Snap counts are cool, quick information to let you know how often a player was on the field for the Green Bay Packers, but they don’t really tell you much about how the Packers are playing these players. So to better understand the roster, and hopefully educate you all on what Green Bay is doing, I’m going to personally chart where players lined up/what roles they played for the Packers this year.
To get the cleanest data I can, I’m going to include plays that were called back for penalties (because
they happened) and exclude kneeldowns (because they don’t matter from a depth chart perspective).
Let’s go through the offensive and defensive personnel from the Packers’ Week 1 opener against the Detroit Lions and figure out how the depth chart stacks out going into Week 2.
Personnel Splits – Offense
- 12 personnel (1 RB, 2 TE, 2 WR): 21 snaps
- 11 personnel (1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR): 18
- 21 personnel (2 RB, 1 TE, 2 WR): 5
- 13 personnel (1 RB, 3 TE, 1 WR): 3
Yes, the Packers played more one- or two-receiver sets (29 snaps) than three-receiver sets (18) against the Lions. This wasn’t just because they were up, though. To start the game, here were Green Bay’s first nine personnel groupings: 12, 21, 12, 12, 11, 13, 21, 11, 21 and 12.
Head coach Matt LaFleur’s Packers are getting bigger and bigger on the offensive side of the ball over the years, be it at the skill positions or on the line. Now, their personnel deployment is starting to reflect that. That could mean a lot of lost snaps for slot receivers moving forward.
Quarterback
- 47 snaps: Jordan Love
- 0: Malik Willis
We really don’t need to talk about this.
Running Back
- 41: Josh Jacobs
- 8: Chris Brooks
- 2: John FitzPatrick (TE)
- 1: Emanuel Wilson
Josh Jacobs is an absolute bellcow. Before the final drive of the game, Jacobs received 35 of Green Bay’s 39 single-back looks versus the Lions. The other four went to Chris Brooks, who, like tight end John FitzPatrick, also contributed in a fullback-type role in offset pistol looks and splitback shotgun looks. Emanuel Wilson got just one real snap: A carry to test out whether Detroit was going to call its timeouts or let the Packers run out the clock at the end of the game.
Wide Receiver
- 32: Romeo Doubs
- 16: Matthew Golden
- 13: Dontayvion Wicks
- 6: Malik Heath
- 3: Jayden Reed
- 1: Tucker Kraft (TE)
- 0: Savion Williams
Slot Receiver
- 16: Jayden Reed
- 6: Dontayvion Wicks
- 5: Matthew Golden
- 3: Malik Heath
- 2: Romeo Doubs
- 1: Tucker Kraft (TE)
- 1: Savion Williams
2025 is a new year, but it’s the same situation for receiver Jayden Reed. He ranked fifth among Packers receivers in outside receiver looks but saw the most snaps on the team in the slot. Rookie third-round pick Savion Williams’ only snap at a receiver position on offense came on his jet sweep. He made the biggest impact in his NFL debut as a kick returner.
Tight End
- 42: Tucker Kraft
- 16: Luke Musgrave
- 13: John FitzPatrick
- 2: Dontayvion Wicks (WR), Matthew Golden (WR)
- 1: Savion Williams (WR), Chris Brooks (RB), Josh Jacobs (RB)
Interestingly, Luke Musgrave and John FitzPatrick received pretty even splits at the tight end position behind Tucker Kraft, who played the most offensive snaps out of the non-quarterback skill players. FitzPatrick got a lot of the work in short-yardage and goal-line situations over Musgrave in two-tight end sets. The non-tight end skill position players listed here played an insert role, like Allen Lazard used to, or were walked up to the line to help chip in pass protection.
Offensive Line
- 47: Rasheed Walker (LT), Elgton Jenkins (C)
- 44: Aaron Banks (LG)
- 32: Sean Rhyan (RG)
- 30: Zach Tom (RT)
- 18: Jordan Morgan (3 LG, 15 RG)
- 14: Darian Kinnard (RT)
- 3: Anthony Belton (RT)
The starting lineup on Sunday was Rasheed Walker, Aaron Banks, Elgton Jenkins, Sean Rhyan and Zach Tom, left to right, with Jordan Morgan seeing a healthy rotation at right guard. Once injuries started to pile up and both Bank and Tom missed action, though, Darian Kinnard and Anthony Belton subbed in at right tackle, and Morgan saw some time at left guard. When Rhyan was at right guard, after the Tom injury, the team never played Morgan at right tackle, though. Instead, he sat on the bench while Kinnard and Belton were on the field. Morgan had played left tackle, left guard and right guard in the preseason, but never right tackle. Don’t expect the coaching staff to play him there anytime in the near future.
Personnel Splits – Defense
- Nickel: 41 snaps
- 4-3 Base: 17
- Nickel Rush: 8
While the Packers’ nickel (five-defensive back) defense reigned supreme in Week 1, that had a lot more to do with the game flow than anything else. For example, half of Green Bay’s first 18 defensive plays were out of their 4-3 base, even when Detroit fielded three wide receivers.
In the past, Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley has primarily matched the number of cornerbacks and slot defenders he uses on the field based on the number of receivers the opposing offense plays. This game, he seemed more comfortable leaving a linebacker to play in the slot…until the score got out of hand.
