Let’s do a little unboxing of the Green Bay Packers’ first game of the 2025 season from a personnel perspective. I’m sure everyone wants to know how often Micah Parsons was on the field, but let’s go through position-by-position here.
Quarterback
- Jordan Love: 47 snaps (100%)
- Malik Willis: 0 (0%)
Running Back
- Josh Jacobs: 41 (87%), 1 SPT
- Chris Brooks: 9 (19%), 16 SPT
- Emanuel Wilson: 2 (4%)
Like we saw in the preseason, the Packers were more likely to work in Chris Books than Emanuel Wilson on the offensive side of the ball. Overall, Brooks played 25 snaps to Wilson’s 2. There’s still a real chance that whenever MarShawn Lloyd comes
off the injured reserve, Wilson is on the chopping block.
Receiver
- Romeo Doubs: 33 (70%), 1 SPT
- Matthew Golden: 22 (47%), 2 SPT
- Dontayvion Wicks: 21 (45%)
- Jayden Reed: 18 (38%), 3 SPT
- Malik Heath: 11 (23%), 3 SPT
- Savion Williams: 3 (6%), 3 SPT
Most of third-round pick Savon Williams’ snaps came on a gadget run, late in the game on offense or as a returner on special teams. First-round rookie Matthew Golden, though, has already out-snapped Dontayvion Wicks and Jayden Reed. Reed, again, appears to be a three-receiver set slot receiver for the Packers this year.
Tight End
- Tucker Kraft: 43 (92%), 6 SPT
- Luke Musgrave: 17 (36%), 6 SPT
- John FitzPatrick: 15 (32%), 3 SPT
Ben Sims was a healthy scratch in this game. Outside of that, the only thing worth noting here is that Luke Musgrave got on the field nearly as often as John FitzPatrick did. They’re two very different types of tight ends, as Musgrave is a pass-catcher and FitzPatrick is a run-blocker.
Offensive Line
- Elgton Jenkins: 47 (100%)
- Rasheed Walker: 47 (100%), 5 SPT
- Aaron Banks: 42 (89%), 4 SPT
- Sean Rhyan: 33 (70%), 5 SPT
- Zach Tom: 29 (62%), 3 SPT
- Jordan Morgan: 19 (40%), 5 SPT
- Darian Kinnard: 15 (32%), 5 SPT
- Anthony Belton: 3 (6%), 5 SPT
Donovan Jennings was a healthy scratch in Week 1, leaving the Packers with eight offensive linemen active for this game. The starting lineup was Rasheed Walker, Aaron Banks, Elgton Jenkins, Sean Rhyan and Zach Tom, with Jordan Morgan rotating in with Rhyan at right guard. When Tom and Banks dropped out of action, Darian Kinnard and then Anthony Belton got on the field.
Defensive End
- Rashan Gary: 46 (71%)
- Lukas Van Ness: 35 (54%), 11 SPT
- Micah Parsons: 29 (45%)
- Kingsley Enagbare: 20 (31%), 12 SPT
- Brenton Cox Jr.: 8 (12%)
Rookie fourth-round pick Barryn Sorrell (knee) was inactive for this game. Whenever he’s active, there’s a good chance that Brenton Cox Jr. ends up being a healthy scratch. Cox only played eight snaps total, between defense and special teams, which was the lowest mark of any defender other than the two reserve cornerbacks.
The big news here, though, is that Lukas Van Ness has made his first start since he was a prep hockey player…just kidding. Micah Parsons is the headerliner. He wasn’t able to hit the 70% of snaps played that Khalil Mack did on eight days’ notice back in 2018, but 45 percent of snaps is nothing to scoff at either, with a quick turnaround for Thursday Night Football coming up.
Defensive Tackle
- Devonte Wyatt: 47 (72%)
- Colby Wooden: 34 (52%), 3 SPT
- Karl Brooks: 33 (51%), 9 SPT
- Nazir Stackhouse: 8 (12%), 4 SPT
An interesting decision that the Packers made was holding out Warren Brinson, a rookie draft pick, and playing undrafted rookie Nazir Stackhouse. For the most part, Green Bay used a three-man rotation of Devonte Wyatt, Colby Wooden and Karl Brooks against Detroit, but Stackhouse did come off the bench to play a situational run-stuffer role.
Linebacker
- Edgerrin Cooper: 65 (100%), 3 SPT
- Quay Walker: 65 (100%), 3 SPT
- Isaiah McDuffie: 18 (28%), 18 SPT
- Ty’Ron Hopper: 1 (2%), 15 SPT
- Nick Niemann: 0 (0%), 15 SPT
If you weren’t paying attention closely, you probably missed that Ty’Ron Hopper actually replaced Isaiah McDuffie as the Packers’ third linebacker late in the Lions game. After Hopper’s one snap, though, the Lions mostly played three-receiver sets, which the Packers matched with their nickel defense (with only two linebackers on the field).
Cornerback
- Carrington Valentine: 65 (100%), 8 SPT
- Keisean Nixon: 65 (100%), 4 SPT
- Bo Melton: 0 (0%), 12 SPT
- Kamal Hadden: 0 (0%), 2 SPT
- Micah Robinson: 0 (0%)
With Nate Hobbs out with a knee injury, it was the Carrington Valentine and Keisean Nixon show at cornerback, from cover to cover. Kamal Hadden, the team’s fifth cornerback when everyone is healthy, only played two special teams snaps in the game. The only players with fewer snaps played on Sunday were quarterback Malik Willis and fellow cornerback Micah Robinson.
Safety
- Xavier McKinney: 65 (100%), 10 SPT
- Javon Bullard: 57 (88%), 11 SPT
- Evan Williams: 54 (83%), 10 SPT
- Kitan Oladapo: 0 (0%), 11 SPT
All four safeties were very active in special teams because ace Zayne Anderson was held out of the game due to a knee injury. Javon Bullard was the starting safety in the game, but Evan Williams displaced him in the second half. Bullard was the team’s starting nickelback throughout the game, which means that both Bullard and Williams were on the field against three-receiver sets.
Kicker
- Brandon McManus: 11 SPT
Punter
- Daniel Whelan: 8 SPT
Long Snapper
- Matt Orzech: 8 SPT
