The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have finished their offseason workout program, wrapping it up with a mandatory three-day minicamp this week. While the focus for the team during the offseason was on playbook installation and getting all 91 players on the same page for the competition that training camp will bring, attention soon will turn to the specific challenges the team will face during the 2026 season. As such, with the schedule now laid out, we are taking a closer look at each opponent on the Bucs' schedule, examining what they did last season, which players and coaches have come and gone in the offseason and some as-yet-unanswered questions. Today's focus is on the Buccaneers' Week Four opponent, a Green Bay Packers team that has made the playoffs in six of Matt LaFleur's seven years as its head coach.

2025 Results

The Packers made the playoffs in 2025, as they have done every year since the hiring of Head Coach Matt LaFleur except for 2022. However, the season ended with a whimper as they lost each of their last five games, including the final one in the Wild Card round to a bitter division rival. It's fair to connect that slide, ta least in part, to the Week 14 loss of pass-rushing superstar Micah Parsons, who suffered a torn ACL against the Broncos.

The Packers, who had acquired Parsons in a trade with Dallas just before the regular season, got off to a strong start with a 27-13 win over Detroit that included Parsons' first sack in green and gold and two Jordan Love touchdown passes. Four days later, on a Thursday night, the Packers doubled down with a 27-18 defeat of the Washington Commanders, who had advanced to the NFC Championship Game the year before. Third-year tight end Tucker Kraft began what looked like a breakout campaign (nipped halfway through by a season-ending injury) with six catches for 124 yards and a touchdown.

After a three-point loss in Cleveland in Week Three, the Packers and Cowboys convened for what would prove to be one of the wildest games of the season, a shootout that improbably ended in a 40-40 tie. Both Love and the Cowboys' Dak Prescott threw for over 300 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions, and Packers kicker Brandon McManus tied the game at 37-37 with a field goal as the fourth quarter expired. Each team had the ball once in overtime for an extended drive, but both settled for field goals inside the 20.

After an early bye week, Green Bay came out hot again with three consecutive wins over Cincinnati, Arizona and Pittsburgh, with Kraft scoring a total of four touchdowns. The Steelers game featured a matchup of Aaron Rodgers and his longtime former team, but while Rodgers did throw two touchdown passes, Love lofted three in a 35-25 decision. Home losses to Carolina and Philadelphia followed, both by three points, before the streaky Packers ripped another four victories to get to 9-3-1. That stretch included a win over each of their three NFC North rivals, most notably a 28-21 victory over the eventual division-champion Bears in Week 14. Christian Watson caught two of Love's three touchdown passes and cornerback Keisean Nixon picked off emerging Chicago quarterback Caleb Williams.

Unfortunately for Packer faithful, that would be the last win of the season. After backing into the last playoff spot with that four-game skid, Green Bay had to go back to Chicago in the Wild Card round. The game was a classic, with Green Bay streaking out to a 21-3 halftime lead only to watch Williams throw two touchdown passes in the last four minutes for a 31-27 Chicago win.

In his third year as the starter, Love threw for 3,381 yards, 23 touchdowns and six interceptions, plus a career-high passer rating of 101.2. A concussion forced him to miss the penultimate game of the regular season, with Malik Willis filling in, and with a playoff spot already locked in heading into Week 18, LaFleur rested Love while Willis was dealing with several injuries. That led to the team starting Clayton Tune under center in a meaningless 16-3 loss to Minnesota.

Kraft finished with 32 catches for 489 yards and six touchdowns in just eight games. The team's leading receiver was Romeo Doubs, with 44 catches for 724 yards, while Josh Jacobs paced the rushing attack with 929 yards, scoring 13 touchdowns. The Green Bay offensive line saw a dip in its performance as left tackle Zach Tom, center Elgton Jenkins and high-paid free agent acquisition Aaron Banks all dealt with injuries.

Parsons led the defense with 12.5 sacks and finished third in the Defensive Player of the Year voting even after losing the last three-plus games to injury. S Xavier McKinney, who has 10 interceptions in two seasons since being signed away from the Giants, also had 107 tackles while earning second-team All-Pro honors. Defensive lineman Rashan Gary had 7.5 sacks but tailed off in the season's second half, with no sacks after Week Seven. The Green Bay defense as a whole only recorded seven interceptions and 14 total takeaways.

2026 Arrivals

The Packers used most of their 2026 draft capital – which notably did not include a first-round pick due to the Parsons trade – on defense, and also were more active on that side of the ball in free agency while making up for some concurrent departures from the roster.

After the Vikings cut veteran defensive lineman Javon Hargrave, the Packers picked him up on a two-year, $23 million pact; Hargrave had 52 tackles and 3.5 sacks in 2025. Green Bay also used its third-round pick on the same position, grabbing Missouri's Chris McLellan, powerful 330-pound defender who should help stop the run.

Green Bay also pulled a free agency-draft double dip at cornerback, where expensive 2025 free agent Nate Hobbs did not work out. The Packers signed Benjamin St-Juste away from the Chargers with a two year deal and used their first pick in the draft, number 52 overall on South Carolina's Brandon Cisse. St-Juste has just two interceptions in 70 career games but is considered a good fit for new Defensive Coordinator Jonathan Gannon's system and will get a chance to start on the outside opposite Nixon. Cisse is explosive and athletic with a lot of room for growth in terms of recognition, and he could factor in on the outside or in the slot.

