5 Burning Questions For The Packers’ Offense
By Carter Semb
The Packers are set to kick off training camp in just over three weeks, and like every offseason, there are some questions that need answering.
It's been a busy few months at 1265 Lombardi Avenue. Plenty of roster turnover, new faces stepping into new roles, key contract extensions, fresh coaching perspectives, and even an unresolved legal situation still lingering. That's a lot to keep an eye on this summer.
This week, the focus is on the offense. There's always the usual mix of health questions, contract negotiations, and "is this the year" storylines that come with any roster — but 2026 brings its own extra layer. Josh Jacobs' legal situation still looms over the running back room. The offensive line is trying to find its old form again. A former first-round pick is finally getting his shot at the position he was drafted to play. And the head coach is openly admitting he's tearing the whole offense down to the studs. Plenty to watch before the pads come on.
Here's the thing everyone can agree on: this offense needs to be better in 2026. The continuity is there. The potential is there. The youth is there. All the pieces exist for this to be one of the league's best offenses — but having the pieces and putting them together aren't the same thing. That's where these questions come in. Each one plays a real role in whether this offense lives up to expectations.
So let's get into it. Here are five big questions the Packers need to answer before kickoff on Sunday, September 13th.
What’s the fate of Josh Jacobs?
Let's start with the question nobody has an answer to yet. Josh Jacobs was arrested on May 26 on domestic abuse charges stemming from an incident several days earlier. He was released from the Brown County Jail shortly after, with the DA's office saying it needed more time and more evidence before deciding whether to file charges.
"After reviewing the available evidence in this case, the Brown County District Attorney's Office is not yet prepared to make a formal charging decision," said District Attorney David L. Lasee. "Our office has requested additional investigation, as there is reason to believe that additional evidence may exist that would impact whether criminal charges are appropriate, and what charges would be issued. Mr. Jacobs will be released from custody at this time, and a final charging decision will be made by our office at a later date."
This situation has left everyone in limbo. Jacobs was back at OTAs shortly after his release, and Matt LaFleur didn't make it a big deal at the time. "I would say business as usual," LaFleur said. Since then? No update, no timeline, nothing.
This is the one question entirely out of the Packers' control. If charges come down, there's a real chance Jacobs is released. If the DA passes on charges, he's probably back in as the workhorse back like nothing happened. The league could still choose to suspend Jacobs, but nonetheless, two wildly different outcomes, and the team has no say in which one plays out.
Jacobs is coming off a season where he rushed for 984 yards and 13 touchdowns in 16 total games. Jacobs has played over 260 snaps in all seven of his NFL seasons, including 287 snaps last year despite battling injuries, and he would likely be in line to play a hefty number of snaps this year as well. Jacobs has been a workhorse for most of his career, and he'd almost certainly be in line for a heavy workload again this year if he's on the roster.
And that's what makes this such a pressing issue — if Jacobs isn't part of the plan, the running back room is thin. Behind him, the only backs on the roster are Chris Brooks, MarShawn Lloyd, Damien Martinez, Jaden Nixon, and Pierre Strong Jr. No experienced lead back in that group, no clear plan B. For now, everyone's just watching and waiting — the Packers included.
Can MarShawn Lloyd finally stay healthy?
Since we're already talking running backs, let's talk about the other name in that room who badly needs a healthy season: MarShawn Lloyd. The third-year back has been snakebit through his first two seasons, playing just 10 total snaps across two years thanks to a rotating cast of injuries — ankle, calf, groin, hamstring, hip, even an appendix removal.
This offseason, though, Lloyd and the Packers finally went looking for the root cause instead of just treating symptoms one at a time. Matt Schneidman of The Athletic outlined the work, and the short version is this: Lloyd connected with Dr. John Meyer, who is the Chairman of Performance, Health and Wellness for the LA Clippers and Director of Player Health and Performance for the LA Kings. Meyer also runs the Meyer Institute of Sport in El Segundo, California, where Lloyd spent the bulk of his offseason.
