had only recently signed with Atlanta after a brief retirement, and he played through a shoulder issue in the opener, a detail Steelers fans will appreciate even if the note itself was aimed at an old teammate. [Read more 🡒]