Much of the offseason leading up to the free agency and the NFL draft is spent pontificating on positions that the Packers should address. As you go through the Packers roster, at almost every position, you can make a case for Green Bay adding someone relatively high in the upcoming draft — except for linebacker.
This is really the one position on the team that is pretty well set. Quay Walker is entering the second year of his rookie deal that comes with a fifth-year option. De’Vondre Campbell, meanwhile, is in Year 2 of a five-year contract, and given the minimal cap savings that come from releasing him next offseason, I expect him to be back in 2024 as well.
These two will dominate the playing time at the position. As far as depth goes, the Packers have Isaiah McDuffie and Eric Wilson, two core special teams players, who each tied for first on the team in special teams tackles in 2022. McDuffie also emerged as the clear third option at linebacker late last season.
I also wouldn’t be surprised if safety Tariq Carpenter made a position change, adding to the linebacker room, which is something Matt LaFleur did discuss following the 2022 draft. Carpenter has a linebacker build and is much more comfortable playing in the box than as a traditional deep safety. The Packers also have a crowded safety room, and depending on how the draft, training camp, and preseason shake out at the position, keeping Carpenter — another core special teams player — on the roster as a linebacker might be easier from a roster construction standpoint.
Not including Carpenter, the Packers already have four players who are roster locks at the linebacker position. Some years they have rostered five linebackers, but last year, they would keep just four on the 53-man.
As this position pertains to the draft, there is very little need for the Green Bay Packers. This is also not a very strong linebacker class either, with NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein ranking this year’s group as the weakest position in terms of both high-end talent and depth.
Although far from a priority, the Packers will still need to add a few linebackers to their summer roster purely for numbers. As of now, the four players mentioned above are the only linebackers on the roster, and when it comes to getting through training camp and the preseason, more players are going to be needed.
My guess is that these additions will be in the form of undrafted rookie signings following the draft, but with four seventh-round picks, you never really know which direction a team is going to go. At this stage of the draft, positional need takes a back seat, and what teams are really looking for are specific physical or athletic traits that increase the likelihood of this prospect contributing in some way.
Brennen Rupp of Packers Wire provided us with a few late-round prospects who fit that mold, including Charlie Thomas (Georgia Tech), Ben Van Sumeren (Michigan State), Patrick O’Connell (Montana), and Amari Bruney (Florida). Other linebacker prospects that Rupp mentions as good fits for the Packers are Cam Bright (Washington), Seth Benson (Iowa), Kyle Soelle (Arizona State), and Mariano Sori-Marin (Minnesota).
For a number of years, the linebacker position was not prioritized highly in Green Bay, but that changed last offseason when the team re-signed Campbell and drafted Walker in the first round. Now, it is again not a priority, but for a totally different reason.
