The impossible happened. Micah Parsons is officially a Green Bay Packer.
While fans worldwide celebrated the news late Thursday afternoon, the sting of losing a longtime Packer came shortly after the trade package was announced.
Green Bay had sent Kenny Clark, along with the 2026 and 2027 first-round picks, to the Dallas Cowboys in exchange for Parsons. Clark was the last remaining draft pick of the late Ted Thompson and the longest-tenured member of the team. Now, he will don a star on his helmet instead of a G.
It’s bittersweet, but a necessity to acquire a superstar player in his prime who is on a Hall of Fame trajectory. With the staple of the defensive line now in Dallas, the 2025 Packers defensive line just got a lot younger and a lot more unproven.
With Clark gone, who must step up in his place?
Short answer: everyone.
Clark is a three-time Pro Bowler and one of the better defensive tackles in all of football, and no one player is going to replace him. It’s going to have to be a group effort from the young corps of defensive linemen Green Bay has assembled over the last two seasons.
Karl Brooks, Colby Wooden, Devonte Wyatt, Warren Brinson, and Nazir Stackhouse make up the group. And it doesn’t seem like Gutekunst has any interest in adding to that group from the outside, at least not yet. He stated he has full confidence in them during his press conference while discussing the Parsons trade.
So, what do the Packers have in that group, and who is likely to play where?
Speaking directly about Clark’s replacement at nose tackle, that seems likely to be Colby Wooden. While the Packers drafted him as an undersized defensive tackle in 2023, they initially wanted to play him more on the edge. He has since transformed his body to be able to play more inside.
Now closer to 300 lbs., Wooden took first-team reps at nose tackle this summer while Kenny Clark dealt with a back injury. He followed that up with a start at nose tackle in the preseason finale against the Seattle Seahawks.
Wooden has had a productive summer. He turned heads in practice and delivered an impressive showing against the New York Jets in the first preseason matchup, registering six tackles (one for loss) and a pass deflection.
However, Wooden’s lack of NFL production is the most concerning aspect when it comes to replacing Clark. He only has 37 tackles, three for loss, and 0.5 sacks in his first two seasons. Hopefully, more consistent playing time and his physical transformation can unlock a better player — one the Packers will need to step up in a big way.
With Clark’s departure, Devonte Wyatt is now the elder statesman in the defensive line room. The 2022 first-round pick has played 1,137 snaps in his professional career and, while similar to Wooden with mixed results, there is no doubt the talent is there.
Wyatt has always been more of a pass rusher than a run defender, and Jeff Hafley will be relying on him to help generate pressure up the middle. 56.8% of Wyatt’s snaps have come from a three-tech alignment, allowing him to use his quickness to get into the backfield. His five sacks last season came in just 14 games due to an ankle injury. If he can stay on the field all season, we could see him approach double digits.
The Packers struggled to generate pressure while rushing just four last season. Wyatt will have to play a big part in changing that this year. Wyatt is the most dominant player in this position group. Next season is the final year of his contract after the team picked up his fifth-year option, so it’s fair to expect to see an uptick in his play.
Karl Brooks is the player I’m most excited to see get an increased role on this defense. Another mostly pass-rushing defensive tackle, less than 4% of his 819 career snaps have come from the A-gap, so he’s never been asked to do much against the run.
Brooks has carved out a decent career to this point for a sixth-round pick from a small school. He’s logged 7.5 sacks, 11 quarterback hits, 10 tackles for loss, six pass deflections, and two forced fumbles while only playing about 40% of the defensive snaps over his first two seasons.
I would expect Brooks to continue to come in on obvious passing downs because his run defense is still a work in progress. PFF ranked him 107th among qualified defensive linemen with a 37 run-defense grade in 2024. Don’t ask him to do what he’s not good at — just let him rush the passer.
College teammates turned NFL teammates Warren Brinson and Nazir Stackhouse are the biggest wild cards. Both are built more to stop the run, and with Clark now in Dallas, that’s exactly what Hafley will be asking them to do.
Brinson is listed at 6’5”, 315 lbs., and Stackhouse at 6’4”, 327 lbs. They certainly have the size to play in the middle of the line, but can they hold up? It might be asking a lot of a sixth-round pick and an undrafted rookie to play significant snaps at a high level.
Stackhouse and Brinson definitely looked the part in camp practices. Still, they struggled once the games started. Brinson received an atrocious 29.3 run defense grade during the preseason, and Stackhouse logged only one stop over 87 defensive snaps. Let’s hope that was just them adjusting to the pro game and not a sign of what’s to come.
We should also see Jeff Hafley utilize all the available resources to support this new-look defensive line. Combinations of Rashan Gary, Lukas Van Ness, and Micah Parsons lining up at defensive tackle could be in play to throw a wrinkle at opposing offenses. Even if they do occasionally line up there, it’s going to be on these young players to step up and help fill the Kenny Clark-sized void that now occupies the middle of Green Bay’s defensive line.
