The Green Bay Packers will take a 90-player roster to the field for their first practice of training camp on July 23.
In a Packers On SI tradition, we will rank every player on the roster. This isn’t just a list of the best players. Rather, we take talent, contract, draft history, importance of the position and depth at the position into consideration.
More than the ranking, we hope you learn a little something about every player on the roster.
No. 35: P Daniel Whelan
What a difference one play can make.
Last season, 30 players punted the ball at least 34 times (two per game). Green Bay’s Daniel Whelan ranked a dismal 28th with a net average of 40.2 yards. That’s not very good.
However, what if you eliminate the Bears’ punt-return touchdown in Week 18, when Chicago special teams coordinator Richard Hightower duped Rich Bisaccia’s unit? Whelan entered the game ranked 13th with a net average of 42.1 yards, which would have crushed the franchise record of 41.6 set by Justin Vogel in 2017.
Talking to reporters during the offseason, Whelan took the blame.
“I think they did a good job of disguising,” he said. “They had a returner bail and then they had a returner disguise. I definitely felt something. I figured something was going on. They doubled the left side and I stuck to my call but I should’ve gone to the right, so I put that on me.”
Still, Whelan’s 46.1-yard gross average and 40.2-yard net average both ranked third in franchise history.
More than just a punter, Whelan has been an adept holder. That was highlighted on Brandon McManus’ game-winning field goal against Houston, when Whelan saved a bad snap.
“We get a lot of bad balls with Rich every single day,” Whelan said. “I’ve been holding nonstop since I got here. So, I think just the repetition and doing bad balls with Rich, when it happens in a game or anything, it’s muscle memory at that point. I don’t really think of it as bad; I just know what to do.”
Whelan is a native of Dublin, Ireland. He was hoping the Packers would be part of this year’s first-ever regular-season game in Ireland. Instead, the rival Vikings will play the Steelers.
“It’s nuts for the country. It’s going to be a lot of drunk Irish people watching football, so it’s going to be great,” Whelan said.
Whelan, who in 2023 became the first Irish-born player to play in an NFL regular-season game since kicker Neil O’Donoghue in 1985, said he was recognized by some fans when he attended a rugby match.
“It’s definitely growing. Definitely growing in the kicking, punting side because of all the Gaelic and rugby players. It’s going to get really big in Europe soon. Watch.”
No. 34: WR Christian Watson
It’s a challenge to find the right spot for Christian Watson. He’s been an important player when on the field but is coming off a torn ACL. While he appears to be ahead of schedule in his comeback, who knows when he’ll return to action or when he’ll return to peak form.
The challenge goes beyond the injury. The Packers held the 53rd and 59th picks of the 2022 draft. In a trade with the rival Vikings, they shot up to No. 34 to select Watson. Watson looked like a budding star as a rookie, when he caught 41 passes for 611 yards and scored nine total touchdowns. However, he caught 28 passes for 422 yards in nine games in 2023 and 29 passes for 620 yards in 15 games in 2024.
The 34th selection of the draft was the seventh receiver off the board. He ranks 10th in receptions, seventh in yards and tied for third in receiving touchdowns. Overall, for where he was drafted, the production and trajectory have been underwhelming.
However, of the 84 receivers who were targeted at least 50 times last season, Watson ranked second with 21.4 yards per catch and 14th with 2.26 yards per route. The Packers dropped passes by the bushel; Watson dropped only two. While he caught only 29-of-53 passes overall, he caught 10-of-15 in contested-catch situations.
In all three seasons, the run game has been significantly better when he’s on the field – by 0.37 yards per carry in 2022, 0.75 yards in 2023 and 0.35 yards in 2024.
It will be fascinating to see when Watson returns. Watson will push to get back ASAP; his agents probably would prefer he proceed with caution as free agency beckons.
No. 33: DT Colby Wooden
Colby Wooden was a fourth-round pick in 2023. He played in all 17 games in 2023 but was a healthy scratch to start 2024. Only when Devonte Wyatt suffered an ankle injury in Week 4 did Wooden get on the field. He played in 13 games, made his first career start and had 20 tackles (two for losses).
“Man, you just get a chance to play football again, bro,” Wooden said upon getting his chance last year. “Being on the sideline, you miss that. You miss that camaraderie being out there with your brothers. Yeah, I’m excited but it’s different when you’re out there playing with them, lining up, suiting up with them. For me, it’s going to be exciting. I’m playing football again.”