After a bunch of different tests, Meyer's team traced the problem back to an ACL tear from Lloyd's college days — he'd been overcompensating at the ankle and hip ever since, and never rebuilt the quad strength he lost. Most of his injuries, it turns out, were happening when Lloyd was slowing down to plant and cut.
MarShawn Lloyd opens up about his health journey and getting back out on the field.
“I wanna be able to contribute. And I will.” @NBC26 pic.twitter.com/AvYKnmBpET
— Kelly Hallinan (@kellyhals) June 2, 2026
"We figured out what we needed to do, figured out what I needed and we just attacked it the whole offseason," Lloyd said. "I didn't really get to see my family as much as I wanted to because, yes, my family's important, but my family knows how important this is to me. … I knew that John Meyer was the place I needed to go to get my body where it needed to be."
Now that the root issue is identified, the hope is that all those months of work finally show up on the field. Running backs coach Ben Sirmans, though, isn't ready to pop the champagne just yet. "We're very optimistic, but we've all been optimistic before," Sirmans said. "So we just gotta wait and see what's going to happen." Cautious optimism might be the best way to describe where things stand — but even that might be progress.
How does the offensive line shake out?
Let's not sugarcoat it — the Packers' offensive line wasn't good enough in 2025, and it needs to take a real step forward for this offense to reach its ceiling. The good news is continuity. The bad news is that "continuity" still comes with a lot of question marks. If the season started today, the line left to right would be Jordan Morgan, Aaron Banks, Sean Rhyan, Anthony Belton, and Zach Tom — five familiar faces, but still unproven.
Starting with Morgan: Of his 1,035 career regular-season snaps, only 51 have come at left tackle — the position he was drafted to play. Banks is coming off an injury-hampered 2025 that fell well short of expectations for a $77 million guard. Rhyan only moved to center full-time late last season after Elgton Jenkins went down, so he's still building experience there. Belton didn't get real run at guard until midseason, after spending most of his life playing tackle. And Tom is working his way back from the patellar tendon injury that ended his 2025 season early. That's five different reasons to have concerns.
The silver lining is that all five now have a full offseason to build chemistry in these roles — assuming nobody else forces their way into the mix, but there's already a name doing exactly that: rookie Jager Burton, who's turned heads with first-team reps at OTAs. "I see a really young guy that's extremely coachable, athletic, and is maximizing the most of his opportunities," head coach Matt LaFleur said. "So I think every practice he gets a little bit more comfortable, a little bit better, and I can see him, he's definitely going to be in the mix to compete for playing time this year."
That quote from LaFleur isn’t nothing. Burton should push both Rhyan and Belton on the interior this summer. Rhyan got paid this offseason, so he'll be on the field in some capacity, but exactly where — center or guard — is still up for debate. Don't be shocked if the Packers lean on a rotation at guard again, either. However it all shakes out, one thing's certain: this line has to be better in 2026, and training camp is going to be a must-watch for anyone trying to figure out how it gets there.
Is Jordan Morgan up for the task?
Let's circle back to Jordan Morgan, because how he plays might be the single biggest factor for this offense in 2026. The 2024 first-round pick is finally set to take over as the full-time left tackle — a position he hasn't played regularly since college. Morgan's first two years have been anything but stable. He suffered a season-ending injury as a rookie, then spent his second year bouncing around the line like a game of musical chairs.
The numbers tell the story: 478 snaps at right guard, 256 at left guard, 219 at right tackle — and only 51 at left tackle, all of them coming in a Week 18 game against Minnesota. The Packers wanted a jack-of-all-trades. Instead, they got a player who never got to settle in anywhere. H
ere's the encouraging part: in his limited left tackle work, Morgan has actually looked good. He produced PFF grades of 76.5 and 74.6 at left tackle during the 2025 preseason and did not allow a single pressure. In that Week 18 finale against the Vikings, he gave up just one pressure. Encouraging signs — but preseason snaps and a meaningless Week 18 game aren't the same as facing a defense with something on the line.
On the bright side, Morgan has performed well at left tackle in his limited work. During that Week 18 contest in Minnesota, Morgan gave up only one pressure. There are encouraging signs, but he’ll need to do it against legit competition.
