​The Green Bay Packers were arguably the most disappointing team in football last year. And perhaps no one did less with more than Packers’ coach Matt LaFleur.Green Bay headed into the 2025 season with one of the NFL’s top rosters, then traded for star defensive end Micah Parsons 10 days before the year began. Suddenly, Packer Nation was dreaming of their first Super Bowl appearance since 2010.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementInstead, Green Bay went a remarkably unsatisfying 9-8-1 overall and was the NFC’s No. 7 seed for a third consecutive year. The Packers then blew a 21-3 halftime lead in the Wild Card round against Chicago, gave up 25 fourth quarter points and eventually suffered a shocking 31-27 loss to the arch-rival Bears.“No way you should lose games in this league when you’re up that much,” running back Josh Jacobs said.Green Bay, which began the year 9-3-1, finished the season with five straight losses. The Packers now enter 2026 with the league’s fourth-longest losing streak.Collapsing late in games was the story of Green Bay’s 2025 campaign.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementGreen Bay had double digit leads in the final minutes twice against Chicago and also vs. Cleveland and somehow went 0-3 in those games. The Packers’ odds of losing all three contests were 1-in-250,000, yet they somehow did it.“That (expletive), it’s starting to get damn-near embarrassing,” safety Javon Bullard said.Rebounding won’t be easy as the Packers were hit hard in free agency and didn’t have a first round draft pick.Green Bay’s first training camp practice is July 29. Between now and then I will count down the ‘30 Most Important Packers’ heading into the 2026 campaign.At No. 14 is linebacker Zaire Franklin.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementFranklin had a paltry grade of 38.0 from Pro Football Focus, which ranked 87th among 88 qualified linebackers. His PFF coverage grade of 29.8 ranked 86th, his run-defense grade of 54.9 ranked 73rd and his pass-rush grade of 57.5 ranked 62nd.Franklin finished the year with 125 total tackles (62 solo), 19 pressures and 3.0 sacks. He allowed a 109.3 passer rating when targeted in coverage and was charged with 21 missed tackles over the course of the year.The Packers have had their collective eyes on Franklin for years, though, and traded defensive tackle Coly Wooden to Indianapolis for him on March 11.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“Last year, I mean … like, my career lows are some guys career highs,” Franklin said. “So I don’t understand what that really means, but at the same time, this a year by year league, it’s a week by week league, I gotta go out there and earn it every single year, and every single week, so I’m looking forward to going out there and earning it.”Franklin, who turned 30 earlier this month, started 82 of his 132 career games with Indianapolis. In the last four years, Franklin started 67 of a possible 68 games.Franklin averaged just 23.5 tac