We won’t have a lot of opportunities to look at the Green Bay Packers’ first-team units on special teams this summer, in part because the Packers aren’t giving their preferred players reps there in preseason games. While special teams value is always stressed as a tie-breaker for roster bubble players going into the cutdown deadline, we’re sort of in a low-information environment for Green Bay’s special teams unit entering the 2025 season.

With that being said, we can get some data from unconventional sources.

On Wednesday, the Packers posted a mic’d up segment following defensive end Lukas Van Ness in practice. 45 seconds in, there’s video of him with the punt team, with the defensive end stating, “We love this.” Long snapper Matt Orzech replies, “Took him three years, but he loves it now.”

Special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia leaned into edge defenders on special teams more than any other coach in the 2024 season. Van Ness, Kingsley Enagbare and Arron Mosby, three 4-3 defensive ends, were among the Packers’ seven most-played special teamers last year, mostly getting on the field on punt protection and as punt rushers on the punt return unit.

At least as of now, the plan seems to be for Van Ness to continue those opportunities while he’s starting on the defensive side for the first time at the pro level. We’ll check in on his legs and stamina later this year to see if that is a good call. In 2024, Van Ness played half of the team’s special teams snaps (221 reps) on top of being on the field 39 percent of the time on defense (428). Based on his usage with the first-team defense this summer, expect those defensive numbers to shoot way up.

But Van Ness’ camera time on special teams wasn’t the biggest piece of information from the video. The clips actually caught the entire first-team punt unit’s personnel, the first time we’ve been able to capture that in full all summer.

On Family Night, the Packers fielded their first-team punt squad for the only other video we have of the unit in 2025, but there were notable players injured. The front line players on Family night, besides long snapper Orzech, were Van Ness, Enagbare, linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper and linebacker Isaiah McDuffie. All of those players were returning starters for the team, aside from Hopper, who displaced the then-injured Mosby.

In the clip the Packers sent out, the front line was the same group of players. What should you take from that? Stock down on Mosby’s chance to make this roster. Packer Report’s Andy Herman also noted that Mosby, who is now healthy, wasn’t among the players called to play the first-team kickoff unit in practice this week, a role that Mosby also “started” at in 2024.

Beyond the frontline players, the wings (backfield players) on the punt team were running back Chris Brooks and linebacker Kristian Welch. That’s also consistent with what the Packers fielded on Family Night.

Last year, there was really a three-man rotation for the two spots there, made up of Brooks, linebacker Eric Wilson and tight end Tucker Kraft. Wilson left the Packers in free agency, so he’s no longer an option for them, while Kraft seems to be phased off of special teams (aside from maybe the kick return unit). Kraft was injured during Family Night, so it was uncertain whether he was going to get snaps with the first-teamers when healthy, another data point we get from the Packers’ video.

So if Green Bay is practicing like Welch is going to be on the team, we should make note of that. I considered Welch to be a roster bubble player last week, when I wrote about the roster locks on the team. The fact that all four of the snaps we’ve seen with the preferred punt team (two on Family Night and two in the Van Ness video) involve Welch being on the field is enough to move the needle — at least a little bit.

Welch, with the help of tight end Ben Sims, got a pancake on the opening kickoff of the game.

The Jets also played a double-vise technique on the Packers in the punt game on Saturday. Essentially, they double-teamed Green Bay’s gunners/flyers and forced the formation of the punt team to chase and cover downfield. By my count, Welch made three of the team’s tackles in that scenario.

On Herman’s list of starting kickoff players from the Packers’ practice on the 12th, Welch was the only new name added to the 2024 contributors. Ultimately, the downfall of Mosby’s status on the 53-man roster might not come to the benefit of the team carrying something like six defensive tackles, but actually result in Welch making this roster in September.

There are a couple of contributing factors here that help Welch’s case. First of all, linebackers, defensive ends and tight ends, players who have roughly the same build, are usually playing the same positions on special teams. Thus far in his career, Bisaccia has shown no interest in getting defensive end Brenton Cox Jr. on the field on teams, including this summer, aside from being a rotational punt rusher. Despite loving defensive ends in general, Bisaccia must believe that Cox can’t translate to that phase of football, which will only mean that other backups at linebacker, tight end and defensive end will have their special teams ability stressed as long as Cox is on the roster.

On top of that, fifth-round rookie defensive end Collin Oliver has yet to practice with the Packers in training camp, as he continues to remain on Green Bay’s physically unable to perform list with a hamstring issue. If Oliver can’t return to the field quickly enough to prove himself as a special teamer before cutdowns, it could be a problem for the team. The Packers can’t afford to have two backups at the same position who contribute nothing to the unit without getting special teams value from somewhere else. That’s another win for Welch’s status on the roster.

Lastly, Isaiah Simmons, who is expected to be Green Bay’s top backup linebacker this year, doesn’t play roles that traditionally go to linebackers on special teams. For example, he’s played as a punt gunner on Family Night and in last week’s preseason game. Last year, more than 90 percent of those snaps went to cornerbacks for the 2024 Packers. The fact that he’s a punt gunner also means that he’s not even getting reps in practice at linebacker-like positions on the punt team, unlike fellow backup linebackers and ends in Welch, Enagbare or Hopper. Again, another win for Welch.

If you’re not paying close attention to the roster, you probably think, “Why would Green Bay need to keep a sixth linebacker when they didn’t do that last year?” When you really dig through who plays where, why and some of the pressure points on the Packers’ 2025 squad, though, it makes sense why Welch is getting these premier looks for Green Bay in practice. Don’t be surprised if Welch makes this team to cover the Packers’ butt on special teams.

As a vested veteran with five years of service already under his belt, if Welch makes the Week 1 roster in 2025, his salary for this season will become fully guaranteed, meaning that the Packers won’t be able to save any money by releasing him and replacing him on the 53-man roster. Basically, if Welch makes the opening week’s roster, he’s probably going to be on the squad for the entire year.

The team probably can’t afford to subject him to waivers, either, if they’re hoping to bring him back on the practice squad. When Welch was cut after a strong 2024 preseason, he ended up catching on with the Baltimore Ravens and Denver Broncos, where he played 15 regular-season games and made two defensive starts. So it’s sort of all or nothing when it comes to the Welch roster decision.