​The Green Bay Packers were arguably the most disappointing team in football last year, and few teams looked to have less to show for more than coach Matt LaFleur. Going into the 2025 season, Green Bay boasted one of the NFL’s top rosters and even made a bold move by trading for star defensive end Micah Parsons just ten days before the season began. The excitement in Packers Nation surged as fans envisioned their first Super Bowl appearance since 2010. Instead, the team delivered a lackluster 9-8-1 record and earned the NFC’s seventh seed for the third straight year. In the Wild Card round, Green Bay squandered a 21-3 halftime lead against Chicago, surrendering 25 points in the fourth quarter and ultimately losing 31-27 to their archrivals. “There’s no way you should lose games in this league when you’re up that much,” said running back Josh Jacobs.
Green Bay, which started the year 9-3-1, finished with five consecutive losses. The Packers now enter 2026 with the league’s fourth-longest losing streak. The narrative of the 2025 season was its late collapses. Green Bay led by double digits in the final minutes on two occasions against Chicago and also against Cleveland, yet managed to go 0-3 in those games. The chances of losing all three games were a slim 1-in-250,000, and the team somehow managed to pull it off. “That (expletive) is starting to get damn near embarrassing,” safety Javon Bullard remarked.
Rebuilding will be challenging, given that the Packers were hit hard by free agency and entered the offseason without a first-round pick. Green Bay’s first training camp practice is scheduled for July 29, and between now and then I’ll count down the 30 Most Important Packers heading into the 2026 campaign. At No. 20 on that list is nickel corner Javon Bullard.
Bullard, a 2024 second-round draft pick, has emerged as one of the Packers’ most ferocious and disruptive players in recent memory. In 2025, he started seven games and played in all 17 as Green Bay’s nickel/slot corner, recording 79 tackles (47 solo), one fumble recovery, two tackles for a loss, a quarterback hit, and a career-high three passes defensed. Pro Football Focus gave Bullard a 64.5 overall defensive grade, ranking him 47th among 98 qualified safeties. His coverage grade of 67.4 ranked 31st, while his run-defense grade of 54.1 placed him 88th at the position. He also allowed a 92.1 passer rating when targeted by quarterbacks.
Bullard began the 2024 season starting opposite Xavier McKinney at safety, then shifted to the slot in mid-October following the emergence of fellow rookie Evan Williams. He spent the remainder of the 2024 campaign primarily in the slot, though he did return to safety when Williams and later Zayne Anderson were injured. He finished his rookie season starting 11 of the 15 games he played. He was fourth on the team with 85 tackles, a solid total, though his early career trajectory and versatility have sparked both excitement and questions in equal measure.