During his final three seasons at Auburn, Wooden had 15 sacks and drew 10 holding penalties. His first sporting love was baseball.
“Coming up, my first sport was baseball, then I got hit in the mouth and said, ‘Know what? This ain’t for me,’” Wooden said at the 2023 Scouting Combine. “So, I chose a more violent sport – football. After football, I chose basketball for like two years, but then that was too much running for me, so I stuck with football.”
After playing 255 snaps in 2023 and 234 snaps in 2024, more will be demanded in 2025. TJ Slaton, who started all 34 games the past two seasons, signed with the Bengals in free agency. Sixth-round pick Warren Brinson was the biggest addition to the group; as the 198th pick of the draft, it’d be dangerous to put too many eggs into his basket. So, Wooden is going to have to take a significant step forward.
No. 32: DT Warren Brinson
Someday, Warren Brinson would like to work for ESPN.
“That’s why I started my podcast, ‘Beyond the Hedges’ and I was doing it with the players while I was at Georgia, just to get my footprint out there,” he said at Green Bay’s rookie camp after being a sixth-round pick. “I didn’t have to go get a journalism degree — no knock on you guys; no knock, no knock. But it was like, bro, I want to be on ESPN one day so I was like, ‘Let me just get in front of a camera and just talk to my friends, my peers.’ It’s easy to talk to people, so let’s do it.”
For now, he’ll have to settle for making plays that are aired on ESPN.
Brinson played five seasons at Georgia. He started a total of eight games – four in 2023 and four in 2024. He had two sacks and six tackles for losses in 2024 and six sacks and 14 TFLs in 59 career games.
“After I got drafted, it really didn’t hit me until I woke up the next morning,” he said. “I was like, ‘Whoa, I’m a Packer.’ And somebody asked me what I do, and I’m like, ‘I play football.’ He said, ‘For who?’ I said, ‘The Green Bay Packers.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, snap!’ That was really when it felt for real.
“But it’s cool, man. It’s a blessing. The 10-year-old me would be very proud. He would be proud. But, I mean, it’s cool, bro. I’m in the NFL. I’m living the dream. I get to play football for fun now. I’ve just got smiles on my face. We just did a walk-through and I was like smiling, ‘Wow, I’m really here, bro.’ It’s a blessing.”
The Packers have a hole on the defensive line following TJ Slaton’s departure in free agency. Kenny Clark is coming off a down season and Devonte Wyatt will be elevated into the lineup after starting only five games in three seasons. Backups Karl Brooks and Colby Wooden are back but have not been consistently been impact players.
Brinson is eager to learn, especially from Clark, who texted him after the draft.
“My heart dropped,” Brinson said. “I was like, ‘Noooo, this guy’s a legend. Whoaaaaa.’”
No. 31: LB Isaiah McDuffie
In 2024, the Packers hired Jeff Hafley as defensive coordinator. He was McDuffie’s linebackers coach at Boston College. In 2025, they promoted Sean Duggan to linebackers coach. He was McDuffie’s linebackers coach at BC.
“I’ve known Isaiah for years,” Duggan said before PTAs. “You talk about play style, doing things the right way, he’s that type of guy, right? He’s going to show up every day and be the exact same person. He’s going to work harder than anybody. He’s going to study, he’s going to learn, he’s going to really pour everything he has into the Green Bay Packers.
“So, I think when you get guys like that, it’s getting back a leader. It’s somebody people can follow. ‘He does it that way. I’m going to do it that way.’ So, I was really excited, not only because I have a personal relationship with him, but just the player and the way he is the person, I think was awesome.”
McDuffie was a sixth-round pick in 2021. He’s gained a bigger and bigger role with each season, going from zero starts in 2021 to one in 2022 to eight in 2023 to all 17 in 2024, when he recorded a career-high 97 tackles. PFF charged him with five touchdown passes allowed in coverage, tied for the most on the team.
Just before the start of free agency, the Packers signed him to a two-year contract worth $8 million.
“I’d say that’s something I pride myself in and have always prided myself in,” he said of the edge he plays with. “I always want to finish around the ball and that’s how I judge myself when I watch my tape. When I turn the tape on, I want to see myself always near the ball. So, that’s something I pride myself in, always have.”
Edgerrin Cooper and Quay Walker figure to be Green Bay’s every-down linebackers. However, McDuffie will be a fixture in the base defense and provide critical depth.
