The three biggest needs for the Green Bay Packers this offseason are center, nose tackle and cornerback, in some order. We already touched on what the free agent market looks like at the cornerback position, so today I want to hit on nose tackle.
Here’s why the Packers need a nose tackle:
Packers nose tackle situation in 2025
Green Bay ran into a problem after the Micah Parsons trade, which also sent starting nose tackle Kenny Clark to the Dallas Cowboys. They didn’t have a Clark replacement.
Last year’s free agency class at defensive tackle
wasn’t good, but there was some hope that the team would draft a post-Clark starter (his contract almost assured that he wouldn’t be on the team in 2026) in 2025. Instead, nose tackles went much higher than expected throughout the draft, likely a response to the weak free agent crop.
Green Bay ended up adding Warren Brinson in the sixth round and then paying a good amount of guarantees to lock in Nazir Stackhouse in undrafted free agency. Neither started in 2025, though, as the post-Clark job ended up going to Colby Wooden, who wasn’t bad, but ended up playing nose tackle after measuring in at 273 pounds at the 2023 combine. His weight is visibly up from his college size, but he’s still an undersized player for the position.
The Packers’ lack of bulk on the interior is one reason why the team’s defense wore down so quickly. They were one of the best defenses in the league, if not the best, for about a quarter of play last year. After that quarter, though, they were one of the worst. That was the story of Green Bay’s defense in 2025.
Behind Wooden, the Packers sprinkled in Karl Brooks and Devonte Wyatt (usually three-technique defensive tackles) at nose tackle, but only in obvious passing situations. As far as true backup nose tackles go, the role was split between Stackhouse, Brinson, Jordon Riley, Quinton Bohanna and Jonathan Ford, with the final three players from this list being in-season pickups. Green Bay tried as best they could to find an answer, but nose tackles just don’t become available after the draft. Everyone holds onto what they have at the position, if they can help it.
In 2026, they’ll probably need to bring in a starter at the position, so Wooden doesn’t have to play so many reps, as he clearly can’t handle the volume of snaps he played last year. Be it free agency or the draft, I’d be surprised if the Packers didn’t take at least one notable swing at nose tackle this offseason.
2026 free agent nose tackles
Okay, I want to set the table for who is or isn’t a nose tackle and who is or isn’t producing at this point in their careers. You’ll see guys like John Franklin-Myers listed as one of the top defensive tackles in this free agent class. He’s 288 pounds (weighed in at 283 at his combine) and is firmly not a nose tackle. If we’re going to make a nose tackle watch list, I want to make sure real nose tackles are the only players included.
So here’s the criteria that I wanted to look at:
- I want to know which players lined up at nose tackle for at least half of Wooden’s rate (312 snaps, so 156 snaps would qualify) in 2025. This left 58 qualifiers league-wide.
- Among those 58, I want to know how many had higher Pro Football Focus grades than Wooden, specifically at the nose tackle position. For what it’s worth, Wooden posted a 60.1 grade at nose tackle in 2025 (among qualifiers, the average grade is 61.3). The list is down to 32 after that cut.
Pretty simple: Did you play half as many snaps as Wooden, and did you play better than him? After that, I checked individual players to see their contract status, and only 8 of those 32 are set to be free agents in 2026. Here they are:
Sheldon Rankins, Houston Texans
Rankins will be 32 years old at the start of next season, and he’s the only fake nose tackle on this list. He posted an 89.4 grade on PFF at the position and was 10 points better as a pass-rusher than a run defender. He’s the only player on this list who didn’t play at least a third of his snaps at nose tackle in 2025. Basically, he was really good in a pressure package role at the nose tackle position, but his usage there was more like how the Packers used Brooks and Wyatt in obvious passing situations. Solid player who has a great role as a pressure nose? Yes! A legitimate answer to replacing the Wooden problem? Probably not!
