Among other things, I’m starting to work through the whole of the Green Bay Packers roster going into the 2026 season. As I’ve been working through the defensive line, I wanted to put together a position group preview for the EDGE defenders currently on the roster. I’ll include thoughts on each player, what to expect from them, and how the team may or may not need to further improve the position group.
Micah Parsons
Sometimes things just feel too good to be true. Oftentimes they are. But Micah Parsons being a Green Bay Packer is the rare exception. Up until the injury, Micah was absolutely everything you could have asked for as a Packers fan. He swung games in the Packers favor, and then singlehandedly closed games out too. It’s really tough to put into words how good he was, and how fun he was to watch this past season. So, I won’t really try too hard. Micah Parsons is great, and we’ll just leave it at that.
There’s a lot of important things going on this offseason for the Packers. But I would argue there’s nothing more important than Micah Parsons’ ACL rehab. If he is able to fully return and play at 100%, then the sky is the limit for this defense. If he’s not able to return to full strength, then things start to look a whole lot worse.
You might say that one player shouldn’t have such an outsized effect on an entire team/unit. But to say that would be to misunderstand the incredible force multiplier that is Micah Parsons. I could rattle off any pass rushing productivity stat of my choosing to try and convince you of his rightful importance to the team, but even the best array of numbers wouldn’t begin to tell the whole story. This stat though, starts to paint that whole picture.
Micah is a force multiplier for the entire defense. When he plays well, those around him play well. This is especially true for the secondary. Nixon and Valentine, much maligned by Green Bay Packers fans, were still playing slightly above average football up until Micah got hurt, but they dropped into colossal wasteland territory as soon as Micah left the field. That says more to me about Micah’s impact than it does anything else.
Again, it is of utmost importance that Micah returns to full strength. Pray The Spirit of Lombardi watches over the physical therapists and trainers that work with him this offseason.
Lukas Van Ness
Lukas just might be the most underrated player on the team right now. I wrote about him in depth here, so I won’t re-hash much. But I have full faith in LVN as the EDGE2 behind Micah going into 2026.
Barryn Sorrell
For a player that didn’t produce that much as a pass rusher last season, I am having a tough time not getting irrationally excited about the potential of Barryn Sorrell.
This week I re-watched the week 18 matchup against the Vikings. I was trying to pay special attention to Collin Oliver while I watched, but I could not take my eyes off Sorrell. Sorrell played with such force in that game, and he absolutely wrecked the Vikings run game.
I get that he’s playing against Justin Skule, but this is still some top tier disruption. I know it’s just one game, but I couldn’t have been more impressed with the way that Sorrell played in week 18.
Over the course of his full rookie season, Sorrell rushed the passer 131 times. Among those rushes, he created only 7 total pressures which was good for a 4.3% pass rush win rate. This was easily the worst rate of all the Packers edge defenders in 2025, Kingsley Enagbare was second worst with a 10.5% win rate.
Like I said, I know that I shouldn’t let myself get too excited about Sorrell. He really hasn’t shown much at all as an NFL pass rusher. But that doesn’t mean the Packers aren’t counting on him.
The Packers paid Micah Parsons over 45 million dollars last year. That is a hell of a lot of money, even by NFL standards. If the team is going to be paying one guy that much money, then they really need other young players on cheap contracts to fill in the gaps. The Packers don’t have the cash to afford high quality depth players on the defensive line right now. It’s partially why Rashan Gary and Kingsley Enagbare left the team earlier this month. A guy like Barryn Sorrell will be called on to fill that void.
Collin Oliver
In my opinion, there may not be a single player on the defense who will benefit from the move back to a 3-4 base defense more than Collin Oliver. As a tweener defensive end/off ball linebacker in college, he’s the ideal fit for a 3-4 OLB position.
Keep in mind that a 3-4 defense essentially plays with 5 down defensive lineman. This means that if all those defenders rush the passer, then the back end will be one man short. It’s a “blitz” without it really feeling like a blitz.
Since modern defenses don’t want to live in a world where they are blitzing every time they are in base defense, that means that one of the 5 down lineman will have to drop in coverage on plays where the defense doesn’t want to rush with more than 4 defenders. Anybody remember Preston Smith island??
