The Green Bay Packers have been built in a similar manner to the Seattle Seahawks. Both teams are built primarily through the draft and feature young players that needed to take steps forward at the right time. Things came together for the Seahawks’ young core last year, and NFL Insider Albert Breer is making a case for the Packers to benefit this year.
“I put the Packers alongside the Seahawks last year, as a team that could win it all if a bunch of young players elevated from good to great. I feel the same way this year,” wrote Breer. “It’s a talented roster. So the question is whether guys such as Christian Watson, Matthew Golden, Jordan Morgan, Lukas Van Ness, Devonte Wyatt, and Edgerrin Cooper can take their games to another level, and of course, how guys like Micah Parsons and Tucker Kraft look coming back from knee injuries.”
For the Seattle Seahawks, it was a young core of Kenneth Walker, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Charles Cross, Grey Zabel, Abe Lucas, Byron Murphy, Devon Witherspoon, A.J. Barner, Coby Bryant, and Nick Emmanwori all taking steps forward in their development at the right time.
When you sprinkle in the veteran presence of Sam Darnold, Cooper Kupp, Demarcus Lawrence, Leonard Williams, and Ernest Jones, it starts to look like a Super Bowl roster.
The Green Bay Packers Are Predicted to be the Next Seattle Seahawks
GettyPackers defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt
Breer listed out six young core players who can take steps next year and lead a Super Bowl run. Watson just signed a notable deal, but injuries have held him back.
Wyatt and Cooper have started to come into their own on defense, but neither has quite ascended. They are reminiscent of some of the names on the Seahawks. The bigger questions are Golden, Morgan, and Van Ness. These players have not produced yet and face big questions.
They are all former first-round picks and could be the difference between this team being Super Bowl contenders and not.
Still, there were ten young breakouts on the Seahawks last year, and that might have been conservative. Players on the Packers who need to join the ones that Breer listed include Javon Bullard, Evan Williams, Chris McClellan, Sean Rhyan, and Anthony Belton.
These players were drafted high enough that the expectation should be for them to continue to ascend and become key pieces of a Super Bowl roster.
As far as veteran additions who can round out a Super Bowl roster, the Packers need Aaron Banks to show he is worth his money in 2026. On defense, the Packers will lean on Micah Parsons, Javon Hargrave, Keisean Nixon, Zaire Franklin, and Xavier McKinney as the key veterans who can help put the team over the edge.
As far as the way that they are built, it is easy to compare the Packers and Seahawks. The Seahawks saw all of their core young players hit at the right time. Can the Packers get all of the players listed on the same track this year?
Packers Postseason Success Comes Down to Jordan Love and Matt LaFleur
The Packers roster can be there; the question is whether they have the head coach and quarterback to put that group over the edge. Matt LaFleur was once the young, impressive coach that Mike Macdonald was. Macdonald has capitalized, and LaFleur has not.
Beyond that, Darnold made the game-winning plays for Seattle that Green Bay has seen from Love in the regular season, but not as much when the big moments come. The roster is there, but it might come down to the quarterback and the coach.
NFL Insider Reveals Why Packers Could Be Next Seahawks