What's next for the Packers after injuries and sloppiness ended their 2025 NFL Playoff run?

For the 14th straight year, the Vince Lombardi Trophy will call somewhere other than Lambeau Field home.

The Green Bay Packers 2024 was defined by a lack of wins over quality opponents and their 22-10 wild card loss to the Philadelphia Eagles confirmed it. The Packers inability to rise up against actual contenders meant another season with high hopes scuttled in the postseason.

Fortunately for the Packers, the pieces are in place to run it back in 2025. The vast majority of this year's starters are slated to return and Green Bay has top 10 salary cap space to add veteran talent to shore up 2024's weaknesses. So what needs to be addressed and how can the Pack do it?

1. What do the Packers have to build around in 2025?

The key figure is Jordan Love. The fifth year quarterback has shown the capacity for dizzying highs and dangerous lows over two years as a starter. Green Bay's mission for 2025 will be to find out if his struggles to start and end the season were injury based or part of a larger problem related to his consistency.

Fortunately, he's surrounded by help. The bulk of his receiving corps will return, led by Jayden Reed, Tucker Kraft, Luke Musgrave, Romeo Doubs and a healthy Christian Watson. Zach Tom and Rasheed Walker made up a solid pass protecting combination at the tackle slots. Each of these names is a testament to the team's scouting and development.

It's not just homegrown stars in Wisconsin. General manager Brian Gutekunst made a splash in last season's free agent marketplace, adding Pro Bowlers Josh Jacobs and Xavier McKinney -- both of whom will return for 2025 (and beyond).

McKinney was a vital piece for an improved defense led by Jeff Hafley, who left his position as head coach at Boston College to take an assistant job in the bustling metropolis of Green Bay. The Packers ranked 28th in expected points added (EPA) allowed per snap in 2023 and rose to fourth in 2024. Rashan Gary continued to be a pass rushing force and rotational forces like Kingsley Enagbare, Lukas Van Ness and Karl Brooks helped buttress a defense whose pressure rate (32 percent) was roughly double its blitz rate (16 percent).

Factor in solid pieces like Carrington Valentine, Javon Bullard and Edgerrin Cooper and you've got evidence this team can be similarly successful in 2025.

Green Bay will have a first round draft pick that lands around No. 24 depending on how the rest of the wild card round pans out. It has its own pick in each of the first six rounds. That’s buttressed by an estimated $51.2 million in salary cap space for 2025, per Over the Cap — 10th-most in the NFL.

2. What players could leave the Packers in 2025?

The following players played at least 50 percent of Green Bay's offensive or defensive snaps and will be free agents in 2025:

• C Josh Myers

• LB Isaiah McDuffie

• CB Eric Stokes

• LB Eric Wilson

Additionally, kicker Brandon McManus and starting defensive tackle T.J. Slaton are also set to hit the open market.

3. Offseason priority No. 1: Defensive line BEEF

Poor performances against the run have been a staple of the Packers' playoff disappointments under Matt LaFleur (typically against the San Francisco 49ers). 2024 felt different. Hafley's defense ranked fourth in the NFL in overall expected points added (EPA) allowed, third in rushing yards per carry (4.0) and eighth and rushing EPA allowed.

But when pressed up against the unstoppable force of Saquon Barkley and Philadelphia's world-eating offensive line, Green Bay became yet another meal. The Eagles completed a total of two passes that traveled more than 10 yards downfield Sunday and still won by double digits because Barkley had his 10th 100-yard performance in his last dozen games to quietly grind the Pack down to a nub.

The Eagles started 20 of their 24 first downs on the ground, gaining at least four yards on 14 of those carries to set up "-and-manageable" situations. This didn't translate to third down conversions -- Philadelphia went just two for 11 on the back of alternating aggressive/conservative play calls -- but it laid bare this defense's perpetual postseason flaw for all to see. The Packers could not set the tone up front against a great offensive line.

When Green Bay crowded the line of scrimmage to stop Barkley on running downs, it created the one-on-one opportunities that shoved the Packers into a locker.

Things won't get better without immediate action.

Kenny Clark will be 30 next season. T.J. Slaton, the team's best run stuffer (and the best run-stuffing DT in the NFL, per ESPN) is a free agent. Karl Brooks has shown some pass rushing chops but is less effective on running downs. Devonte Wyatt hasn't lived up to his draft status, though he's been useful in chasing down quarterbacks.

Edgerrin Cooper emerged as a run-snuffing star late in his rookie season and Quay Walker is quietly rounding into the player Green Bay hoped he could be when it made him a first round pick in 2022. But the Packers need a lane-clogging, nigh-immoveable object to anchor the defensive line on running downs. Re-signing Slaton alone won't fix the problem. Reinforcements are needed. If Green Bay's recent history is an indication, patching up the defensive side of the ball on Day 1 of the NFL Draft -- hello, Ohio State's Tyleik Williams -- is a very real possibility.

4. Offseason priority No. 2: Cornerback reinforcements

Jaire Alexander only played seven games. Eric Stokes is a pending free agent kept from reaching his potential as a former first round pick thanks to injuries and inconsistent play. That didn't matter because Carrington Valentine and Keisean Nixon -- a 2023 seventh-round pick and a core special teamer elevated to a starting role, respectively -- continued to outperform expectations in 2024.

Those two should continue to shine, but reinforcements are necessary. Alexander's near $25 million salary cap hit in 2025 makes him expendable and Stokes may not return after an uneven start to his NFL career. With backups Corey Ballentine and Robert Rochell also free agents, it's possible the Packers only have Valentine and Nixon under contract once it comes time to sign veteran help.

There will be a wealth of veteran cornerback talent on the open market this spring. Players like D.J. Reed, Mike Hilton, Carlton Davis, Brandon Stephens and old friend Rasul Douglas are slated to be free agents. Would any jump at the chance to be Green Bay's third corner (or possibly second if Nixon backslides)? Or is this a need Gutekunst opts to fill at the draft instead?

5. Offseason priority No. 3: Linebackers who can cover

The Packers were a bottom 10 team when it came to stopping tight ends (970 yards allowed in 17 games). Isaiah McDuffie and Eric Wilson, with 29 starts between them, allowed nearly 84 percent of their combined targets to be caught (Javon Bullard, taking reps at safety and slot corner, had his own struggles when it came to stopping throws over the middle).

Finding someone who can turn and run with athletic tight ends (or slot wideouts if Hafley gets weird with his blitzes) is a big ask. Walker's coverage numbers have slipped from his rookie season to 2024 and Cooper is solid, but could be due for growing pains. What Green Bay would benefit from is a hybrid linebacker/safety to fill a STAR position to shore up this weakness in the system.

The thing is, pretty much everyone needs that and it's nearly impossible to find in free agency. The Packers will have to dig deep and hope to tap some unrealized potential -- maybe with a guy like Miami's Tyrel Dodson? Seattle's Ernest Jones? Whichever rookie Day 2 hopeful tests the best at the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine?

There's also a minor need along the offensive line. Green Bay will roll with Zach Tom and Rasheed Walker at the tackle spots again in 2025. Those two exceeded expectations in 2024, giving Jordan Love one of the league's best pass blocking units. But that's a fragile ecosystem with little in terms of reliable depth behind them. Andre Dillard was supposed to be a high potential swing tackle, but that didn't work. Instead, the team could focus on a veteran to serve as a sixth man along that unit.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: What's next for the Packers after injuries and sloppiness ended their 2025 NFL Playoff run?