Of the final 30 snaps on defense, 29 of them were in some sort of nickel set, including the “nickel rush” package. Even when the Lions were backed up against their own goal line and had two tight ends on the field, Hafley played with passing-down personnel on the field to avoid giving up a quick score through the air.
What “nickel rush” in this context means is that the Packers subbed out one of their two defensive tackles for a third defensive end. Otherwise, the nickel defenses were similar, in that they had two off-ball linebackers, two cornerbacks, a slot defender and two safeties.
Defensive End
- 45 snaps: Rashan Gary
- 30: Lukas Van Ness
- 28: Micah Parsons
- 21: Kingsley Enagbare
- 7: Brenton Cox
- 1: Karl Brooks (DT)
Holy crap, that’s a lot of snaps for Rashan Gary! It didn’t help that Brenton Cox dropped out of the game with an injury in the third quarter, and that Micah Parsons is still learning the playbook, but Gary only played 68 percent or more of the defense’s snaps in a single game last season. On the Parsons subject, 13 of his snaps on Sunday came in the final 16 defensive snaps in the game. If the score wasn’t so out of hand and Detroit wasn’t forced into a throw-every-play gamescript, I’m not sure his snap count would have been this high. For whatever it’s worth, Parsons only played 3 of 17 snaps the Packers played out of their base 4-3 defense this week, so he certainly sees a higher uptick in playing time when Green Bay is playing their nickel set.
Defensive Tackle
- 48: Devonte Wyatt
- 36: Colby Wooden
- 32: Karl Brooks
- 8: Nazir Stackhouse
- 6: Lukas Van Ness (DE)
- 2: Micah Parsons (DE)
- 1: Rashan Gary (DE)
Holy crap, that’s a lot of snaps for Devonte Wyatt and Colby Wooden! In his three previous seasons with the Packers, Wyatt only cracked 40 snaps played just twice. Wooden’s career high, per Pro Football Reference, is 36. Between Parsons not being fully ready, Cox dropping out with injury and Nazir Stackhouse being used exclusively as a short-yardage and red-zone nose tackle, Green Bay fed a few every-down defensive linemen a LOT of snaps all at the same time versus Detroit.
The Packers are usually four or five deep at both line positions on defense. Against the Lions, they survived with just three every-down players at the positions by the end of the game. Hopefully, Cox, Parsons, Stackhouse or Barryn Sorrell, who was inactive for this game due to a knee injury, can start picking up the slack a little bit in the coming weeks.
As far as the defensive ends playing defensive tackle goes, these come from the “nickel rush” subpackage, where the Packers were able to get Van Ness, Parsons and Gary all on the field at the same time. Someone has to play defensive tackle in those looks. Green Bay rotated who that would be, but Van Ness got most of that workload.
Linebackers
- 66: Quay Walker, Edgerrin Cooper
- 16: Isaiah McDuffie
- 1: Ty’Ron Hopper
- 0: Nick Niemann
So…Isaiah McDuffie sort of got benched in this game? McDuffie was only used as the third linebacker in the Packers’ 4-3 defense. Quay Walker and Edgerrin Cooper were every-down players. On the final play that Green Bay played their 4-3, Ty’Ron Hopper subbed in for McDuffie, who wasn’t injured. This is unusual at the linebacker position. That came with 7:39 left in the third quarter, though, and the Packers played out their nickel defense for the rest of the game after that single snap.
I’m not sure what to make of this, but just don’t be surprised if Hopper ends up being the third starter in Week 2 against the Washington Commanders.
Important note: Parsons hasn’t played a snap of actual linebacker, something he did often with the Dallas Cowboys. Maybe that could be coming. Maybe the Packers have no plans of doing that with him. Only time will tell.
Cornerbacks
- 66: Keisean Nixon, Carrington Valentine
- 0: Bo Melton, Kamal Hadden, Micah Robinson
The Packers didn’t play their backup cornerbacks for a single snap this week. In fact, Micah Robinson never even got on the field for special teams, and Kamal Hadden only played two snaps on special teams. Green Bay actually called up Robinson, a 2025 draft pick, which exhausted one of his three potential roster call-ups this season. If the Packers want the option to play Robinson beyond those three games, they’ll need to add him to the 53-man roster. Mind you, Bo Melton dropped out of the game with an injury, so Green Bay called up Robinson in case multiple players were injured at the position, I guess. Good for Robinson for getting a game check, though.
Slot Defender
- 49: Javon Bullard
With cornerback Nate Hobbs out, Javon Bullard played all 49 nickel snaps in the slot against the Lions. This shouldn’t have been a surprise, as Hobbs and Bullard are really the only players on the Packers’ 53-man roster who have even practiced at the position (at least to our knowledge) over the last year or so.
Safeties
- 66: Xavier McKinney
- 54: Evan Williams
- 12: Javon Bullard
Green Bay seems to be open to its options at the safety position. Whenever Hobbs comes back from his knee injury, they’ll either need to bench Bullard, safety Evan Williams or outside cornerback Carrington Valentine to give Hobbs playing time. Bullard started the game as the team’s preferred safety option next to Xavier McKinney in their 4-3 defense, but the team then switched to Evan Williams before re-inserting Bullard into those looks.
Williams’ high safety snap count right now is more of a product of the team playing a lot of nickel reps, where Bullard kicks into the slot, than anything else. In 4-3 looks, Bullard out-snapped Williams 12 to 5 at safety. That’s a surprise.
