Aaron Rodgers‘ matchup against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday Night Football was the premier showdown between a star and his former team in all of 2025. While there’s no revenge game with quite that gravitas on the schedule this year, there are several fascinating games where Green Bay will go up against former colleagues.
Which reunion game stands out the most?
Romeo Doubs had an incredibly productive four years in green and gold. By the time Year 4 had arrived in 2025, Doubs may not have been the best wide receiver on the roster, but he had become quarterback Jordan Love‘s most reliable target.
However, Doubs cashed in during free agency by signing a four-year deal with the New England Patriots worth up to $80 million. As fate would have it, the Packers will hit the road to take on the Patriots in Week 9.
Doubs has no animosity towards Green Bay, and he recently spoke about how the organization drafted and welcomed him into the league.
Nah, man. Green Bay took care of me. It wouldn’t be a reason for me to have that type of pressure against them. Because, again, my career started there. They taught me the foundation of football, how football works, situational football, understanding complementary football, just the overall game in general. They showed me the ropes in that area. And, again, I do know that we play them this year, but no, it’s not even like that.
It will feel odd to see a familiar face like Doubs in different colors. Still, it’s a road game for the Packers, and Doubs has no ill will toward his old team. And while he started his career in Wisconsin, he was there for only four years, not the lengthy tenure of former Packers wide receivers like Davante Adams and Jordy Nelson.
Last year, the Packers faced the Dallas Cowboys in primetime on Sunday Night Football. While the spotlight was on Micah Parsons facing his former team for the first time, veteran defensive tackle Kenny Clark, who was on the other end of the Parsons trade, was in the same situation.
The Packers will face the Cowboys again this year. However, this time it will be at Lambeau Field. Clark will revisit his old home field for the first time, and Rashan Gary will also make his return.
Gary spent his first seven seasons with the Packers after being a first-round pick in 2019. However, Green Bay traded him to Dallas in the offseason. His last couple of seasons with Green Bay weren’t as productive as everyone had hoped. After Week 7 last year, Gary had zero sacks and zero tackles for loss and looked as though he had lost more than just a step.
Given his inflated contract, the Packers opted to trade Gary to the Cowboys this offseason rather than try to reach common ground on a restructured deal. Gary and Clark spent a combined 16 years in Green Bay and are now both part of Dallas’ defensive front. That makes for some solid drama in what will undoubtedly still be billed as Micah vs. the Cowboys Pt 2.
Now for the one that tops them all.
The Miami Dolphins head to Lambeau Field on December 20. Malik Willis has taken the reins as the starting quarterback for the Dolphins after serving as Love’s backup the last two years in Green Bay. Willis became awfully popular in the greater Fox Valley area when he successfully stepped up in place of an injured Love, so popular that he got lured away. Much like with the Doubs reunion game, there’s not a lot of friction here, even if the matchup is intriguing.
There’s another element, though.
Former Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley is now Miami’s head coach. He arrived in the same season Green Bay acquired Willis from the Tennessee Titans. After years of what people often viewed as soft defenses in Green Bay, Hafley came flying in and changed the narrative.
And the cherry on top of all of this is Jon-Eric Sullivan, who had been with the Packers in various roles since 2004, is now the general manager in Miami.
It’s the Willis factor and the Hafley factor, and also a little bit of the Eric-Sullivan factor. Now the Dolphins have tried to transform themselves into Green Bay South, facing off against them in a potential snow-globe affair in late December makes this the reunion game of the year for Green Bay.
