Packers Have Huge Hole to Fill During Early Stages of NFL Free Agency

First thing’s first: NFL free agency has just begun and there are a lot of opportunities to improve the roster between free agency and the draft. The depth chart of the moment might not be the depth chart by the end of the hour, let alone the end of the day.

Nonetheless, the early stages of free agency on Monday have hit the Green Bay Packers hard at defensive end.

First, they traded Rashan Gary to the Dallas Cowboys. Coming off last year’s disappearing act and with a salary-cap charge of about $28 million, general manager Brian Gutekunst did well in procuring a fourth-round pick from the Cowboys.

Then, during the first wave of free agency, Kingsley Enagbare agreed to a one-year, $10 million contract with the Jets.

All along, it had been assumed the Packers would lose one of those players, with Gary being either a cost-cutting cut or having to swallow an incentives-filled pay cut. Ultimately, though, the Packers lost both players, so Gutekunst will have to pivot.

Remaining Depth Chart at Defensive End

The Packers have only four players under contract at defensive end.

All-Pro Micah Parsons, who is coming off a torn ACL, almost certainly will miss the start of the regular season. The biggest mystery isn’t when he’ll return to action. It’s when he’ll return to something close to his elite form.

Lukas Van Ness, who missed about half of 2025 with a foot injury, has 8.5 sacks in three seasons. He had only 1.5 sacks this past season but ranked 28th among edge defenders in pass-rush win rate. Against the run, the defense was 0.28 yards per snap better when he was on the field.

Barryn Sorrell, a fourth-round pick this year who played 178 snaps in 14 games on defense. He had 1.5 sacks – a half-sack in his NFL debut against Washington and a full sack in Week 18 against Minnesota. Of his 15 tackles, eight came in that game against the Vikings.

“It feels great man,” he said after the Minnesota game. “That point-5 (sacks), I don’t like the way it looks. Happy for it to happen.”

Collin Oliver was a fifth-round pick this year. He missed all of the offseason practices, all of training camp, all of the preseason and the first 16 games of the season with a hamstring injury sustained at the Scouting Combine and aggravated a few times.

While he worked his way back, he was given the nickname “Baby Micah.”

“I’m glad that they see I’m a talented player,” Oliver said. “Being compared to Micah, though, is crazy. I ain’t going to lie.”

In his long-awaited NFL debut, Oliver played 31 snaps in Week 18 and had one tackle for loss.

That’s it. The four players under contract include a player coming off a late-season ACL tear, an underachieving first-round pick and a couple players who had minimal roles and made minimal contributions as rookies.

Brenton Cox, who showed some promise in 2024 but missed most of 2025 with a groin injury, and Arron Mosby, a standout on special teams, are free agents, as well.

Needless to say, there’s work to be done for Gutekunst.

Veterans in Free Agency

Enagbare wasn’t much of a pass rusher with 11.5 sacks in four seasons, but he had six tackles for losses in 2025, when he was perhaps the team’s best run-defending lineman. The run defense, in fact, was 0.42 yards per snap better when he was on the field.

“Kingsley brings it every single week,” Van Ness said late in the season. “He’s just a player that you can always rely on to bring energy and play with a physical brand of football. It’s a guy that when I came in as a rookie, he was a year older than me and someone I’ve bonded with and looked up to.

“He’s just a hell of a player. Every time you step on the field, you know 5-5 is going to give it his all.”

As for Gary, the Packers cleared almost $11 million in cap space in the trade. After posting a league-leading 7.5 sacks through seven games, Gary had neither a sack nor tackle for loss the rest of the season.

“Man, been doing what I’ve been doing, man,” Gary said a few days after Parsons’ injury. “That’s why all 1/11th, like I’ve been saying every time we talk. As long all 11 is on the same page, we’re going to be fine. But once again, man, if I do what I’ve got to do, I’m a big part of this team, and we’re going to be right where we need to be.”

Even Oliver, who hadn’t played in a game since the Senior Bowl, had one during that span.

That the Packers were able to get a fourth-round pick in the 2027 draft for a player they probably would have released was a job well done by Gutekunst.

Jadeveon Clowney, Bradley Chubb, Joey Bosa and Cameron Jordan are among the veteran pass rushers available.

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