10 Most Important Packers for Today’s Game at Cardinals

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers will look to overcome their travel adventure and put together a four-quarter victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday in Glendale, Ariz.

Here are the 10 most important players for the Packers.

No. 10: RG Jordan Morgan

With all their offensive linemen finally available, the Packers last week made a change at right guard with Jordan Morgan replacing Sean Rhyan for most of the game.

Right tackle Zach Tom was impressed.

“I thought he played really well,” Tom said on Friday. “We had a couple good double teams. On one of Josh’s touchdowns, he basically opened the hole and then got up to the linebacker. He made that play happen. I thought he played pretty well. It’s going to be good to continue building that chemistry with him.

“He’s going to have a pretty big challenge this week with Calais, but I think he’s ready for it.”

Calais Campbell is a unicorn. The 39-year-old, who will be making his 32nd consecutive start, has three sacks and nine quarterback hits. The 6-foot-8, 315-pounder is a giant in the game who’s still capable of making a game-changing play.

No. 9: DE Kingsley Enagbare

With Lukas Van Ness out with a foot injury, more will be required from Kingsley Enagbare. Last season, Enagbare played in all 17 games with seven starts. Getting 47 percent playing time, he finished with 4.5 sacks, six tackles for losses and eight quarterback hits. Playing only 25 percent of the snaps this season, he has zero sacks, zero TFLs and one quarterback hit.

No. 8: LB Quay Walker

It’s going to take a village to hold Cardinals tight end Trey McBride in check, with linebackers Quay Walker and Edgerrin Cooper and safety Evan Williams leading the charge.

For the sake of this point, we’ll go back to last season’s game at Lambeau Field, when McBride caught all eight targets for 96 yards. Pro Football Focus charged five of those catches to Walker.

“He’s a great player,” defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley said of McBride. “I think he’s one of the best tight ends in the league. I remember coming off the field last year really being impressed with him. He’s a lot faster than you think and he looks faster on the field than he does on tape, and he’s strong and he’s explosive and he’s got good hands and he played with the right mentality and mindset.

“I love the way he plays football. They do a lot of things; it’s not just in the dropback game, it’s in the play-action game. They run a lot of deep crossers with him, they run a lot of intermediate routes with him, they run screens to him, they run RPOs to him, so they use him like a wide receiver and not just like a tight end, and they try to feed him the ball as much as they can.”

No. 7: WR Matthew Golden

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Matthew Golden (0) runs after a catch against the Bengals last week. | Sarah Kloepping/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Games typically are won and lost on third down. Green Bay is No. 1 in the NFL in third-down offense and Arizona is No. 7 in third-down defense.

To move the chains and win the game, the Packers will need their playmakers to deliver. Matthew Golden is one of those playmakers. On third and fourth down, the rookie leads the team in targets (nine), receptions (six), yards (171) and conversions (six). Five of those catches and conversions have come the last three games.

“I think he’s got confidence in whoever’s in the right spot,” coach Matt LaFleur said of Jordan Love’s decision-making. “He’s always had confidence in him. And MG’s maximizing those opportunities and doing a great job and showing strong hands.”

No. 6: DT Karl Brooks

With Devonte Wyatt out again, the Packers will rely heavily on defensive tackle Karl Brooks. He led the unit with a career-high 53 snaps last week but didn’t have any tackles. After having five quarterback pressures at Dallas, he had only two against Cincinnati.

The Cardinals’ offensive front is vulnerable. The team’s established starter, right guard Will Hernandez, is banged up and not playing to his usual standard. Without Wyatt’s presence as a pass rusher and with so much focus on Micah Parsons, Brooks has to take advantage of his opportunities.

No. 5: S Xavier McKinney

They’re having down seasons from a statistical perspective, but the #Packers’ Xavier McKinney and the Cardinals’ Budda Baker are two of the best safeties in the NFL. They will be central figures in today's game. ⬇️https://t.co/mG9KfrOEpI
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) October 19, 2025

Nobody is challenging Xavier McKinney. After intercepting eight passes during an All-Pro debut season in Green Bay, quarterbacks aren’t bothering to throw it in No. 29’s ZIP code this season.

