Packers Lose to Eagles; Five Biggest Needs Heading Into 2025 Season

PHILADELPHIA – The Green Bay Packers fell short of their goal once again.
After a summer of high expectations and optimism, it was the same old feeling that they have had every winter since February 2011.
The Packers are not Super Bowl champions, but did objectively improve from their 2023 season, which saw them go 9-8 before bowing out in the second round of the NFC playoffs.
This year, they bowed out in the first round against the Philadelphia Eagles, a game in which it felt like they were outclassed from the start.
They won 11 games, and three of those came with Jordan Love missing at least a significant portion of the game.
Their defense was much improved under Jeff Hafley, who will return for his second season as defensive coordinator in 2025.
For the Packers to get back into the Super Bowl, they need improvements on both sides of the ball.
They were a good team, but not a great one.
Here are the areas they need to address to become a great team.
Cornerback
The cornerback position would have made this list a year ago, but Brian Gutekunst evidently disagreed.
He brought back Keisean Nixon in the offseason, but that was his only significant move at the position.
He chose to trust the health of Jaire Alexander and Eric Stokes, while also relying on development from last year’s seventh-round pick, Carrington Valentine.
Alexander’s future is uncertain in Green Bay after he struggled with injuries again, including being put on injured reserve after continuing to re-aggravate a PCL injury suffered in Jacksonville.
Will the Packers keep a player with a big cap number who has not been able to stay on the field? That’s the question Gutekunst has to answer.
Stokes had more downs than ups. He was essentially a DNP in the team’s final regular-season game against the Chicago Bears.
Valentine was in competition with Stokes all season, but did not pull ahead of him until late in the year.
Valentine finished tied for second on the team with two interceptions.
Stokes is a free agent. He probably won’t be back.
Valentine isn’t entrenched as a starter to where Gutekunst should not search for an upgrade.
Nixon had some nice moments playing both inside and outside, but probably is not someone that should be relied upon as an every-down performer.
Much like Gutekunst gave the safety room a complete makeover, he may have to do the same with the cornerback room.
Receiver
Matt LaFleur said the concept of having a WR1 made him want to vomit.
Green Bay’s passing offense was good through most of the year, but hit a wall late in the season.
Jordan Love took better care of the ball after the bye week, but almost at the expense of making plays down the field.
The calculus of the receiver room changed dramatically in the final game of the regular season.
Romeo Doubs missed the game with an illness, which in turn caused the Packers to play Christian Watson when he was less than 100 percent.
Watson wound up suffering a torn ACL and will miss a significant chunk of next season.
Both men are slated to be free agents after next season.
Meanwhile,Doubs left suffered a scary concussion during the fourth quarter against the Eagles.
Looking ahead a year, will the Packers pay both players? Will they pay either of them? There are more questions than answers surrounding both players now that their third season is over.
Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks are the other two receivers, and they had their ups and downs as well.
Both players struggled with drops. Reed still led the team in receptions and receiving yards.
Wicks led the team in targets with 76, but only had 39 receptions during the regular season.
For a group that came into the year thinking they had four guys that could be featured at any given moment, there is some work to be done.
Do the Packers need a veteran with Watson set to miss time? Will they make choices ahead of time and potentially deal Romeo Doubs this offseason?
It feels like a mortal lock that they’ll draft someone in the first three rounds this year to replace at least one of the guys currently in the room.
They don’t need to spend a fortune to get a superstar like Tee Higgins, but some consistency is needed from this group, along with an injection of more young talent.
Defensive End
If we made a list of most disappointing Packers in 2024, Lukas Van Ness might be at the top of the list.
He was a popular candidate to be a breakout player coming into the season, and had a sack in his preseason debut.
That only made the noise surrounding him louder.
By the end of the season, he was less productive than undrafted free agent Brenton Cox Jr, who was a healthy scratch for most of the season until a midseason trade of Preston Smith.
Rashan Gary had a good season, but is paid to be great.
Van Ness did not have a good season, and was drafted to be good.
Cox and Kingsley Enagbare are both better suited as backups.
Enagbare is going to be a free agent after the 2025 season, which could cause the Packers to draft a potential replacement a year early.
Either way, Green Bay’s pass rush has to provide more punch than it did during their 2024 season.
Defensive Line
Kenny Clark was set to be one of the anchors for this team as it transitioned to a new defense under Jeff Hafley.
Clark responded with his least productive season since he was a rookie. He had one sack on the year, and four TFL.
His third contract, a rarity in Green Bay, has aged poorly, and he’ll be looking to bounce back in 2025.
Beyond him, the Packers have more questions than answers.
Karl Brooks had some heroic moments, including a blocked field goal that preserved a 20-19 win over the Chicago Bears in November.
He is likely too small to be an every down player.
Devonte Wyatt will be entering a contract year, and has never fully broken out to be the interior rusher the Packers thought they were getting when they drafted him 28th overall.
He did finish the year second on the team with five sacks
The Packers will have a decision to make on his fifth-year option, but it’s unlikely they’d pick that up.
TJ Slaton is going to be a free agent, and might have a market as a run defender who does the dirty work for other guys to make plays.
Colby Wooden is a replacement level player.
Clark will be back, but all three of the other defensive tackles are only under contract for one more season. This position could be a candidate for Green Bay’s first round pick.
Linebacker
Quay Walker looked like he was finally starting to become the player Brian Gutekunst envisioned when he picked him 22nd overall in the 2022 NFL Draft.
Walker had big games against San Francisco and Miami in late November. He held up well against Detroit’s offense, which was another positive sign for him.
Then he suffered a high-ankle sprain in December against the Seattle Seahawks.
That knocked him out for the rest of the regular season.
A decision will have to be made on Walker’s fifth-year option, but it’s likely he’ll be entering a contract year.
The headliner of this group, however is rookie Edgerrin Cooper.
Cooper was a part-time player for most of the season, but finished the season with the team lead in TFL.
The coaching staff continued to pump the brakes on the hype train for Cooper, but his talent flashed nearly any time he stepped onto the field.
He’s already their best player in this position group.
Beyond Walker and Cooper, there are a lot of question marks.
Ty’Ron Hopper was picked in the third round, but was buried behind Isaiah McDuffie and Eric Wilson for the duration of the season.
Wilson and McDuffie are both set to be free agents.
Wilson was a staple on special teams. McDuffie had the experience of playing for Jeff Hafley in college, but is likely to be playing elsewhere in 2025.
Cooper represents the only sure thing to be a long-term solution with this position group. They’ll likely need to add another guy here.
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The #Packers have wasted another season. That's 14 years and counting without a Super Bowl.
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) January 13, 2025
A season that started with high hopes and talk of a Super Bowl ended with two more wins but a one-and-done playoffs. ⬇️https://t.co/ANVTpUyG4Z
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