The Packers Preseason kicked off last night against the Pittsburgh Steelers. It didn’t take long for me to go back to my article from last week and really take a look at what this season may shape up to be if health becomes a major factor again.
Why Packers Depth Is Suddenly a Massive 2026 Concern
Here’s my takeaways on the Good, the Bad, and The Ugly from last night’s preseason opener.
The Good: Pressures & Kicking
Before I get into this take, here’s some honorable mentions.
Jordan Love’s connection to Jayden Reed looked great. Marshawn Lloyd put together some solid runs, and Jordan Morgan looked the part at left tackle.
However, the stars of the night were Jonathan Gannon & his pressure packages, as well as Trey Smack slapping down the hate and building confidence.
Meet At the Quarterback
This right here was a thing of beauty….
While these games are notorious for vanilla defensive packages, we got our first taste of new Defensive Coordinator Jonathan Gannon’s pressure packed defensive front last night.
SIGN….ME…..UP!
Sure, it’s Mason Rudolph and not Rodgers blah blah blah, I am still here saying that defensive front is going to be a problem for opposing offenses. When Micah finally returns, that pass rush is going to be straight nasty. Not to mention Devonte Wyatt and Javon Hargrave weren’t even in the mix of the interior yet.
Gannon was deploying all the tricks in that first series and throughout the game. Between pre snap disguise packages, 8 man line ups that dropped 5 back into coverage, and even some of those corner blitzes we saw during Family Night.
I can’t wait to see more of this in the regular season.
Smack Those Doubts Through The Uprights
Check out this compilation of Trey Smack kicking ass while kicking the ball consisently through them uprights.
There’s a reason why I did not include him in the depth concerns last week. I have no doubt that with this confidence booster we are about to see the dawn of the Packers next franchise kicker.
Just relax, and smack them doubts out of your head!
The Bad: The Packers Depth Concern Validated
Packers Back Up Defense
The flashes of greatness from the starters dimmed REAL fast as the 2nd and 3rd stringers hit the field last night. The urgency was extremely lacking on defense, allowing 3 unanswered touchdowns from the Steelers squad. The run defense was a sieve, and secondary coverage allowed massive chunk plays consistently.
Now luckily, as a good number of starters like Devonte Wyatt, Javon Hargrave, and Micah Parsons sat last night out, it means those that showed those early flashes will operate as the rotational depth behind the starters. We just need to hope that health is the wealth of this defense in 2026.
Packers Offense Driving On A Road To Nowhere
The backup offense struggled to put together a meaningful drive, and it really bolstered the concerns that this roster is THIN!
Darian Kinnard and the rest of the back up offensive lineman allowed 5 sacks with Kinnard leaving the field in the 3rd quarter.
RB Jaden Nixon was also thoroughly shut down out of the backfield, only getting 1 yard on 4 carries. Back up Damien Martinez fought hard on his 8 carries, but only mustered 2.5 yards per carry.
Again, thankfully, the starters are looking lights out, but there’s a lot to clean up for rotational depth all around.
The Ugly: Keisean Nixon & Kyron Drones
Major takeaways from last night need to be cementing Kyle Mccord as QB3, and a near mandate to see how St. Juste & Cisse handle the perimeter in next week’s outing.
Packers QB Kyron Drones
One has to believe that Kyron Drones has relegated himself to QB4 and is likely to be sent packing.
Drones took the helm for the final 9 minutes of play last night and went 0-1 on his pass attempts and took 3 sacks. While you can certainly make the case that he was not getting much help from the abysmal 3rd string offensive line, overall the rookie looked overwhelmed and not ready for the moment. It will be interesting to see if he’s kept on for further develoopment, or if the Packers cut their losses and release Drones to begin shoring up depth at other positions.
Last And In This Case, The Least, Keisean Nixon Doing Keisean Nixon Things
When it comes to Nixon, I have not exactly been quiet over the last couple years regarding his playing. I will still say, that I do believe he has a place on Special Teams and as a blitz package specialist. However, he has no business starting at CB on this team.
He did little to change anyone’s mind after a poor showing at Family Night, and his lack of effort once again showed against the Steelers wideouts.
I think this play pretty much sums it up.
It looked bad enough from the TV angle, here’s another look that really shows how out of place Nixon was, and how little effort he showed.
Between all of the above, and the host of clips coming out of training camp of Nixon getting mossed by Melton and torched by every other wideout, I would implore Gutey and Co. to suck it up and admit they were wrong.
Gutey sang his praises at the League Meeting back in 2023 saying Nixon had a great first year at corner and his best football was ahead of him.
Fast forward to February of this year and he had this to say, despite what the rest of the world saw with their own eyes last season.
It’s time to end the experiment. Cisse again looked the part last night and it’s only a matter of time before he’s opposite Carrington Valentine or Benjamin St. Juste.
Final Thoughts After Packers Loss To Steelers
My answer is still a resounding YES!
While the overall tenor of this article may come across negative, I would certainly peel all of this back to say that this JUST THE PRESEASON. Wins and losses do not matter and right now is the time to be hyper critical of individual players performances.
As a whole this is a team built for explosive plays and complementary football.
Matt LaFleur and the coaching staff will no doubt be “looking at the tape” and scheming to “get the best 11 out there”.
Here’s what Matt had to say after the game.
(Audio is off for the first few seconds)
Was it a poor performance by the depth chart? Yes
Does this carry weight on the potential of the starting squad? No
It does still highlight the dead horse I continue to beat during the last couple weeks. The roster is thin but the talent is deep. I look forward to seeing the adjustments going into Preseason Week 2, and seeing the next man up that will get their chance.
I also want to see which players will use last night to bake a salty chip to slap on their shoulder, propelling them to a comeback, and greatness.
Go Pack Go!
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