“I’m being honest. It’s boring,” he said.

The Packers have to get McKinney involved. Other than Micah Parsons, he’s their best defensive player.

“It’s just one of them things where, as the weeks go by, you start to figure it out,” McKinney said. “Like last year, they were trying it; this year, it’s been a little different. It’s new to really all of us. Obviously, Micah’s new, everybody’s new, so we still trying to figure out what’s going to work best to put the guys in the best positions to be able to make a lot of plays.”

No. 4: RB Emanuel Wilson

Green Bay Packers running back Emanuel Wilson (23) runs with the ball past Dallas Cowboys safety Donovan Wilson. | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Pro Bowl running back Josh Jacobs, coming off back-to-back games of 150 total yards, suffered a calf injury on Friday and is questionable. The decision to elevate Pierre Strong from the practice squad obviously suggests Jacobs’ injury is a real concern.

If Jacobs is out or on limited snaps, it will be up to Emanuel Wilson to pick up the slack. Wilson is a quality player. He rushed for 507 yards with a 4.9-yard average last season. This season, he’s carried the ball only 18 times, but his 4.7-yard average is a full yard better than Jacobs’ mark.

It will be critical for Wilson to keep the Packers in good down-and-distance situations against one of the best third-down defenses in the league.

No. 3: TE Tucker Kraft

Other than the Bengals, no defense has fared worse against opposing tight ends than the Cardinals. They’ve given up 41 catches for 417 yards and two touchdowns this season. That’s the second-most catches and third-most yards. Last week, star Colts rookie Tyler Warren caught 6-of-9 targets for 63 yards and one touchdown.

Tucker Kraft, obviously, is one of the main cogs in Green Bay’s offense. Good things happen when he gets the ball. After catching only two passes last week, this should be a matchup the Packers will want to exploit.

Really, Green Bay needs to get him more opportunities, regardless of the opponent. Last season, he was 18th in targets among tight ends but was ninth in yards and sixth in touchdowns. This season, almost incredibly, he is 26th in targets among tight ends but eighth in yards – including second in yards after the catch per catch – and fifth in touchdowns.

No. 2: DE Micah Parsons

In the NBA, when a star player or his coach lobbies for calls from the officials, the result generally is the star player gets some more calls. Will that happen in the case of Micah Parsons, who spent most of his Thursday conversation with reporters wondering why opposing linemen are allowed to get away with the line-of-scrimmage equivalent of murder?

“I think there’s like two or three [egregious penalties] a game, on a realistic, like, you should call it,” Parsons said. “The ones that are close, that’s like, whatever, that’s football. It’s combative. I get it. But the egregious ones need to be called. That’s how guys get hurt, man.”

Parsons has only 2.5 sacks but is tied for fourth with 29 pressures, according to Pro Football Focus. PFF provided to Packers On SI its holding data. He’s drawn two holding penalties, which is only one less than the leading edge rushers. Last year in Dallas, he drew four, which was the sixth-most among edge rushers and three behind Denver’s Nik Bonitto.

According to PFF, 66 offensive tackles have played at least 100 pass-protecting snaps. Cardinals left tackle Paris Johnson ranks eighth in pass-blocking efficiency, which measures sacks, hits and hurries allowed per pass-protecting snap, and right tackle Jonah Williams is 43rd. They’ve both been guilty of two penalties.

No. 1. QB Jordan Love

Jordan Love, who threw four touchdown passes against the Cardinals last season, could have an especially important role this week. Because the Packers lean so heavily on running back Josh Jacobs, they have the second-lowest passing rate in the NFL this season. With Jacobs injured, the Packers could unleash Love for the first time this season.

Love is off to a strong start, ranking fourth in passer rating, seventh in completion percentage and second in yards per attempt. He just hasn’t been asked to really carry the offense. That might happen on Sunday against a defense that is seventh in opponent passer rating.

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The fourth quarter has been a problem for the #Packers. On Sunday, it's one of three reasons why they'll win. ⬇️https://t.co/0jydTGDfvO
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) October 19, 2025