The Green Bay Packers' 2025 season certainly felt like the opening line from Charles Dickens' novel, A Tale of Two Cities.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

There were times this past season when the Packers looked like true Super Bowl contenders. Beating the Detroit Lions in Week 1, followed by beating the Washington Commanders in Week 2, felt like a sign because the Lions were the back-to-back NFC North champs and the Commanders made the NFC championship game in 2024.

As it turns out, that was fool's gold. Neither of those teams made the playoffs.

The Packers did make the playoffs at 9-7-1, but they blew their chance in the Wild Card round against their arch-rival, the Chicago Bears. They literally blew their chance, as they had a 21-3 lead heading into halftime.

Perhaps "disappointing" is the best word that can be used to describe this past season, because there was so much potential.

In particular, these five players were amongst the most disappointing:

Statistically, cornerback Keisean Nixon had a decent season. He finished with 72 tackles (58 solo), one fumble recovery, one interception, two stuffs and 17 passes defended. His passes defended were tied for sixth-best amongst all NFL players.

The issue with Nixon is that he was wildly inconsistent for someone who was a self-proclaimed CB1. There were certainly games when he seemed to be "on", but there were others where he couldn't cover a nose bleed. 

Throw in the fact that he was seemingly good for one personal foul a game for after-the-whistle activity and he was just not a positive player for the Packers this season.

There's just no world in which tight end Luke Musgrave is anything but a dissapointment, despite some of the flashes we saw from him late in the season.

He was drafted ahead of Tucker Kraft, mind you. The Packers selected him with the 42nd pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. Kraft was pick No. 79.

Musgrave finished this season catching just 24 passes for 252 yards with no touchdowns, despite spending half of it as the de facto TE1 because of Kraft's injury.

Kicker Brandon McManus fell off a cliff in 2025. In 2024, he made 20-of-21 field goals and all of his extra points. This past season, he made just 24-of-30 field goals and he missed an extra point. 

Yes, he dealt with a groin injury for some time and you can make the case that blocked kicks aren't his fault, but then you throw in his playoff performance in which he missed two field goals and an extra point in a game the Packers lost by four. 

That's simply unacceptable. 

Like Musgrave, Van Ness showed some flashes of talent at the end of the season, but he's simply not productive enough as the No. 13 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.

He finished this season with 19 tackles (12 solo), 3.5 stuffs and 1.5 sacks.

That would be good production from a mid-round depth player, but from a player Brian Gutekunst took at a premium draft slot? That's just not cutting it. 

Rashan Gary started this season looking like he was rejuvenated to play on the same defensive line as Micah Parsons. Defenses were giving Parsons a ton of attention, so Gary was free to use his athleticism and speed on the other edge.

He started the season with 7.5 sacks in seven games, but then he fell off a cliff and wound up on a milk carton.

Gary didn't notch a sack in his last nine games played and he barely registered any pressures. He was visibly loafing on the field and times and pulling up early. 

He's the former No. 12 pick of the 2019 NFL Draft and the Packers have paid him a ton of money in his career. To get that type of effort from him this season is as disappointing as it gets, and he's absolutely a cut candidate this offseason.