The defensive haul in the draft also included Penn State edge Dani Dennis-Sutton in the fourth round and Alabama cornerback Domani Jackson in the fifth. Both figure to start out as depth pieces, but the Packers added a front-line defensive starter with another method, trading fourth-year defensive lineman Colby Wooden to Indianapolis for linebacker Zaire Franklin, who has two years left on his existing contract. Franklin was a second-team All-Pro in 2024 and he has 643 tackles over the last four seasons combined, the most in the NFL in that span.

The Packers did far less on offense. The draft only brought in Kentucky center Jager Burton in the fifth round. He could be the future at one of the interior-line spots but won't necessarily start right away. In free agency, the Packers did add to the receiving room with former Chief Skyy Moore, who had just five catches for the 49ers last season but did factor significantly into the return game. The Packers may have intentions on using him the same way.

Green Bay also redid their quarterback room behind Love, signing the well-traveled Tyrod Taylor to serve as the primary backup. Taylor has 62 career starts, though the last time he started more than five contests in a season was in 2017. Green Bay also picked up Kyle McCord on a reserve/futures contract in January; McCord was a sixth-round pick by Philadelphia in 2025 who spent all of last year on the Eagles' practice squad. Finally, Green Bay signed Virginia Tech passer Kyron Drones after he was not selected in the 2026 draft.

The Packers saved their last draft pick to bring in a new kicker, nabbing Florida's Trey Smack with the 216th overall pick. The only other kicker currently on the roster is Lucas Havrisik, who did kick in three games for Green Bay last year, making all four of his field goal attempts.

2026 Departures

The Packers needed a new primary backup to Love because Malik Willis, who performed well in various cameos the last two seasons, turned that work into a three-year $67.5 million deal with the Dolphins. Miami's new showrunners were familiar with Willis, as the Dolphins hired former Packer staffers Jeff Hafley and Jon-Eric Sullivan to be their new head coach and general manager, respectively.

When the Packers signed Taylor after the draft they also let quarterback Desmond Ridder go. He had only been on their practice squad for a short time at the end of 2025.

After using a rare first-round pick on a receiver, Texas' Matthew Golden, in 2025, Green Bay streamlined its deep but somewhat confusing depth chart at the position, letting Romeo Doubs walk in free agency and trading Dontayvion Wicks to Philadelphia for a 2026 5th-round pick and a 2027 sixth. Doubs got a four-year, $68 million contract from the Patriots; as noted above, he was the team's leading pass-catcher last season, in part because Christian Watson missed seven games. Wicks had 30 catches for 372 yards in 14 games.

Elsewhere on offense, the Packers said goodbye to two of last year's starters on the line, as versatile lineman Elgton Jenkins was cut before signing a two-year deal in Cleveland and tackle Rasheed Walker left in free agency for a one-year contract with Carolina. Jenkins had 94 starts in seven seasons for the Packers, manning virtually every spot on the line at some point. Walker was a seventh-round success story who started 48 games over the last three years. Running back Emanuel Wilson signed with the Seahawks after contributing 998 rushing yards over the past two seasons.

As noted earlier, the Packers didn't get the level of play they were hoping for at cornerback from Hobbs after last year's signing and he was released in the offseason. Hobbs subsequently moved to the 49ers on a one-year deal. Green Bay also made cornerback Trevon Diggs' stay in Wisconsin a short one; they had signed him in time to start in their season finale after Dallas waived him in late December, and then they cut him, too, later in January.

Starting linebacker Quay Walker found suitors in free agency and chose Las Vegas on a three-year, $40.5 million deal. The Jets came calling for edge rusher Kinglsey Enagbare, giving him one year and $9 million. And the Packers traded Gary to Dallas for a fourth-round pick in 2027.

After landing Smack in the draft, Green Bay also cut ties with kicker Brandon McManus, who was released with a post-June 1 designation.

Pressing Questions

How will Jordan Love's targets be distributed?

Seven different players were targeted at least 30 times by Love last season – Doubs, Watson, Kraft, Wicks, Golden, Jacobs and tight end Luke Musgrave. Did they have a "number one" receiver, though? We're not going to ask because LaFleur is on record saying he wants to "vomit" every time he hears that question. Fair enough, but the Packers did sort through some of their many potential starters when they traded Wicks and let Doubs walk.

Watson seems most likely to draw the highest share of Love's attention, but he has yet to play a full season in his first four years in the NFL. On the other hand, it's Jayden Reed who the Packers most recently committed big dollars to, signing him to a three-year, $50 million extension in April. Reed only played in seven games last year but he had 1,660 yards and 14 touchdowns over his first two seasons combined. Perhaps Golden will make a big leap in Year Two after catching just 29 passes for 361 yards as a rookie.

Or maybe the Packers' top target will not be a wideout at all but Kraft, who averaged 15.3 yards per catch last season and appeared to be emerging as a Love favorite before his injury.

How soon will key starters return from injury?

By the end of last season, as the losses were starting to mount up, the Packers were playing without Parsons, Kraft, standout right tackle Tucker Kraft and starting defensive lineman Devonte Wyatt. Since some of those injuries occurred closer to the end of the season, Green Bay has some lingering depth chart concerns as training camp draws near.

For now, the Packers are expecting to get Kraft, Tom and Wyatt back at some point in training camp. The prognosis is a little less clear on Parsons, who suffered his ACL injury in Week 14and might have to open the 2026 regular season on the physically unable to perform list. If that happens, he would have to miss at least the first four games, which would make it tougher for a somewhat reshuffled defense to get off to a fast start.