Grading Packers’ Re-Signing of Jonathan Ford

The Green Bay Packers drafted Jonathan Ford in the seventh round of the 2022 draft. An absolute mountain of a man, he seemed tailor made to be a key cog in the run defense.

Ford spent all of his rookie season on the practice squad and didn’t play in a game. He spent all of his second season on the practice squad and didn’t play in a game. He spent most of his third season on the practice squad and didn’t play in a game until the Bears signed him for the end of the season.

Fast forward to late in the 2025 season. The Bears released Ford. The Packers, who had lost former first-round pick Devonte Wyatt and newcomer Jordon Riley to season-ending injuries, were looking to add some beef to the defensive line.

Welcome back, Jonathan.

They welcomed him back again on Wednesday. Just before the start of the league-year, the Packers re-signed Ford, who was scheduled to be a restricted free agent.

DL Jonathan Ford is headed back to the Packers, the original team that drafted him, on a new deal, per source. He was with Green Bay in 2025.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) March 11, 2026

Jonathan Ford’s Winding Road

When Ford was re-signed, the opportunity hardly needed to be stated. It was stated, anyway. The Packers might not have needed him early in his career, but they sure as heck needed him now after the Ravens had just obliterated Green Bay’s once-formidable run defense and with the playoffs on the horizon.

“He’s been preaching opportunity since I met him,” Ford said of conversations with defensive line coach DeMarcus Covington. “He told me you got a big shot this week. Opportunity to go out there and show that you can help us in the playoffs and that’s all I want to do is just go and help this team as much as I can.”

At 6-foot-5 and about 340 pounds – a “massive human being,” as coach Matt LaFleur called him – Ford with the Bears played in four games at the end of the 2024 season and eight games in 2025. Ford made his Packers debut immediately, playing a career-high 30 snaps against the Vikings in the rest-the-starters finale at Minnesota. He played 18 more snaps in his return to Chicago for the playoffs.

His time in Chicago got him ready for Round 2 with the Packers.

“It’s definitely boosted it,” he said of his confidence. “It definitely boosted it because you can be in the league for however long but, if you just practicing and kind of developing, you really don’t know what you got until you get out there when you go against the ones you do good-on-good.

“The fact that I was able to do that, it helped me. It definitely boosted my confidence. It gave me the confidence to let me know that I can do it and that I belong in this league.”

Ford learned behind the likes of Kenny Clark during his first stint in Green Bay. Then, he learned on the field during his opportunities with the Bears.

“Just with my attention to detail,” he said. “I came here as a young player. This is where I started. So, when they got me, I was still a puppy. I’m not a 10-year vet, but I’ve grown over the years as far as my technique, my attention to detail, just the way I play the game overall. I just think that as a player I just grew.”

Grading Packers’ Signing of Jonathan Ford

This is a big move for Green Bay – pardon the pun.

Defensive tackle was a position of need for the Packers even before they traded 16-game starter Colby Wooden to the Colts for linebacker Zaire Franklin.

The trade left the Packers with Wyatt, who has yet to play even 50 percent of the snaps in a season, Karl Brooks, whose production tumbled despite increased playing time, and 2025 rookies Warren Brinson and Nazir Stackhouse.

Without Wooden, who was the unit’s best run-stopper, Ford will have a chance to earn a role – finally – with the Packers in 2026. Re-signing him was big, but it can’t be the only moves that general manager Brian Gutekunst makes. A second wave of free agents is hitting the market, including the Vikings releasing Javon Hargrave and Jonathan Allen.

Between free agency and the draft, the Packers need to add a couple of defensive tackles. For now, though, this is a solid no-risk, all-reward signing.

Grade: B-plus.

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