The Green Bay Packers are going to have a new-look defense in 2026. After two years in Green Bay, former defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley was hired to be the next head coach of the Miami Dolphins. To replace him, the Packers hired former Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon to replace him.
While Gannon has not, for some reason, addressed the media since his hire, it is well-known that he will utilize a 3-4 base defense in Green Bay, which is a change from the 4-3 base that Hafley ran.
In addition to their change in defensive coordinator, the Packers spent significant resources in free agency and the 2026 NFL Draft on the defensive side of the ball. All these moves considered, Bleacher Report recently ranked Green Bay’s defense as the 15th-best in the league heading into the season. They could be much better, though, depending on how they answer the following questions this year.
1. Will the Green Bay Packers get the old Micah Parsons back?
Micah Parsons was, but far and away, the best player on Green Bay’s defense last season. Unfortunately, he tore his ACL late in the year and missed the final three games of the regular season, as well is the Packers’ Wild Card game in the NFL Playoffs.
Green Bay lost every game they played without him down the stretch.
With 12.5 sacks in 14 games, the First Team All-Pro led the Packers in sacks by a wide margin. Fortunately, he is not expected to be out long into the 2026 season, but the question remains if he will be the same player post-injury. By all accounts, his rehab is going well and is even ahead of schedule in many ways.
But NFL games are a different animal compared to rehab, and the Packers need to have Parsons back to his perennial All-Pro self in order for their defense to be the best it can be. What is more, the rest of their pass rushers need to step up, something they were not able to do when he went down last year.
2. What will the cornerback situation be?
Last year, Keisean Nixon made the Pro Bowl after several players dropped out, but allowed six touchdowns and a 105.1 passer rating when targeted. Carrington Valentin was the Packers’ other starting cornerback, and he allowed seven touchdowns and a 121.4 passer rating when targeted.
In short, that was not good enough and cannot be the case again in 2026.
So far this off-season, the Packers signed Benjamin St-Juste in free agency and spent two draft picks on cornerbacks, selecting Brandon Cisse in the second round and Domani Jackson in the sixth.
Nixon and Valentine are both entering the final years of their respective contracts, and neither are making hefty salaries in 2026. In other words, the Packers do not have a financial reason to start either of them if they are under-performing.
It will be interesting to see how that room sorts itself out during training camp and the regular season. Frankly, it would not be surprising if Cisse and St-Juste end up as the starters.
3. Will Zaire Franklin have a bounce-back year for the Green Bay Packers?
In the early days of NFL free agency, the Packers sent defensive lineman Colby Wooden to the Indianapolis Colts in exchange for linebacker Zaire Franklin. Quay Walker was expected to leave in free agency (he did), so Green Bay wanted another starting middle linebacker to play alongside Edgerrin Cooper.
Franklin played under Gannon before when the latter was a coach in Indianapolis, so there is familiarity there. Additionally, he was a Pro Bowler in 2024 when he had a career-high 3.5 sacks and led the NFL with 173 tackles.
He had a down year in 2025, though, recording 125 tackles while frequently garnering criticism for his poor run defense and pass coverage.
The hope, of course, is that he will be better in 2026 with a new team and his former coach. But until that happens, the question remains as to whether or not he will be able to accomplish that.
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