Left tackle is where Morgan played for five years at Arizona, and it's what made him a first-round pick in the first place. Seriously, he never played any of the other offensive line spots. The continuity paid off. His junior and senior seasons produced PFF grades of 84.2 and 83.2 and he only gave up three sacks. Now he's getting back to the position that got him drafted 25th overall, and the hope is that the tape translates.
The Packers sound convinced that Morgan is ready. "I'm excited about him being over there," offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said. "I thought last year he showed flashes of being able to be a good left tackle in this league when we had him out there. Last year, Rasheed (Walker) was out for a little while in preseason, so we moved Jordan to left tackle and he did a great job. He played in preseason against some pretty good defensive linemen from the Colts, and I saw him play and I was like: 'Yeah he's ready.'"
Whether Morgan is truly ready remains to be seen, but Morgan’s performance is going to be one of the single biggest factors for the Packers in 2026.
How will Matt LaFleur's offense evolve?
The Packers' offense was productive last season, but it also felt like there was meat left on the bone. The advanced numbers back that up on both sides: SumerSports had Green Bay 4th in EPA/play, 3rd in EPA/pass, and 5th in success rate — all very efficient and encouraging numbers. And yet the counting stats told a different story: 15th in total yards, 17th in passing yards, 15th in rushing yards, 16th in points. The process was good, but the production was not. That gap is the whole story of the 2025 offense.
Matt LaFleur, who calls the plays, took some heat for it. Was it play-calling? The execution? Probably some of both — but at the end of the day, it all falls on the head coach. To LaFleur’s credit, he sounds as if he knows it needs to improve. "I think you're always evaluating and making decisions that are best for the football team," LaFleur said at the NFL Annual League Meeting. "You always look at ways to improve, and I thought the best way for us to move forward is we just got to strip everything down and start like it's Year 1 all over again." That means a full reinstall of the offense, down to the smallest details.
So where were things going wrong? Despite the strong efficiency marks, the Packers had one of the lowest dropback rates in the league (55%) and ranked near the bottom in offensive plays per game (59.4). No-huddle (8.5%) was barely part of the equation. Why? LaFleur wanted to control the ball and shorten the game — which means fewer opportunities for Jordan Love and the offense.
The personnel usage tells the same story. The vast majority of snaps came out of just two groupings — 11 and 12 personnel — and the Packers were excellent at throwing out of both. The problem was running out of them. The Packers ranked 14th in EPA/rush using 11 personnel, and had a negative EPA/rush using 12 personnel. Yikes. To make matters worse, the Packers weren’t very effective running the ball with any personnel groupings. In simplest terms: Efficient through the air, inefficient on the ground.
So what does Matt LaFleur need to change in 2026? Let’s start with the obvious: give Jordan Love more chances. Run more plays per game, get to the line of scrimmage faster, call more dropbacks, and let him attack the middle of the field. If the offense is going to run through its franchise quarterback, it needs to actually run through him.
Play caller historical dropback tendencies by down and distance and red zone pic.twitter.com/ifooZzr2lq
— Football Insights 📊 (@fball_insights) May 6, 2026
The run game needs fixing too — and that starts with situational awareness. Living in shotgun formations like the Packers did last season makes it a lot harder to establish anything on the ground, especially with the current personnel. Another 4th and 1 run up the middle out of shotgun, anyone? LaFleur also loves to run the ball in 2nd and long situations. A stagnant run game doesn't just hurt on money downs — it eliminates the play-action game and gives opposing pass rushers a green light to tee off.
They also need to find ways to run the ball better. It’s hard to run the ball effectively when the Packers are in shotgun 62% of the time. Another No thanks. It’s also disadvantageous to run the football on 2nd and long. If LaFleur’s traditional wide-zone blocking scheme isn’t effective for his personnel, then find a way to switch it up. It’s hard to run play action and minimize a pass rush when the offense can’t run the ball consistently.
So, back to the original question: how will Matt LaFleur's offense evolve? That's genuinely one of the more fascinating storylines to track this fall. Whether it looks different — or whether "Year 1" ends up being more talk than transformation — we're all about to find out.