Roy Lopez, Detroit Lions
Lopez didn’t start a game for the Lions in 2025, but he did play 39 percent of the Lions’ overall defensive snaps. He played about 44 percent (185 snaps) of his snaps at nose tackle. The 28-year-old former undrafted player notably played for Jonathan Gannon, now the Packers’ defensive coordinator, in both 2023 and 2024 before signing a one-year contract with Detroit. He might be one to circle. He had a 76.3 PFF grade at nose tackle in 2025.
David Onyemata, Atlanta Falcons
I’m not sure how much longer Onyemata will be doing it, since he turns 34 years old this season, but he’s been a full-time starter in the NFL since 2019. He hasn’t missed a game over the last two years (or in 2022, for that matter) and has made 33 of a potential 34 starts over that time. He posted a 74.6 overall grade at nose tackle with a 70.8 grade in run defense. Along with Rankins and Lopez, he is one of three players who crack the 70-grade-mark in run defense on this list.
Khyiris Tonga, New England Patriots
Tonga is one of my favorites in this free agency class. He’s massive at 335 pounds, and I’ve had my eyes on him since he was a prospect coming out of BYU. He’s going to be 30 this year, despite being a member of the 2021 draft class, because he went on a mission before playing at BYU.
He started eight games for the Patriots in 2025, after only starting seven total games in his previous four years in the NFL, but was used almost exclusively as a nose tackle for New England. He had a 72.7 grade at nose tackle in 2025. He also played for Gannon, along with Lopez, in 2024.
DaQuan Jones, Buffalo Bills
Jones just turned 34 years old and has been in the league since 2014. He’s been able to hang onto a full-time starting job for a while now, as he played 61 percent of the Bills’ defensive snaps in 2025 (in the games that he was available for). It would be out of the norm for the Packers to add a player this old, but desperate times do call for desperate measures.
Jones is also the last notable name on this list, from a grade perspective. He posted a 71.8 grade in 2025. The next three players we’ll talk about had, at most, a 64.4 grade at nose tackle last year.
Tim Settle, Houston Texans
Settle, not Rankins, was actually Houston’s starting nose tackle in 2025. That was until Settle had a December foot injury that ended his 2025 campaign and required surgery. He’s only 28, so he’s young, on the relative scale of this list. His PFF grade is 64.4, only slightly better than Wooden’s 61.3.
Shelby Harris, Cleveland Browns
Harris grew up in the Milwaukee area and actually originally signed up to play at Wisconsin before transferring to Illinois State after a redshirt year. While he’s only listed at 288 pounds, he did play 41 percent of his total snaps in 2025 at a true nose tackle spot in a stunt-and-blitz-heavy defense.
He’s going to be 35 years old by the draft, but Harris might be able to give the team a little edge in 2025 on special teams, too. With long 35” arms, he’s been known to be a kick block specialist in the league. He’s the Brown who blocked the Brandon McManus kick near the end of regulation in 2025, which ultimately led to the Packers’ first loss of the season. Harris posted a 62.4 grade last year, with a 66.6 score in run defense and 58.9 in pass rushing. Don’t expect him to get after the quarterback.
DJ Reader, Detroit Lions
Reader, who will be 32 next season, started 32 of 34 games for the Lions over the last two years. This year, he played 63 percent of his snaps at the nose tackle position. He was the player Lopez was playing behind in Detroit, despite Lopez having a better grade at the position, per Pro Football Focus. Ultimately, the service gave Reader a 62.3 grade. Funny enough, Reader’s contract voids today, which means he will absolutely be available on the open market.
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So, if you’re looking at the nose tackle market right now, it’s hard to find young players who are even in the ballpark of Colby Wooden’s snap counts and PFF grade at the nose tackle position. The only players currently under 30 who both had a better grade than Wooden in 2025 and played at least half of the volume of snaps that he did last year are Roy Lopez, Khyiris Tonga and Tim Settle. Both Lopez and Tonga have prior experience with Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, while Settle is coming off a season-ending foot surgery. With that in mind, I’d highlight Lopez and Tonga as the most likely Packers targets at the position in free agency.
