If The Packers Hope To Rise In 2026, These 5 Players Must Shine

BusinessSportsMoneyIf The Packers Hope To Rise In 2026, These 5 Players Must ShineByRob Reischel,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Rob Reischel is a Wisconsin-based reporter who covers the NFL.Follow AuthorJun 09, 2026, 08:49am EDTGreen Bay Packers third-year player Jordan Morgan takes over at left tackle this season.Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.The Green Bay Packers have been the NFC’s No. 7 seed for three straight seasons.They’ve won just one playoff game since 2020.And Green Bay hasn’t won the NFC North since 2021, which is the longest drought in the division.If the Packers hope to take a jump in 2026, they need big years from these five players. JORDAN MORGAN, LTThe Packers’ 2024 first round draft pick couldn’t win the left tackle job in either of his first two seasons.Now, with Rasheed Walker in Carolina, the job is Morgan’s.Morgan has made 13 starts in two seasons — including seven at left guard and three at right guard — and his play has been mediocre, at best. Can Morgan perform at the position he was drafted to play?“It feels good. It feels really good,” Morgan said last week of playing left tackle. “I finally get the spot that I like, that they know I'm good at, and that they drafted me at. They drafted me as a tackle. So I get to line up outside out there. And so I’m doing really good right now.”MORE FOR YOU ZAIRE FRANKLIN, LBWhen the Packers decided not to pick up linebacker Quay Walker’s fifth-year option in 2025, it became clear his days in Green Bay were numbered. That’s exactly what happened when Walker signed a three-year, $40.5 million deal with the Las Vegas Raiders.Green Bay covered its tail, though, by trading defensive tackle Colby Wooden to Indianapolis for linebacker Zaire Franklin two days before Walker and the Raiders agreed to terms.Franklin led the NFL with 173 tackles in 2024, made his first Pro Bowl that year, and was named a second-team All-Pro. Franklin d...