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Carter Semb is a lifelong Packer fan, shareholder, and season ticket holder. He is a contributor for Cheesehead TV and Packers Talk. For commentary surrounding Wisconsin sports, he can be found on X at @cmsemb.
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Comments (18)
splitpea1
July 06, 2026 at 03:39 pm
Good article.
The last section is the key: the offense needs to evolve so that offensive talent is maximized; if your strength is the passing game, then feature it more prominently. More no-huddle might be the firecracker in the rear end the offense needs while keeping opposing defenses off-balance... If you find maybe Jacobs has lost a step and Lloyd can start providing explosive plays, then that's the guy you want to be giving the ball to. MLF is stubborn, though, and he loves to pound it between the tackles. But we need him to evolve into the type of play caller that coaches the team he has, not the one he wishes he had.
Guam
July 07, 2026 at 06:56 am
Concur Splitpea1. And not only does LaFleur need to evolve his offense, he needs to evolve as a head coach. He needs to make better in-game adjustments, he needs to make better game management decisions (clock management, red flag management, etc. etc.) and he needs to work on better motivating his players. For me, LaFleur is the biggest question mark on the Packers.
Snap the ball
July 06, 2026 at 03:52 pm
Maybe practice route running past garbage cans. Just don’t pop the lid and get an interception.
Shot gun doesn’t win games in December or November or January or October or February
A new play should be called. Garbage cans 1.
dobber
July 07, 2026 at 08:45 am
Somebody partied hard on the 4th...
Tlatum21
July 06, 2026 at 04:13 pm
I'm surprised the writer did not include a question about Jordan Love and whether he's worth $55 mil/yr. So far, I think the answer is "No". Of all players on the team, I think he is the one with the most to prove.
Leatherhead
July 06, 2026 at 04:19 pm
If a QB can throw for 4 TDs and 300 yards with no interceptions in a playoff game on the road, he's probably good enough. Protect him, and he'll get the job done.
ricky
July 06, 2026 at 08:36 pm
The problem is LaFleur. I don't think he trusts Love, especially in high pressure situations. If one of them has to go, who would prefer a more daring HC or switch to a defensive guru?
Coldworld
July 07, 2026 at 01:26 pm
I think it’s hard to have a preference as to a type of head coach in terms of phase coordinated when it comes down to specific candidates. Whoever it is, whatever their personal background, I look for someone able to innovate not merely emulate and, in particular with a track record of improving players under them and of putting together a team of successful coaches while under him and after they have been poached.
Bitternotsour
July 07, 2026 at 01:47 pm
Very few innovators. Shanahan, Andy Reed, maybe McVay and Ben Johnson (trick plays). Everyone else coming off someone else's system (especially Ben Johnson). Even Reed and Shanahan owe much to other systems.
Paul Brown, Belichick, Bill Walsh. Shanahan Sr. Hell, McCarthy was innovative - the big 5 was unstoppable for a time. Mouse Davis was an innovator. Don Shula.
dobber
July 07, 2026 at 08:42 am
Cap hits, not AAVs.
He was 12th in cap hit last year and is 10th in cap hit at QB this year, which will be the first year that Jordan Love's cap hit will exceed $30M.
Just sayin'...
ricky
July 06, 2026 at 08:33 pm
"All gas, no brakes" is what MLF says. But give the team a solid lead in the third quarter, and suddenly they turn into a run only team, with the occasional end around to add some "variety". Then they try a desperation third down pass, and end up punting repeatedly, while the other team slowly but surely catches up. Rinse, repeat, lose. If LaFleur is really feeling some heat- and it would be about time, because his record has been getting worse for years now- time to stop the talk and walk the walk.
Savage57
July 07, 2026 at 08:12 am
The foot-dragging on the Jacobs thing is hard to figure out.
Unless authorities are just waiting for the parties to come to agreement on the amount of the payoff the 'victim's' willing to accept.
Coldworld
July 07, 2026 at 10:04 am
Unless they want to make sure they’ve demonstrably left no stone unturned before announcing there’s insufficient evidence to warrant charging.
dobber
July 07, 2026 at 09:20 am
The OL is the biggest question mark. As LH would say, "nothing good happens if you can't get players blocked." The decline in the run game comes from (1) shoddy OL play and depth, and (2) very readable play tendencies.
