As injuries mount, the linebacker spots are the most open on the Packers roster

There are few roster spots open in Green Bay, but the Packers had serious questions to answer at linebacker. Injuries have made the plan even murkier.

Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst excels at throwing draft picks at the problem. But what happens when multiple top-100 picks get hurt before the season, leaving two potentially underwhelming options in Green Bay? Or even more complicated, what happens when one of the returning veterans plays outstanding football while the rookies sit and watch but said veteran already has inconsistent NFL tape on file?

When the Packers entered the 2024 offseason, they had a scant two off-ball linebackers under contract. As they head into preseason Week 2, they have … two off-ball linebackers who look like potential starters, even after retaining a core special-teams player and using two premium draft picks at the position. Time is running out to make meaningful changes at linebacker for the fall, which means these spots are up for grabs.

Second-round pick Edgerrin Cooper can’t win the starting linebacker job if he’s not on the practice field. Even when he was healthy, the Packers were making the curious decision of using Quay Walker, Isaiah McDuffie, and Eric Wilson in their three-linebacker sets with Walker and Cooper in the nickel. If Cooper was going to be the nickel linebacker next to the underwhelming-to-date Walker, why would he not also start in these traditional base fronts?

That question has been thrown to the I-43 wayside because Cooper hasn’t been out on the field at all in several weeks due to an undisclosed hip injury. Packers head coach Matt LaFleur had no answers on timelines when asked this week about their promising young linebacker. There’s no quicker way for a rookie to fall behind than to miss significant time in camp. When everyone was learning a new defense together, Cooper had a (green and) golden opportunity to win a job.

We aren’t quite at the point of no return on McDuffie and Walker being the two core linebackers for Jeff Hafley’s defense, but we are close. Hafley raved about Walker’s tools, insisting we will see the best version of the former first-round pick this year. McDuffie played at Boston College in a version of this defense for Hafley, and both LaFleur and Hafley have offered meaningful praise for Wilson, a special-teams player pushing for a chance to start.