One of the goosebump-worthy moments from the 2025 draft in Green Bay came in the fourth round. The Green Bay Packers selected Texas edge rusher Barryn Sorrell, who they were surprised to find was in attendance.
Sorrell had limited opportunities as a rookie last season, but that won’t be the case in Year 2. Sorrell will have a real chance to make an impact in Jonathan Gannon’s defense.
Sorrell played just 20% of the snaps on defense last year. That total number was 178, and 52 of those came in a throwaway Week 18 game against the Minnesota Vikings, where the Packers rested starters.
However, it was a meaningful game for Sorrell. The Packers gave him starting-caliber snaps, and he delivered. Sorrell had by far his best game against the Vikings, totaling eight tackles, one sack, one tackle for loss, and a fumble recovery.
It was the type of stat-stuffing performance that should catch people’s attention. Interestingly enough, Sorrell logged 28 snaps the next week for Green Bay. That matchup just so happened to be a playoff tilt in a do-or-die spot. The 28 snaps Sorrell played against the Chicago Bears in the postseason were his second-highest total of the season.
Green Bay liked what they saw in Week 18 from the rookie out of Texas.
“Really excited about Barryn,” Gutekunst said in February. “With the opportunities he was given last year, I thought he performed very, very well, especially late in the season when we needed him. I think he’ll be a major part of that core group moving forward.”
Calling Sorrell “a major part of the core group” is quite the praise for a second-year fourth-rounder who didn’t get a ton of run as a rookie. A lot of that has to do with how things are taking shape.
Much has changed on the edge of Green Bay’s defensive line. Since the end of last year, they traded Rashan Gary to the Dallas Cowboys, and Kingsley Enagbare signed with the New York Jets in free agency. On top of both of those departures, Micah Parsons will miss the start of the 2026 season.
The door is wide open for someone like Sorrell to step in and become a big piece of Gannon’s defense.
Think about what it will look like in Week 1 for Green Bay. No Parsons, plus Gary and Enagbare are gone. Certainly, Lukas Van Ness will be starting at one of the outside linebacker spots. But what about the other?
Brenton Cox Jr.? This year’s fourth-round pick, Dani Dennis-Sutton?
Barryn Sorrell?
Sorrell could emerge as the starter on the opposite end of the defensive front from Van Ness to start the season, until Parsons returns, of course.
Even after Parsons returns, though, there will be ample opportunity for someone — or multiple players — to stay in the mix. Gannon will run a rotation at outside linebacker, as almost any defensive coordinator would. Just because Sorrell may not be a starter once Parsons returns — or even at the outset of the season — doesn’t mean he won’t chew up plenty of meaningful reps.
Sorrell will be at or near the top of that list, behind Parsons and Van Ness. If he flashes early in the season, he’ll be a mainstay in Gannon’s defense. It may seem odd on the surface, but it’s fair to suggest that the early games in the season will be the most crucial on an individual level for Sorrell. With Parsons set to miss at least the first couple of games, the Packers will be searching for any solutions. It was evident how much of a weak point the edge rusher group became after Parsons’ ACL injury last year.
That can’t be the case again this year. Parsons likely weeks-long absence will give Gannon a chance to learn a lot about the depth of that group. Sorrell must show what he has immediately. Green Bay will still stick with him if he doesn’t. However, he could get lost in the mix among other options to deploy, such as Cox, Dennis-Sutton, Collin Oliver, and others.
Sorrell has a gigantic opportunity to go from a rarely used filler piece in 2025 to a critical part of the operation this season. Gutekunst and Co. are expecting big things. If Sorrell gets the kind of snaps he did in Week 18 last year and then delivers anything close to that performance even semi-regularly, watch out.
