Below are the snap counts from the Green Bay Packers’ season-opening loss to the Minnesota Vikings, position-by-position. These numbers only count contributions to the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. Let’s dig into what the Packers showed in Week 1.
Quarterback
- Jordan Love: 67 snaps
- Tyrod Taylor: 0
Jordan Love played every single snap of the game, but if the offensive line continues to play as they did on Sunday, we’ll see Tyrod Taylor sooner rather than later.
Running Back
- Chris Brooks: 37
- MarShawn Lloyd: 30
- Kaleb Johnson: 0
The Packers sent a pick to the Pittsburgh Steelers for second-year running back
Kaleb Johnson at the cutdown deadline, and despite Johnson having prior experience with offensive coordinator Tim Lester (a former Matt LaFleur analyst) and offensive coordinator Arthur Smith (a former LaFleur assistant), Johnson did not play a single snap of offense against the Vikings. Chris Brooks was Green Bay’s “top” back, though MarShawn Lloyd carried the ball more (13 carries for 37 yards) than Brooks (seven carries for 29 yards).
Reciever
- Matthew Golden: 55
- Christian Watson: 52
- Jayden Reed: 38
- Bo Melton: 7
- Skyy Moore: 4
The receiver rotation is dead. Long gone are the days when the Packers tried to get five players involved in the game equally. Right now, Matthew Golden and Christian Watson are the clear starters at outside receiver, and Jayden Reed is the team’s slot receiver. Watson (six receptions, 147 yards and two touchdowns) and Golden (six receptions and 95 yards) led the team through the air.
Tight End
- Tucker Kraft: 44
- Jonnu Smith: 32
- Mark Redman: 21
- Josh Whyle: 11
Both Tucker Kraft and Jonnu Smith were involved in the passing game, bringing in a total of five receptions for 115 yards. Third-tight end Mark Redman was used mostly as a blocking tight end from in-line positions, while Josh Whyle was fourth in the pecking order at the position. Eventually, the team won’t be able to carry these four tight ends because they’ll need numbers elsewhere, on top of the fact that tight end Luke Musgrave (neck) is expected to return to the 53-man roster at some point during 2026.
Offensive Line
- Jordan Morgan: 67 (LT)
- Donovan Jennings: 67 (LG)
- Sean Rhyan: 67 (C)
- Jacob Monk: 67 (RG)
- Zach Bako-Bewele: 67 (RT)
- Anthony Belton: 4
- Jager Burton: 0
- John Williams: 0
The Packers’ offensive line played so poorly by the end of the game that the Vikings scored 29 consecutive points while only posting one drive of more than 28 yards. Not only was Green Bay’s line playing to a level where the offense was giving up the ball, but they were giving up the ball quickly and on short fields. In the fourth quarter, here was the Packers’ drive chart: turnover on downs, fumble, interception and turnover on downs.
Aaron Banks (knee tendinitis) wasn’t able to suit up at left guard, so Donovan Jennings stepped in as the starter there. Both Jennings and Jacob Monk (right guard) had tough goes at it. I’m guessing we’ll see rookie Jager Burton at some point this month.
Defensive Line
- Karl Brooks: 35
- Devonte Wyatt: 33
- Jonathan Ford: 28
- Javon Hargrave: 27
- Chris McClellan: 26
The Packers treated Karl Brooks and Devonte Wyatt as true starters this preseason, so it shouldn’t be too surprising that they led the team in snaps played on the defensive line. Jonathan Ford played 3-4 nose tackle (with Brooks and Wyatt at 3-4 ends), while Javon Hargrave and Chris McClellan rotated in from the bench. Whenever Warren Brinson, who was inactive in this game with a calf injury, comes back, there’s a question of whether he or McClellan, a third-round rookie, will be scratched. Anthony Campbell was also a healthy scratch in this game.
Edge Defender
- Lukas Van Ness: 39
- Barryn Sorrell: 36
- Brenton Cox Jr.: 27
- Dani Dennis-Sutton: 21
Nothing is surprising here, as Lukas Van Ness and Barryn Sorrell have been the starters on the edge throughout the summer. When Micah Parsons comes back from his ACL tear, everyone will move down a spot in the pecking order. Van Ness continued the strong end of his 2025 campaign and had one of his better games in his NFL career.
Off-Ball Linebacker
- Edgerrin Cooper: 61
- Zaire Franklin: 61
- Isaiah McDuffie: 1
- Nick Niemann: 0
- Kristian Welch: 0
The three-linebacker defense in Green Bay is dead, which was expected under defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon. It’s the Zaire Franklin (Mike) and Edgerrin Cooper (Will) show moving forward. Outside of that, opportunities for playing time will be limited to short-yardage looks and snaps for injury replacements.
Cornerback
- Keisean Nixon: 61
- Brandon Cisse: 48
- Carrington Valentine: 13
- Benjamin St-Juste: 1
- Kamal Hadden: 0
Keisean Nixona and Brandon Cisse started this game, but for whatever reason, Cisse was benched at the end of the game for Carrington Valentine. Valentine gave up two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, one on a play where he was run at and one on a play where he allowed Justin Jefferson to catch a ball and hit the pylon. It does not appear that the beat caught onto Cisse’s benching, as head coach Matt LaFleur was not asked about the cornerback rotation in the post-game press conference.
Safety
- Evan Williams: 61
- Xavier McKinney: 61
- Javon Bullard: 32
- Kitan Oladapo: 0
Nothing shocking here, as Evan Williams and Xavier McKinney are the starting safeties, while Javon Bullard is the starting slot defender on the team. This is pretty much what should be expected moving forward. If there’s anything to take from this, it’s that the Packers were about a 50/50 split between playing their base 3-4 defense and subpackages (mostly nickel) in Week 1.
