Check Out Crazy Packers Lineup Compared to First Matchup vs. Vikings

MINNEAPOLIS – The Green Bay Packers will use Week 18 as a brief interlude between the regular season and the playoffs. With nothing to play for on Sunday at the Minnesota Vikings, many of the Packers’ key players will watch the action from the sideline.

Based on pregame warmups, this could be the Packers’ starting lineup for Sunday compared to when they beat the Vikings at Lambeau Field on Nov. 23.

Offensive Starters vs. Vikings

Quarterback

Game 1: Jordan Love.

Sunday: Clayton Tune.

Clayton Tune, who was signed to the practice squad after final roster cuts, will make his second NFL start and his first since he was a rookie fifth-round draft pick by the Cardinals in 2023. Love will be the No. 2 quarterback.

It's a big challenge but an even bigger opportunity for Packers QB Clayton Tune. ⬇️https://t.co/lwgNbV3Etq
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) January 2, 2026

“I’m excited,” Tune said this week. “Any time you get an opportunity to play in an NFL game, it’s a huge blessing, so just excited for the opportunity to go out and play and trust the training that I’ve put in for the last however many weeks it’s been.”

Running Back

Game 1: Emanuel Wilson.

Sunday: Emanuel Wilson.

Josh Jacobs was inactive for the first game, as well. He will finish the season with 929 rushing yards and might finish second on the team with 36 receptions. Wilson rushed 28 times for 107 yards and two touchdowns in the first game. Chris Brooks is the next man up and the only other man up.

Receivers

Game 1: Romeo Doubs, Dontayvion Wicks, Christian Watson.

Sunday: Matthew Golden, Bo Melton, Jakobie Keeney-James.

Dontayvion Wicks is in the concussion protocol, was doubtful on the final injury report and is inactive. Romeo Doubs and Christian Watson are active; Watson suffered a torn ACL in Week 18 last season, so it seems unlikely he’ll get much action. Jayden Reed was on injured reserve for the first game and is active for this game.

First-round pick Matthew Golden was inactive for the first game due to a shoulder injury but could be the No. 1 target in this game. Receiver-turned-cornerback Bo Melton and Jakobie Keeney-James, who was signed from the practice squad on Saturday, might be the No. 1 trio.

Tight End

Game 1: John FitzPatrick.

Sunday: TBA, though it won’t be John FitzPatrick, who is on injured reserve with a torn Achilles. He started the first game following Tucker Kraft’s torn ACL against Carolina.

The Packers started the game with Drake Dabney, who was elevated from the practice squad for a second consecutive week, as the tight end ahead of Luke Musgrave and Josh Whyle.

Offensive Line

Game 1: LT Rasheed Walker, LG Aaron Banks, C Sean Rhyan, RG Jordan Morgan, RT Zach Tom.

Sunday: LT Jordan Morgan, LG Lecitus Smith, C Jacob Monk, RG Anthony Belton, RT Darian Kinnard.

Jordan Morgan, last year’s first-round pick, started at right guard in the first game but rotated briefly with Anthony Belton, this year’s second-round pick. Belton seized control of the job in that game and hasn’t left the lineup.

Morgan started the last two games at right tackle in place of Zach Tom, and now will start at left tackle. That might be where he starts next season if Rasheed Walker leaves in free agency. Jacob Monk has played six offensive snaps in two seasons and Lecitus Smith was promoted from the practice squad on Saturday.

Defensive Starters vs. Vikings

Defensive Ends

Game 1: Micah Parsons, Rashan Gary.

Sunday: Brenton Cox, Barryn Sorrell.

I’m excited to watch Barryn and CO today with these oops!
— Micah Parsons (@MicahhParsons11) January 4, 2026

Micah Parsons, of course, is on injured reserve. Rashan Gary, Kingsley Enagbare and Lukas Van Ness are all active but seem unlikely to play behind Brenton Cox, Barryn Sorrell, Arron Mosby and rookie Collin Oliver, who will be making his NFL debut.

