The Green Bay Packers were arguably the most disappointing team in football last year. And perhaps no one did less with more than Packers’ coach Matt LaFleur.
Green Bay headed into the 2025 season with one of the NFL’s top rosters, then traded for star defensive end Micah Parsons 10 days before the year began. Suddenly, Packer Nation was dreaming of their first Super Bowl appearance since 2010.
Instead, Green Bay went a remarkably unsatisfying 9-8-1 overall and was the NFC’s No. 7 seed for a third consecutive year. The Packers then blew a 21-3 halftime lead in the Wild Card round against Chicago, gave up 25 fourth quarter points and eventually suffered a shocking 31-27 loss to the arch-rival Bears.
“No way you should lose games in this league when you’re up that much,” running back Josh Jacobs said.
Green Bay, which began the year 9-3-1, finished the season with five straight losses. The Packers now enter 2026 with the league’s fourth-longest losing streak.
Collapsing late in games was the story of Green Bay’s 2025 campaign.
Green Bay had double digit leads in the final minutes twice against Chicago and also vs. Cleveland and somehow went 0-3 in those games. The Packers’ odds of losing all three contests were 1-in-250,000, yet they somehow did it.
“That (expletive), it’s starting to get damn-near embarrassing,” safety Javon Bullard said.
Rebounding won’t be easy as the Packers were hit hard in free agency and didn’t have a first round draft pick.
Green Bay’s first training camp practice is July 29. Between now and then I will count down the ‘30 Most Important Packers’ heading into the 2026 campaign.
At No. 17 is center Sean Rhyan.
No. 17
Sean Rhyan, C
Last season
Rhyan started the first four games of 2025 at right guard and averaged 62.3 snaps per game. But he played just 11 snaps while backing up Jordan Morgan in Week 6, then didn’t play a single offensive snap in Week 7.
After getting benched, Rhyan summed up his chances of returning to Green Bay in 2026 by saying: “I don’t know. Right now it doesn’t look good.”
Things changed, though, when center Elgton Jenkins suffered a season-ending fractured fibula on Nov. 10 against Philadelphia. Rhyan immediately moved to center, learned a new position on the fly and improved as the season went along.
Ryhan finished the year with an overall grade of 58.5 from Pro Football Focus that ranked 31st out of 40 qualifying centers. The Packers liked what they saw, though, and gave Rhyan a three-year, $33 million extension that contained an $11 million signing bonus before he hit free agency in March.
“Man, if you told me that I would be here with a second contract about a year ago, or even, you know, eight months, I would have said, yeah, you must have some crystal ball that I don’t know about,” Rhyan said.
Career to date
Rhyan, a third round draft pick in 2022, was suspended the final six games of his rookie season for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing substances. That ended a tough rookie year in which Rhyan played just one snap, and that came on special teams.
Rhyan started the 2023 season where he spent the 2022 campaign — on the bench. By midseason, though, he had impressed enough during practice and began platooning with former Packer Jon Runyan.
From Week 9 on, Rhyan played 183 snaps at right guard, didn’t allow a sack and didn’t have a penalty. According to league data, the Packers averaged 0.78 more yards per rushing attempt with Rhyan on the field versus when he wasn’t in the lineup.
In 2024, Rhyan started all 17 games at right guard and had a respectable season. Rhyan allowed four sacks, had six penalties, and allowed 24 pressures.
Rhyan’s pass blocking grade from PFF was 69.4, which ranked 38th out of 136 guards. His run blocking grade was 58.4, which ranked 87th.
Rhyan split time with 2024 first round draft pick Jordan Morgan the first two months of 2024. In early November, though, Morgan was placed on the injured reserve list with a shoulder injury and Rhyan played all but eight snaps in the final 10 games.
Outlook
Rhyan improved enough at center as 2025 unfolded that the Packers believe he can develop into a high level starter.
Rhyan (6-5, 325) has unique athleticism for an interior lineman, impressive strength and is incredibly bright.
Rhyan’s vertical jump of 34-1/2” was No. 1 among all guards at the NFL Combine in 2022. He set shot put and discus records while attending San Juan Hills High School (Calif.) and qualified to play on the feeder team for the Olympic USA rugby team. Rhyan also posted a 29 on the 50-question Wonderlic test, which is eight points higher than the NFL average.
That rare blend of bulk and brains could help Rhyan eventually develop into a quality center.
Rhyan had opportunities in free agency to play center or guard with whatever team he signed with, but eventually chose to stay in Green Bay and be a center moving forward.
“I think towards the end … it was coming down to the point of, like, I could get signed as a guard,” Rhayn said of his experience in free agency. “But you know, going back through and kind of looking and breaking down the last few games (of 2025) and the level of play that we were all able to accomplish playing center, I think, it was good, and I enjoyed it.
“So, yeah, stick with it, you know what I mean? Like, you never know, it could be four years into the league and all of a sudden, you find a new position. So, yeah, I think towards the end there, it kind of did come down to whether I wanted to play guard or center, and everything worked out.”
They said it …
“I thought Sean, obviously, pressed into that duty unexpectedly, I thought he got better each game. It was about Game 3 or 4 of starting at center, he was playing at a very high level. Less experience but more stout in there because he’s just a really physical, strong guy. With (Anthony) Belton coming to the right guard spot and him playing center, our ability to move people inside got better as the year went on because of that.” — Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst on Rhyan
“When we lost Elgton, he stepped up and just kind of took control of it. There were mistakes, for sure, but you know, as we progressed through the season, he just kept getting better and better and better. And I thought, you know, I thought maybe this was probably his best position is to play center in the NFL. So it was good to watch him out there take command of the offense, making the calls and doing, getting a set up front.” — Packers offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich on Rhyan moving to center
“I’m so excited for Sean and coming in here and his journey to get to where he’s at, and it paying off for him. We’ve all been around Sean, we know what kind of guy he is. He’s going to be out there, he’s going to practice, he’s going to play no matter what, and I’m excited because I think his best football is ahead of him and he does too, and he’s going to continue to improve every day. To have (had) an offseason for him to just work on the center position, it’s going to be tremendous.” — Packers offensive line coach Luke Butkus on Rhyan
The Top 30
No. 30 — Trey Smack
No. 29 — Barryn Sorrell
No. 28 — Chris McClellan
No. 27 — Isaiah McDuffie
No. 26 — Daniel Whelan
No. 25 — Tyrod Taylor
No. 24 — Benjamin St. Juste
No. 23 — Skyy Moore
N0. 22 — Brandon Cisse
No. 21 — Anthony Belton
No. 20 — Javon Bullard
No. 19 — Aaron Banks
No. 18 — Javon Hargrave
