Ranking Every Player on Packers’ Roster, Part 14: He Plays ‘Violently’

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 are ranking 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. 25: DT Karl Brooks

With TJ Slaton leaving in free agency, someone is going to have to step up on Green Bay’s defensive line. That someone might be Karl Brooks.

Brooks already had an understated role on the defense. By snaps last season, here was the pecking order at defensive tackle; Kenny Clark, 686; Brooks, 442; Slaton, 427; Devonte Wyatt, 362; Colby Wooden, 234.

A sixth-round pick from Bowling Green in 2023, Brooks has played in all 34 games. He had four sacks and six tackles for losses as a rookie and 3.5 sacks and four tackles for losses last season. In the 2023 draft class, he ranks 14th with 7.5 sacks and 13th with 10 TFLs. He’s got a nose for the ball with six passes defensed, two forced fumbles and five fumble recoveries.

Looking deeper: According to PFF, 75 interior defensive linemen played at least 250 pass-rushing snaps last season. He ranked 32nd in PFF’s pass-rushing productivity, which measures sacks, hits and hurries per pass-rushing snap, and 34th in pass-rush win rate.

The highlight of Brooks’ career, of course, was the game-saving blocked field goal at Chicago last season. He got his left middle finger on Cairo Santos’ long kick to preserve the victory.

“It was just an unbelievable feeling,” Brooks said afterward. “At first when I touched it, I didn't think I got enough of it and it fell short and that's when I really celebrated, so it was fun, though, for sure. ... You dream of that. Yeah, yeah. It was just a great play, man. To block a kick to win the game is huge.”

Brooks starred as a stand-up pass rusher at Bowling Green – the only Division I school that offered him coming out of high school. He led the team in sacks all five seasons.

“There were times when he was a man among boys,” Packers director of football operations Milt Hendrickson said.

No. 24: WR Romeo Doubs

A fourth-round pick in 2022, Romeo Doubs’ career has been a bit of an enigma. Doubs was the 19th of 28 receivers selected. He ranks a solid sixth in receptions and receiving yards, is fifth in first downs and tied with eighth overall pick Drake London for first in touchdowns. His 15 career TDs are one more than the combined number of the five receivers selected ahead of him in the third and fourth rounds.

That’s all earmarks for a good player, especially when considering he was the 132nd pick of the draft. Doubs runs sharp routes and has good hands. And yet, in 43 career regular-season games, Doubs has:

- Zero games of 10 catches and only four games with more than five. He also has seven games of zero or one catch.

- Zero games of 100 yards and only two of 80-plus. He also has eight games of less than 20 yards.

- Zero catches of 40-plus yards and only three of longer than 30.

Doubs isn’t a deep threat and he’s not a YAC threat. Of 84 receivers to be targeted at least 50 times last season, he ranked 65th with 3.1 yards after the catch per catch. At least that was an improvement over 2023, when his 2.3 YAC was fourth-worst.

Of course, Doubs will always have his 2023 postseason to point to in regard to what he can do. In the blowout win at Dallas, he destroyed the Cowboys by catching 6-of-6 targets for 151 yards and one touchdown. A week later at San Francisco, he caught 4-of-6 for 83 yards.

Combine the so-so production with one suspension and two concussions, Doubs faces a murky future as he enters his final season under contract.

“It was a long process,” Doubs said during OTAs when asked about his recovery from the concussions. “Obviously, it’s very unfortunate to go out of a game with a concussion. I made sure I took care of myself this offseason. I just look forward to my process and progress throughout the course of this year.”

No. 23: CB Carrington Valentine

Other than safety Xavier McKinney, which Packers defender produced the most takeaways last season? Cornerback Carrington Valentine, on the strength of two interceptions and two forced fumbles, was tied for second with four.

“Carrington, he’s really came on the scene for himself, making a name for himself, so the sky’s the limit for him,” quarterback Jordan Love said at minicamp. “He’s going to keep doing great things.”

A seventh-round pick in 2023, Valentine joined Keisean Nixon and free-agent addition Nate Hobbs as the three cornerbacks in the nickel package throughout the offseason.

Valentine bulked up last offseason to play more physically. This offseason, he worked on strengthening his legs to improve his tackling.

“When you go get the ball out of the air, you start taking the ball out of the air, stuff like that, and then you start playing at that level and you know that there’s some more,” Valentine said at minicamp. “I felt like it was just scratching the surface. I just feel like going into the offseason, I’m ready to put that all together.”

Valentine ended the regular season with one takeaway in each of the final four weeks. He said “consistency” is his “big word” entering this season. In 2024, PFF charged him with a completion rate of 79.3 percent. Of 97 cornerbacks who played 300 coverage snaps, that ranked 94th. In 2023, he ranked 27th out of 100 at 57.4 percent.

