2025 Packers roster ranking, 40-32: The core backups (who will probably have to start some games)

The Leap ranks the Green Bay Packers' 90-man roster in order of player caliber.

With the Green Bay Packers on break until training camp and the personnel essentially frozen for the foreseeable future, The Leap will use this time to reveal its annual 90-man roster rankings.

Our methodology: We ordered the players based on ability relative to their respective positions rather than the value of those positions. Put another way, this exercise prioritizes the "best" players, not necessarily the ones who offer the most "value." That means the starting quarterback doesn't have to top the list because of the position he plays.

Each edition of the 90-man roster ranking will include a batch of roughly 10 players. Due to voting ties, some batches will feature slightly more or less.

Our Friday group features players exclusively projected as backups if we don’t count the punter, and let’s be honest, no one is counting the punter. And with perhaps one exception, there isn’t even a straightforward path to any of these players earning the starting job through any means other than injury. Still, they’ll likely have to play at some point, and depth is the 2025 Packers’ superpower.

T-39. Daniel Whelan

Position: punter
How acquired: street free agent (2023)

This is about as high as a punter can be, especially on a team with a good offense. Daniel Whelan is not a special player if such a thing even exists at the position. Green Bay has certainly rifled through its fair share of punters over the last decade, but Whelan has not been actively hurting the team since he took over in 2023.

That’s about as nice as we can be for a punter who wound up 28th in net yards per punt last season and 29th the year before. That’s not all on the punter — it’s the cover team’s job to tackle the ball carrier — but Whelan is not a good or even average punter.

T-39. Zayne Anderson

Position: safety
How acquired: waiver claim from Buffalo Bills (2023)

Setting aside arguments about whether or not he actually exists, Zayne Anderson stepped in and played admirably for the Packers last season when injuries left defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley shuffling his secondary.

Anderson started a pair of games for the Packers last year in what turned out to be two very different defensive performances. In the first, Anderson filled in for Evan Williams in a shootout loss against the Detroit Lions, and he helped Green Bay pitch a shutout against the Saints.

There’s no path to starting, but after his performance last year, Brian Gutekunst has to be happy with having him as insurance.