Overall, I'm cautiously optimistic about the frontline starters--mostly for the reasons laid out above--and am OK with Kinnard off the bench on game days. Burton's gotta put on pads before I'll get too excited about him, but I don't see him forcing a rotation this season. If Burton turns out as good as people are saying, then I think it opens the door for the Packers to cut bait on Banks in '27.
Cross your fingers the Packers don't need much of their OL bench this season, though, because right now it looks rough.
"If charges come down, there's a real chance Jacobs is released. If the DA passes on charges, he's probably back in as the workhorse back like nothing happened. "
Yes, if Jacobs is charged, I think the Packers let him go and find a replacement back...or two.
It all comes down to whether or not there's a cooperative witness/victim who is willing to press charges, and whether they are credible and consistent. There was the implication by another poster that maybe a payoff is involved here...who knows? But it seems unlikely that at this stage the complainant's situation is going to change...so I suspect no charges will be filed (that doesn't mean nothing happened), the whole thing goes out with a whimper, and Jacobs plays as much as his body can take before being let go next off-season.
"Now that the root issue is identified, the hope is that all those months of work finally show up on the field. "
If Lloyd's llegs continue to be a problem, they'll go looking for help anyway. I'd think a speedy back--we don't know if that's still Lloyd after all his soft-tissue injuries--would be welcome. We lose track of the fact that Lloyd goes about 220 lbs, and can run with power, too. BTW, the Packers almost never pitch the ball out of the 'gun or pistol...I'd like to see that come about as a way to get backs in space.
Has Lloyd's ball security improved while he was on the shelf?
"SumerSports had Green Bay 4th in EPA/play, 3rd in EPA/pass, and 5th in success rate — all very efficient and encouraging numbers. And yet the counting stats told a different story: 15th in total yards, 17th in passing yards, 15th in rushing yards, 16th in points."
Well, duh, you jump back and forth from per play stats to total stats. A paragraph later you even hit on how the Packers are near the bottom of plays per game. It makes for a shiny but a very inconsistent (and debatably disingenuous) argument.
I agree with what I think your main point was and it's been a theme this whole off-season: it's a scoring league, the Packers should be trying to score more points, and the Packers should lean more into passing game which was the more efficient part of the offense in '25. It might not be in '26, but start with what you do well and go from there.
Coldworld
July 07, 2026 at 12:20 pm
In other words, when all said and done your last paragraph comes down to the offensive philosophy design, strategy and tactical acumen. It comes down to LaFleur. Yes, it does and there’s no getting away from that.
Leatherhead
July 07, 2026 at 10:14 am
Our OL backups are the Achilles Heel of this team. If we lose starters for any significant period of time, we're going to be in trouble.
It is a scoring league. If you don't score at least 17, you have given yourself very little chance to win. In the playoffs, the winning team has 24 or more most of the time. Half the time, the winning team has over 30. Sometimes, the LOSING team has over 30. You practice your plays , you draft the people you want, you go through the season....by playoffs, your offense needs to be hitting on all cylinders.
Coldworld
July 07, 2026 at 01:33 pm
Our OL backups are unproven. We don’t know that they are bad, we just don’t have the ability to judge. I see some talent/potential. I’ve seen on paper worse groups in many occasions. What we have to do is improve who we do have from prior years. We can’t always rely on an influx of better.
At some point our OL coaches in particular have to prove better at identifying positional fit and at improving players, whether zero or hero, from one year to the next. They also need to learn to adapt what we do to best fit our strengths. None of these aspects have been particularly visible in recent years, in fact, arguably the opposite. This year we need them to do a whole lot better. If they do, I think we will be fine.
Oppy
July 07, 2026 at 01:17 pm
The singular question whose answer will define the 2026 Green Bay Packers success or lack thereof will be “Is Jordan Morgan up to the task?”
As of right now, the Packers have all of their eggs in that Jordan Morgan basket. It’s the gamble that will make or break their season.