It would be difficult to blame defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, given his personnel and the presence of Micah Parsons for 15 weeks, but the Green Bay Packers defense ended the 2025 season ranked near the NFL’s bottom in terms of pressures created by defensive backs.
Brian Nemhauser of Hawks Blogger, who covers the champion Seattle Seahawks, used data from Pro Football Focus to rank the 32 NFL teams in creating pressure from defensive backs. The Seahawks ranked first with 45, creating 10 more than the second-placed team (Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 35). The Packers ranked 30th with only 10, beating only the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Jets, who had seven.
Seahawks cornerback Devon Witherspoon, who dominated during the Super Bowl, finished the 2025 season with 13 pressures — more than the Packers’ entire secondary. Seattle’s most disruptive blitzing defensive back was rookie Nick Emmanwori, who led all NFL defensive backs with 20 total pressures.
Safety Xavier McKinney had two of the Packers defense’s most impactful pressures — a strip-sack of Bryce Young in the red zone in Week 9, and a pressure of Jared Goff on third down on Thanksgiving Day. The rest of the secondary was essentially void of pass-rushing impact over 18 games. Javon Bullard and Keisean Nixon both had hits on Caleb Williams in Week 16 but weren’t used as blitzers in subsequent rematches.
Will Jonathan Gannon bring more aggression from defensive backs? Don’t hold your breath. The Arizona Cardinals ranked 29th with only 11 pressures from defensive backs in 2025.
Adding Parsons changed the Packers’ pass-rushing strategy, allowing Hafley to use more traditional four-man rushes to disrupt quarterbacks consistently.
Without Parsons in 2024, Hafley had to bring more pressure, and the Packers were far more effective getting pressures from defensive backs. Keisean Nixon (nine), Xavier McKinney (four) and Javon Bullard (three) combined for 17 pressures. Despite his success rushing the quarterback in 2024, Nixon only blitzed twice in 2025. This can be mostly explained by Nixon moving to perimeter cornerback full-time in 2025.
Mike Macdonald and the Seahawks proved the effectiveness of blitzes from defensive backs as a supplement to the pass-rush during a Super Bowl season in 2025. Can Gannon and the Packers steal a thing or two from the Seahawks, or will the Packers remain a more passive pass-rush team that relies heavily on the front four?
Packers pressures from DBs in 2025
- S Evan Williams, 2 (11 pass-rushing snaps)
- S Xavier McKinney, 2 (15 pass-rushing snaps)
- CB Nate Hobbs, 2 (4 pass-rushing snaps)
- CB Javon Bullard, 1 (13 pass-rushing snaps)
- S Kitan Oladapo, 1 (4 pass-rushing snaps)
- CB Keisean Nixon, 1 (2 pass-rushing snaps)
- CB Carrington Valentine, 1 (5 pass-rushing snaps)
This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Packers defense ranked near bottom of NFL in pressure from DBs in 2025
