Packers Make Complicated Decision on Lukas Van Ness’s Fifth-Year Option

Lukas Van Ness will play a critical role for the Green Bay Packers in 2026, the final year of his rookie contract. And he will again in 2027.

The Green Bay Packers will pick up the fifth-year option of Lukas Van Ness, The Athletic’s Matt Schneidman reported on Thursday. Van Ness was the team’s first-round pick in 2023. The deadline to accept or decline the option is Friday.

It’s an important and expensive decision.

And a challenging one.

Van Ness has started only two games in three seasons, but the runway for him to grab a full-time spot in the lineup is open following the decisions to trade Rashan Gary to the Cowboys and let Kingsley Enagbare sign with the Jets in free agency.

He hasn’t done much with 8.5 sacks in three seasons. Rather than trending the right away, as is the case for most young players, Van Ness has gone from four sacks, eight tackles for losses and 10 quarterback hits in 17 games in 2023 to three sacks to six tackles for losses and six quarterback hits in 17 games in 2024 to 1.5 sacks, three tackles for losses and seven quarterback hits in nine games in 2025.

The door is wide open now, though, making Van Ness one of the team’s most important players, especially during those early-season games without Micah Parsons. Headed into the draft, Green Bay’s edge options for Week 1 are Van Ness, Barryn Sorrell, Collin Oliver and Brenton Cox. Van Ness is going to have to lead the group on and off the field.

Expensive Decision

For the fifth-year option on an edge defender, there are four pricing levels, which are detailed by OverTheCap.com. Ranging from most expensive to least expensive, with the contracts fully guaranteed:

A player selected to at least two Pro Bowls in his first three seasons (on the original ballot and not as a replacement) would receive $26.865 million. That is the franchise tag.

A player selected to one Pro Bowl (on the original ballot) would receive $21.925 million. That’s the transition tag.

A player who played at least 75 percent of the snaps in two of his first three seasons, averaged at least 75 percent of the snaps over those three seasons or played at least 50 percent of the snaps in all three seasons would receive $15.124 million. That’s the average of the players ranked third through 20th at his position over the past five seasons.

Van Ness, of course, hasn’t been a Pro Bowler, and he never got close to hitting the playing-time marks. Van Ness played 32.9 percent of the snaps as a rookie, 39.3 percent in 2024 and 23.5 percent in 2025, when he missed about half the season with a foot injury. So, he’d get the minimum fifth-year salary of $13.752 million for the 2027 season.

Green Bay Packers defensive end Lukas Van Ness is among the defenders to hit Bengals QB Joe Flacco. | Wm. Glasheen/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Or, it perhaps is even more expensive.

OTC has LVN as an Edge (LB) when he should be listed as an Edge (DE) - the rule is based on where you played most of your snaps in year 3, which was DE.

His 2027 salary should be $14.5m instead of the $13.8m listed on OTC. https://t.co/SEISeySGDT
— Ken - Packers Cap (@KenIngalls) April 30, 2026

With the team’s 2022 first-round picks, the Packers picked up the option on defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt but declined it for linebacker Quay Walker.

While Walker signed a three-year contract with the Raiders in free agency, Wyatt will play the 2026 season under the fifth-year option for a guaranteed $12.938 million. The Packers can sign him to a contract extension, which could create some additional cap space, or let him hit free agency at the end of the season.

Next year, the decision will be on 2024 first-round pick Jordan Morgan, who will start at left tackle this season.

Lackluster Production for Lukas Van Ness

The Packers moved up from No. 15 to No. 13 in the 2023 draft following the Aaron Rodgers trade and selected Van Ness. However, he ranks only 16th with 8.5 sacks.

Van Ness was the fourth of 71 front-seven defenders selected. From that group, he ranks:

16th (tied) with 8.5 sacks.

18th (tied) with 23 quarterback hits.

16th (tied) with 34 quarterback pressures.

14th with 17 tackles for losses.

27th with 84 tackles.

46th (tied) with two starts.

However, a couple of the analytical numbers from last season are promising. Last year, according to Pro Football Focus, Van Ness rushed the passer 151 times. He was one of 109 edge defenders with at least that number. From that group, he ranked 28th in pass-rush win rate and 21st in pass-rush productivity, a PFF metric that counts sacks, hits and hurries per pass-rushing snap.

Plus, according to league data, the run defense was 0.36 yards per snap better when he was on the field.

Last season, Van Ness sustained his injured foot when he sacked the Bengals’ Joe Flacco in the fifth game of the season. Between being carted off the field in Week 6 through Week 14, he played six defensive snaps. He came back in Week 15 against Denver. Against Chicago in Week 16, Baltimore in Week 17 and Chicago in the playoffs, he had one of his best stretches with 10 pressures.

“I've just taken a lot of pride in my versatility and being able to make an impact wherever I am aligned on the field,” he said last season. “And for me, it's just been consistency, day in and day out, week in and week out, making plays and positively affecting the defense and the offense that we're going against, and just being a reliable guy that they know I can go out there and do the job they're asking.”

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