Green Bay Packers Roster Preview: Linebackers

The Green Bay Packers’ linebacker room is a little light right now, as the team only has seven bodies on its 91-man roster for a position that is expected to have five players make the 53-man roster. Next up in our roster preview, we’re going to take a look at every single off-ball linebacker on the team, describing where the players currently stand on the depth chart and what they are expected to contribute to the Packers in 2026.

If you want to read any of our previous installments, here are our breakdowns of Green Bay’s other position rooms:

• Quarterback
• Receiver
• Tight End
• Offensive Line
• Defensive Line
• Edge Rusher

Zaire Franklin

The Packers will have a new starting Mike linebacker this year after the team lost Quay Walker in free agency to the Las Vegas Raiders (who they should receive a 2027 fifth-round compensatory draft pick for). Before the draft, Green Bay traded away defensive lineman Colby Wooden, who was on an expiring contract, to the Indianapolis Colts for Zaire Franklin. Since bringing in Franklin, whom the Packers have stated they’ve been trying to trade for since before he was a starter in Indianapolis, Green Bay has adjusted his contract and has essentially given him an extra $2 million out of the kindness of their heart.

At 30 years old, Franklin’s legs aren’t what they used to be, but he should fit the Packers’ new quarters-based scheme much better, as he’ll be able to pass off deeper routes to split safeties. As far as credentials go, Franklin was named a Pro Bowler and All-Pro in 2024 after leading the NFL in combined tackles in 2024.

Franklin has previous experience with new defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, who coached in Indianapolis in Franklin’s first three years in the NFL (2018-2020). So far, Franklin has been the Mike and green dot player on defense in practices this spring and summer.

Edgerrin Cooper

With Franklin taking over as the Mike, Edgerrin Cooper will remain in the Will linebacker role. Cooper was more productive on a per-start basis in 2024 than in 2025, in part because the Packers weren’t as exotic with their blitzes and stunts once they acquired pass-rusher Micah Parsons. Opposing offenses frequently tried to run the ball or call quick game passes in 2025, to avoid Parsons’ pass-rushing threat, which really neutralized the purpose of sending Cooper on blitzes.

What will be interesting to monitor with Cooper in 2026 is his actual on-field percentage. Gannon changes which packages he leans into on a year-to-year basis, but at the end of his run in Arizona, he did play a significant amount of Dime (one-linebacker, six-defensive back sets) and Penny (essentially a 3-4 front where an inside linebacker goes off the field for a slot defender). In either of those looks, the green dot linebacker (Franklin, at this point in time) would remain on the field while the Will linebacker (in this case Cooper) would be on the bench.

With that being said, Cooper has seen some looks already as an edge rusher in Penny looks, replacing a true edge defender. How he holds up setting the edge in the run game in those situations has yet to be seen, though, and that Cooper playing the Penny edge plan might just be the game plan until Parsons returns from injury. Again, Cooper’s usage is going to be something we’ll be monitoring very closely throughout 2026.

Isaiah McDuffie

With the transition from a 4-3 defense to a 3-4 defense, Isaiah McDuffie should be going from a starting Sam linebacker in 2025 to a backup in 2026. In all likelihood, he’ll be the first man off the bench if there’s ever an injury to either Franklin or Cooper.

Beyond his play on defense, McDuffie is a quality special teams player and was the team’s special teams captain in 2025. Even while playing 45 percent of the team’s defensive snaps in 2025, McDuffie also played 72 percent of the team’s special teams plays (which is pretty incredible, considering that linebackers don’t contribute on units like field goal protection). He led the team with 302 total special teams snaps played, and only one other player recorded more than 230 snaps in 2025.

Ty’Ron Hopper

Who was that other player who played more than 230 special teams snaps in 2025? It was backup linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper with 278 reps.

On paper, Isaiah McDuffie is the next man up at the linebacker position moving forward, but Hopper would end up being the backup Will if both Franklin and Cooper were out of the lineup. The team has kept Hopper in the Will (or Sam, which doesn’t exist in the 3-4 defense) spot whenever the team has been forced to play him in the past.

Hopper’s career has been odd. He was a surprise third-round selection in 2024, not just because he was projected to be drafted later in the draft, but also because the team also spent a second-round pick on a Will linebacker (Cooper) in the same class. He struggled in his rookie preseason and only played 18 total snaps of defense in his rookie regular season.

Last preseason, though, he looked like he took the next step, particularly in being able to deconstruct blocks, but then in an extended look against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 18’s Junior Varsity game, he struggled at the point of attack. It’s been a little bit of a rollercoaster on the defensive end through two years, but he’s consistently been a positive contributor on special teams.

Nick Niemann

Speaking of special teams (backup linebackers play a lot of special teams, guys, it’s just part of the gig), Nick Niemann is a true special teams ace for the Packers. He, along with Aaron Mosby, Bo Melton and Zayne Anderson (now with the Miami Dolphins) were the best players in the kicking game for Green Bay in 2025, in my opinion.

The Packers snatched up Niemann after he was released by the Houston Texans at the cutdown deadline, which pushed Kristian Welch (another player who is more of a special teams player than an actual linebacker) to the practice squad to start the year. Niemann only played in seven regular-season games due to injury, but played 16.2 special teams snaps per game when healthy. On a per-game basis, he was neck and neck with Ty’Ron Hopper in special teams snaps in 2025, only behind Isaiah McDuffie.

Niemann wasn’t forced into the defensive lineup at all in 2025 until the two-point conversion attempt against the Chicago Bears, when he was split out and gave up a score at the pylon.

Kristian Welch

The Packers will probably keep five off-ball linebackers on the 53-man roster. That fifth spot will probably go to Niemann, but it wouldn’t surprise anyone if Kristian Welch ends up sticking on Green Bay’s practice squad and then is elevated for games if the team sees an injury at the linebacker position. This is how it has worked for years now, with Welch coming up to soak up special teams snaps.

He’s not quite to the ability of Niemann, but he is a quality special teams player, even if he’s a little hard to get on the field defensively because he’s pretty stiff. Last year, he played 87 special teams snaps as a reserve called up from the practice squad and just two defensive snaps (when the team was hit with three different injuries at the linebacker level).

Both Niemann and Welch were set to be free agents in 2026 before the Packers brought them back on one-year deals. Niemann received $500,000 in guarantees while Welch received just $10,000, another datapoint that shows us that Green Bay prefers Niemann in the fifth linebacker role with Welch as a break in case of emergency special teams option.

T.J. Quinn

The only other new face in the linebacker room besides Zaire Franklin is T.J. Quinn, an undrafted rookie from Louisville. When I spoke to people in the NFL scouting community, I was told that Quinn wasn’t really on NFL radars as more than a tryout player until he did well at his pro day, where he ran a 4.52-second 40-yard dash.

Quinn is pretty small for an NFL linebacker, and I didn’t really see the athleticism translate on film, but maybe the Packers are hoping they can get more out of Quinn and bulk him up.

Over the last three seasons, Green Bay has gone from a team that doesn’t hand out many guarantees to UDFAs to a team that ranks around the NFL average. 95 percent of the team’s guaranteed money to UDFAs went to 5 of their 11 signings: Quinn, EDGE Nyjalik Kelly, WR J. Michael Studivant, G Josh Gesky and G Dillon Wade.

On the relatively scale of UDFAs, the Packers invested decent money into the Quinn signing, as he ranked 7th among 34 off-ball linebackers in guarantees in this undrafted class. Green Bay also brought in Quinn as a pre-draft visitor, so they clearly had him circled going into draft weekend. I wouldn’t be surprised if both Quinn and Kristian Welch made the team’s 16-man practice squad.