Windy City Gridiron
I feel ya, Chicago Bears fans. The Green Bay Packers have pulled their own Khalil Mack trade and acquired Micah Parsons from the Dallas Cowboys for Kenny Clark and two first-round picks. Cue the dirge. RIP Braxton Jones.
But before we pack up and go home and crown the Green Bay Packers, rather than actually play the 2025 NFL Season, here are a few notes of caution before the Cheeseheads uncork the champagne:
Trading for Micah Parsons and paying him in excess of $45 million places serious strain on the Packers’ cap situation, especially given they are already paying Jordan Love a ton of money to be their #1 QB. Furthermore, the Packers will eat $35 million in dead cap by trading Kenny Clark to the Dallas Cowboys, given he had already signed a $64 million contract extension with the Packers in 2024.
And it gets worse when we cast our eyes at the Green Bay free agents in 2026 and 2027.
Those are a number of good-to-very-good players that the Packers will find it difficult to pay after 2025. For example, their Pro Bowl-level guard, Elgton Jenkins, is a serious candidate to be a cap casualty as early as 2026. And now they will be missing, just as the Chicago Bears did after the Mack trade, their cost-controlled first-round picks for the next two seasons.
The Green Bay Packers were fifth in the NFL in rushing yards per game in 2024, allowing only 146.8 yards per game on the ground. A big part of that run defense was Kenny Clark eating double-teams in the middle of that Packers defense. While the Packers’ edge rush is going to be something to behold, with Rashan Gary and Micah Parsons crashing the edges, the Packers’ interior defense has taken a serious blow with Kenny Clark headed to Dallas. And outside of going out and trying to sign Christian Wilkins, there are no obvious solutions for GB to fill the hole Clark leaves in their interior defense.
It’s not just their interior rush defense that the Green Bay Packers have to worry about in 2025. The Green Bay secondary, outside of Xavier McKinney, is the Achilles heel of this defense, a secondary that saw Jaire Alexander hop ship for the Baltimore Ravens. Keisean Nixon, Carrington Vaentine, and Nate Hobbs aren’t striking fear in the hearts of any of the offensive coordinators in the NFC North. So Green Bay’s pressure better get home, or they are likely to be gashed in the passing game, particularly in the deep third.
On offense, the Packers should still feature a solid rushing attack with Josh Jacobs and Matt LeFleur, and they added a first-round receiver for the first time in decades with Matthew Golden. But I for one was underwhelmed with their offseason acquisitions. They paid a...