Defensive Tackles

Game 1: Devonte Wyatt, Colby Wooden, Karl Brooks.

Sunday: Nazir Stackhouse, Warren Brinson.

Wooden and Brooks are active but might not play much, or at all, as the team’s primary defensive tackles get a breather before the playoffs. Behind Stackhouse and Brinson is Jonathan Ford, a seventh-round pick by the Packers in 2022 who was claimed off waivers from Chicago this week.

Jonathan Ford is back with the Packers. He has an opportunity as big as his broad shoulders.

He talked about it yesterday for this story, which includes a training camp photo by @CoachMason33 that I've always loved. ⬇️https://t.co/UkZBvMyPY9
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) January 1, 2026

Linebackers

Game 1: Edgerrin Cooper, Isaiah McDuffie.

Sunday: Isaiah McDuffie, Ty’Ron Hopper, Jamon Johnson.

Quay Walker was inactive for the first game, and he and Edgerrin Cooper are inactive for this game. McDuffie has been a key player all season, Hopper was a third-round pick last year and Johnson is an undrafted free agent who was elevated from the practice squad. Hopper has played 59 snaps on defense and Johnson has played zero.

Cornerbacks

Game 1: Keisean Nixon, Carrington Valentine.

Sunday: Keisean Nixon, Trevon Diggs.

Green Bay’s depth chart is almost unrecognizable with Nate Hobbs and Kamal Hadden going on injured reserve this week, Jaylin Simpson and Shemar Bartholomew signed from the practice squad and Trevon Diggs claimed off waivers.

Based on warmups, the usual starters were set to start. Instead, it was Keisean Nixon and Trevon Diggs starting and playing the entire series. Defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley wented to get a look at Diggs and wasted no time in doing so.

Simpson was a fifth-round pick last year who has not played in a game. Bartholomew played in five games for Carolina as a rookie in 2024 and served a brief stint on the Vikings’ practice squad this year.

“Just blessed for the opportunity, man,” Bartholomew said. “It’s the opportunity to put that film on tape, like the older guys been preaching to us. It’s an opportunity – not just this team but all the other 32 teams to put your film out there on tape.”

Safeties

Game 1: Xavier McKinney, Evan Williams.

Sunday: Evan Williams, Javon Bullard.

Xavier McKinney is inactive. Evan Williams and Javon Bullard played the opening snap before they were replaced by Kitan Oladapo and Jonathan Baldwin.

Special Teams

The battery of kicker Brandon McManus, punter Daniel Whelan and long snapper Matt Orzech are active. However, the seven players officially inactive combined to play 340 snaps on special teams, led by 151 by Xavier McKinney and 82 by Edgerrin Cooper.

The returners for most of the season have been Savion Williams on kickoffs and Romeo Doubs on punts. Williams was placed on injured reserve on Saturday. The first player out to field punts during warmups was Jakobie Keeney-James, and Bo Melton and Keeney-James were back for the opening kickoff.

Added together, this will be one of the more bizarre games in Packers history. The Packers are 12.5-point underdogs at FanDuel Sportsbook. The spread was 7.5 early in the week and 10.5 on Saturday. It’s the biggest underdog of coach Matt LaFleur’s tenure. They were 10.5-point underdogs at Buffalo in 2022; they’d never been bigger than eight-point underdogs, otherwise.

“Yeah, it’s not the first time this has happened,” LaFleur said on Friday. “I’ve been a part of teams where we’ve kind of taken this approach in the past. Like I tell the guys, nobody cares about the circumstance. All they care about is what you do when you go out there.

“So, it’s really upon each individual to go out there and put their best foot forward and put good stuff on tape because it takes all 11. We talk about it all the time. I can’t do my job if my buddy’s not doing his job. So, it’s just that focus of going out there, owning your responsibility, knowing the detail in which you’ve got to do it and then going to execute.”

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