Unlike Preston Smith, Oliver is form fitted for this role. Having played off ball linebacker in college, his coverage skills are already far past whatever Preston’s were. On top of this, his lack of size and length will be less detrimental when he can rush from wide 9 alignments as a 3-4 OLB. In short, offenses will have to truly wonder whether he’ll blitz or drop into coverage anytime Oliver is on the field. And if he drops into coverage, he won’t be quite so easy to pick on either.
The problem with Oliver has always been his health. His final season in college was almost completely marred by a foot injury. Then his rookie year in Green Bay was also nearly entirely lost. Oliver suffered a hamstring injury in camp, and then didn’t make it onto the field until the very last week of the season. He played in the same number of games that Marshawn Lloyd did as a rookie. Let’s hope that trend doesn’t also continue into year 2 for Oliver.
Brenton Cox Jr.
Cox Jr. signed a 1 year deal worth 1.7 million dollars last week. Only $250,000 of that contract is guaranteed, so there’s no guarantee that Cox makes the team this summer. However, I’d bet decent money that Brenton is a real part of the Packers’ plan in 2026.
Cox was a part time player in 2024, and then missed a great deal of the 2025 season with a barrage of injuries. So, it’s understandable if most Packers fans don’t feel too familiar with his play. For that reason, let’s look back at his numbers in 2024 to get a feel for his game.
- Appeared in 8 games and played 187 snaps (4th most among DE’s behind Gary, LVN, Enagbare)
- Led the team with a 14.8% overall pass rush win rate. (Rashan Gary was 2nd at 12.2%)
- Led the team with a 20.5% pass rush win rate on true pass sets. (Gary was again 2nd at 16.2%)
- Totaled the exact same number of sacks as Lukas Van Ness and Kingsley Enagbare did in 2024. (4 sacks) Cox Jr. did that while playing 144 fewer pass rush snaps than Van Ness, and 193 fewer snaps than Enagbare.
I know, I know, small sample size and blah blah blah! But I don’t care what color your glasses are, numbers like these for your potential no. 5 pass rusher look pretty darn encouraging.
Feeling overly excited about Brenton Cox Jr. yet? If not, here’s a slick spin move right past Brian O’Neill to close the deal.
Overall Outlook
There’s quite a wide range of outcomes for this position group in 2026. If all goes well, they could be lethal. If ___ hits the fan, they could become a real problem.
Say Micah Parsons returns to 100% early in the season, LVN continues his breakout, the young guns take a step and Brenton Cox Jr. keeps pulling his weight as a part time player. If all those things happen, then I would put this group of EDGE defenders up against almost any other group in the NFL. But how likely is it that all those things happen?
Let’s look at the glass half empty alternative. Say Micah’s recovery takes a little while longer than we had hoped, LVN struggles as a full time starter, Sorrell continues to struggle as a pass rusher, Oliver can’t stay healthy, and Cox Jr. proves to be just a flash in the pan. If all that proves to be true, then the defense as a whole could be in serious trouble.
The truth, and the most realistic outcome, is probably somewhere in between those two outcomes.
As GM of the Green Bay Packers, I believe Brian Gutekunst should prepare for the worst. And I think that he will. I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if the 2nd round draft pick next month ends up being an EDGE. Guys like Zion Young, Gabe Jacas, Malachi Lawrence, Derrick Moore, or Keyron Crawford may all be available at some point on day 2 of the draft. Like I said, don’t be too blown away if Gutey takes one of these players early, and adds a little insurance with upside to the position group.
Say the draft doesn’t work out like this. There are other places the Green Bay Packers could look to fill out this position. Free agent additions no longer affect the compensatory pick formula if they are made after the draft. So, if they can’t get a guy in the draft, look for them to potentially add a veteran off the market. I would not be opposed to being the team that gives a guy like Jadeveon Clowney his annual one year contract.
This position group is close. One more addition of the sort I noted above could protect against some bad luck, and ensure these EDGE defenders are a real boon for the Green Bay Packers in 2026. Get it done Gutey!
