The Green Bay Packers roster has a few soft spots if you look closely enough, but none of them feel as exposed—or as uncomfortable—as edge rusher. Everything else can be debated, schemed around, patched with creativity. This one feels more like a missing piece you can’t quite fake your way through for 17 games.

The Biggest Roster Hole

Aaron Schatz of ESPN sizes up the biggest roster holes for each NFL team going into the new season in a Thursday, May 7 feature.

For the Packers, he picks edge rusher, and it makes sense.

“Wide receiver depth is also an issue for the Packers, but at least their three starting receivers are all supposed to start the season healthy. What happens to the Packers’ defense if Micah Parsons, who suffered a torn ACL in December, is not ready for Week 1?” he asks.

Check out NFL predictions here.

He adds: “The other starting edge rusher is slated to be Lukas Van Ness, who had just 1.5 sacks in nine games last season. The top backups are fourth-round rookie Dani Dennis-Sutton and Barryn Sorrell, who had 1.5 sacks while playing 16% of the Packers’ defensive snaps as a rookie last season. This is a team that really needs to explore the remaining free agents in the veteran edge rusher market.”

Start with the obvious question hanging over everything: what happens if Micah Parsons isn’t ready for Week 1 after the torn ACL he suffered in December? That’s not a small absence. That’s a defensive identity issue. When he’s on the field, the math changes for offenses. When he’s not, it gets a lot more ordinary, fast.

Then you look at what’s behind him, and it’s not exactly reassuring. Lukas Van Ness is penciled in as a starter, but the production hasn’t matched the opportunity yet—just 1.5 sacks across nine games last season. That’s not a disaster, but it’s also not something you hang your pass rush hopes on without blinking.

After that, it gets thinner. Fourth-round rookie Dani Dennis-Sutton is still figuring out what life in the league even looks like. And Barryn Sorrell, who logged 1.5 sacks last year while playing only about 16 percent of defensive snaps, is more rotational piece than solution right now.

Find information on the top 10 games of the NFL season for 2026-27 via the NFL’s official website.

Put it together and you’ve got a room full of “maybes” when what you really need is at least one “definitely.” That’s the part that matters in January football, but also in September football when games start slipping away because the quarterback has too much time to think, to breathe, to get comfortable.

The uncomfortable truth is that Green Bay can survive a lack of wide receiver depth for stretches. That group, at least, has bodies and a baseline of reliability. But edge rusher is different. It sets the tone. It closes drives. It forces mistakes. Or it doesn’t, and everything behind it gets a little heavier.

Right now, this looks like a unit that needs help, not hope. Which is why the veteran free agent market isn’t just a suggestion—it’s probably the front office’s phone call they keep pretending they’ll make “if necessary.” In reality, it already is.