​The Green Bay Packers emerged as one of football’s biggest letdowns last season, and perhaps no one did less with more than head coach Matt LaFleur. Heading into the 2025 campaign, Green Bay boasted one of the league’s top rosters and even swung a bold pre-season move by trading for star defensive end Micah Parsons just 10 days before the year began. Suddenly, Packers fans were envisioning their first trip to the Super Bowl since 2010.
Instead, Green Bay delivered a surprisingly unsatisfying 9-8-1 record and settled as the NFC’s seventh seed for the third straight year. The Packers then squandered a 21-3 halftime advantage in the Wild Card round against Chicago, allowed 25 points in the fourth quarter, and succumbed to a shocking 31-27 defeat to their arch-rivals. “No way you should lose games in this league when you’re up that much,” running back Josh Jacobs remarked.
The season began with promise, as Green Bay started 9-3-1, but finished with five straight losses. The team now enters 2026 facing the league’s fourth-longest active losing streak. The late collapse defined Green Bay’s 2025 storyline, a season marked by squandered late leads and missed opportunities.
In two games against Chicago and another against Cleveland, Green Bay held double-digit leads in the final minutes and still came away empty, going 0-3 in those clutch finishes. The odds of dropping all three were minuscule at 1-in-250,000, yet they pulled it off. “That stuff is getting damn near embarrassing,” safety Javon Bullard admitted.
Turning around the fortunes of a franchise that was hit hard in free agency and carried no first-round pick will be a tough challenge. Green Bay’s first training camp practice is set for July 29, and between now and then I’ll count down the 30 most important Packers heading into the 2026 campaign. At No. 18 on that list is defensive lineman Javon Hargrave.
The 33-year-old Hargrave posted 3.5 sacks and 31 pressures for Minnesota last season. According to Pro Football Focus, he ranked 17th in pass-rush win rate (12.4%) among defensive linemen with at least 100 pass-rushing snaps. Hargrave earned a 68.5 overall defensive grade from PFF, which placed him 34th among 134 qualified interior defensive linemen. His pass-rush grade was 70.8 (30th among interior linemen), and his run-defense grade stood at 57.3 (54th at the position). Across the year, he totaled 31 pressures, 24 hurries, three quarterback hits, and forced one fumble.
Minnesota released Hargrave after the season due to salary-cap concerns, freeing up $10.9 million in cap space. A 2016 third-round pick by Pittsburgh, Hargrave is a two-time Pro Bowler (2021, 2023) with 49 career sacks. He produced 14.5 sacks over four productive seasons with the Steelers and followed with three standout campaigns in Philadelphia, where Jonathan Gannon — the Packers’ current defensive coordinator — was the Eagles’ coordinator for two years. Hargrave racked up 23 sacks during his three years in Philly, making him a seasoned lineman with a proven track record to bolster Green Bay’s defense as they pursue a healthier, more competitive 2026 season.