“Obviously when you make plays and stuff like that, your confidence keeps going up in the room,” he said. “You also sometimes get humbled a little bit, but you never lose it. It’s just a part of you. It’s always going to be a part of me. I’m never going to change. I’m always going to be myself.”

Valentine, who started 12 games as a rookie and seven games last season, said he was 16 when he started working out with Hobbs; Valentine is from Cincinnati and drove to Louisville to train; Louisville is Hobbs’ hometown.

“I texted him and he sent me a cheese emoji back,” Valentine said of Hobbs joining the team. “It was funny. He’s a character.”

No. 22: S Evan Williams

Last offseason, general manager Brian Gutekunst dropped a nuke on the safety corps. All the main characters from 2023 were swept out the door, replaced by Xavier McKinney in free agency, Javon Bullard in the second round and Evan Williams in the fourth round.

McKinney was first-team All-Pro and Williams parlayed a strong training camp into All-Rookie honors.

“Instincts are something I definitely hang my hat on as a player,” Williams said following an offseason practice. “I give props to the coaching staff and also just the experience in our room. ‘X’ helped me a lot last year as far as picking up the playbook and how to handle yourself as a pro, how to watch film. Just those little things that can give you an edge on any given Sunday.

“I’ll point to my surroundings [for my success] first. If I had to give myself any credit, I’d just say I kind of hang my hat on being able to pick things up and not make the same mistake twice.”

Williams finished his rookie season with 47 tackles, one interception, three passes defensed and one forced fumble. Hamstring and quad injuries limited him to 13 games. While the ball just seemed to find him throughout camp, he didn’t get his hands on the ball the rest of the season after a game-clinching pass breakup at the Rams in Week 5 and a forced fumble at home against the Cardinals in Week 6.

In regular-season play, the Packers were 5-1 when he started and 10-0 when he had at least one tackle.

Now, he’s ready to turn that experience into more production. That will have to start on the practice field as he battles Bullard for the starting job alongside McKinney.

“I feel like I’m a guy that learns through experience, learns through being in the fire more than just sitting back and watching,” he said. “I feel like each rep, each step I’m taking this year, I’m gaining confidence, gaining experience.

“Honestly, I’m looking to take that step being a confident football player out there and, hopefully, I’ll have the playbook in my back pocket so I can take that next step and think about other things [such as], ‘What is the offense trying to do here? What is this formation telling me?’ I feel like I could take steps in that department and taking it a step further and becoming a more proactive player rather than just being reactive.”

No. 21: S Javon Bullard

Javon Bullard, who played slot and safety at Georgia, was a second-round pick last year. After being anchored at safety throughout training camp, a plurality of his snaps came in the slot. He ranked among the team leaders with 85 tackles, but his only pass breakup came in Week 2. That’s a rather astounding feat considering he played in 15 games with 11 starts and logged 785 snaps.

“We had multiple conversations with Bull last year that what you’re doing right now, it might seem hard right now and it is very hard to be, No. 1, a rookie that’s playing in the league, and then, No. 2, you’re going to learn both jobs,” defensive backs coach Ryan Downard said before OTAs.

“But we had that conversation, this is going to serve you and you have the ability to do both, so you got to embrace that role, and he has. As far as focusing on one, there’s so much carryover between the two positions, safety and nickel. A lot of the time, we’re playing the same exact technique, and there’s sometimes that we’re not. As we get more and more reps at both those positions he’s just going to get better at both. But he can do both.”

Georgia coach Kirby Smart called Bullard “a little stick of dynamite.” He was strong near the line of scrimmage and an effective tackler.

“Javon, he did a great job playing violently,” Bullard said. “That guy plays the game the right way. He addresses blocks the right way. We saw it in Week 1 and we saw it throughout the season.”

Bullard played through an ankle injury last season; at the end of the season, he said he’d need surgery. He missed the start of OTAs, presumably because of the surgery.

“As far as my injury, I ain’t going to speak too much on it,” Bullard said at the end of the season, “but I’m probably going to have a little work done. But it comes with the game.

“I’m extremely blessed to be in the position I’m in. I wasn’t in it by myself. My teammates helped me push through, and you deal with those things because of the guys in the room. You play through injury because of your teammates. You feel better when you’re out there, knowing you’re not out there alone. So, those guys had a lot to do with myself persevering through injuries.”

Bullard will battle Evan Williams to start at safety and also compete for the starting job in the slot. Wherever he lines up, he needs to be more productive.

“I believe versatility kind of stands me apart,” Bullard said after being drafted. “But, aside of that, just pure want-to. Just pure want-to and passion for the game. I'm one of those players that's literally willing to do anything, whether that's special teams. I'll pour water in your cup if you want me to, man. I'm just a guy that loves the game and loves the environment and loves the joy that they bring each other.”