Crazy Stat About Packers Starters Doesn’t Say What You Might Think It Says

Tony Holzman-Escareno, a senior NFL researcher who goes by @NFL_Researcher on X, posted one heck of a stat that Green Bay Packers fans quickly seized upon.

Which teams had the most players start at least one game last season?

The Tennessee Titans and New York Jets were first with 51. The Packers were next with 50.

Most players to start a game in 2025…

1. Titans - 51
2. Jets - 51
3. Packers - 50
4. Chargers - 48
4. Giants - 48
4. Cowboys - 48
4. Commanders - 48
4. Dolphins - 48

Fewest starters in 2025…

28. Bears - 40
28. Bengals - 40
30. Seahawks - 38
30. Patriots - 38
32. Rams - 36
— NFL Researcher (@NFL_Researcher) March 29, 2026

Fifty starters? It was proof of the number of injuries the Packers endured last season.

Well, the Packers weren’t especially injured. (More on that in a moment.) Rather, the number of starters can be explained with use of two words.

Week.

Eighteen.

With an eye on getting ready for the playoffs and Round 3 against the rival Chicago Bears, Packers coach Matt LaFleur treated the final game of the regular season as the equivalent of a bye.

Clayton Tune went from the practice squad to starting at quarterback.

Tune was thrown to the wolves (and was thanked with a pink slip a couple days later). Jacob Monk made his first career start at center. Undrafted rookie Drake Dabney made his first start at tight end. Undrafted rookie Jakobie Keeney-James made his first start.

The No. 1 defensive line consisted of rookies Barryn Sorrell, Nazir Stackhouse and Warren Brinson along with Brenon Cox. All four made their first career start.

At linebacker, undrafted rookie Jamon Johnson made his first start.

The Packers started with a veteran secondary that included cornerback Trevon Diggs, who started in his Packers debut.

Added together, 10 players made their first start of the season in Week 18. Had LaFleur played to win rather than played for health, the Packers would have finished the season with 40 players starting at least one game. That would have been tied for the fourth-fewest behind the Rams (36), Patriots (38) and Seahawks (38).

Only the Browns (10) and Titans (nine) started more rookies than the Packers (eight). But, again, that was because of how LaFleur treated Week 18. Dabney, Keeney-James, Sorrell, Stackhouse, Brinson and Johnson were rookies who started against Minnesota.

Without that game, only first-round pick Matthew Golden and second-round pick Anthony Belton started from the rookie class. Only the Rams (one) had fewer rookie starters.

The Packers used 73 players, 13th-most in the league. Arizona used the most (81) and Denver and Jacksonville used the fewest (65).

No, Injuries Weren’t the Problem

The Packers weren’t especially injured last season. The magnitude of the season-ending knee injuries sustained by tight end Tucker Kraft and Micah Parsons, obviously, can’t be overlooked. Kraft missed the second half of the season and Parsons missed the stretch run. They were devastating blows – Kraft was arguably the team’s best player on offense and Parsons was inarguably one of the best players in the NFL on defense.

Receiver Christian Watson missed the first half of the season with a knee injury, fellow receiver Jayden Reed missed 10 games with a broken collarbone and right tackle Zach Tom missed games early and late in the season.

But every team deals with injuries. That’s part of the business.

According to Aaron Schatz’s Adjusted Games Lost metric, the Packers were the 15th-most injured team – right in the middle of the pack. Similarly, the Packers were 19th in Sports Info Solutions’ Total Points Missed metric.

So, no, injuries weren’t an excuse – and they weren’t used as one.

“I think you have to be able to overcome injuries, whatever those are, and we didn’t,” general manager Brian Gutekunst said this week at the NFL owners meetings. “Certainly, at the end of the season [there were key injuries], but I do believe in our team very much. I think we got a great group of guys, a very talented group.

“This’ll be a whole new year. They’ve got to come together as a team, like I’ve spoken about many times. It doesn’t matter how much talent they have if they don’t come together as a team in order to accomplish ultimately what we want to. But I thought we did some really good things last year, but at the end when some of the adversity hit, we didn’t finish like we wanted to and I would expect this team working toward fixing that.”

Ultimately, LaFleur’s Week 18 approach didn’t pay off. The Packers certainly didn’t lose their playoff game to Chicago because LaFleur rested his key players. Indeed, his team was crushing Chicago for most of the game before imploding.

The loss fueled speculation that LaFleur would pay the price. Instead, he’s back for Year 8.

"I was confident in what we've been able to do,” LaFleur told reporters on Monday. “Certainly, are we satisfied? Hell no. Not even close. We always want more. Until you're hoisting that Lombardi, you're not going to be satisfied and, even then, you're going to want to do it again.

“I'm certainly grateful of the opportunity. I love this organization, the city, the people, the community, but I love our players, too.”

For the Packers’ perennially downtrodden special teams, the sky could be the limit.

Make that the Skyy could be the limit.

Here's part of my exclusive conversation with Skyy Moore. ⬇️https://t.co/98m6jvRqFQ
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) April 1, 2026

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