Fresh off an extension tying him to the Green Bay Packers through the 2027 season, linebacker Isaiah McDuffie has his sights set on cashing in with some team success
“I love Green Bay. They’ve been very good to me,” McDuffie told Ian Rapoport and Sara Walsh on Friday’s episode of The Insiders. “It’s a very special place, and at the end of the day I see myself wanting to stay there and hopefully win a Super Bowl with this team.”
McDuffie, a 2021 sixth-round draft pick who had to fight to establish himself in Green Bay, has been one of the unsung heroes on recent rosters for the Packers. He’s a key contributor on special teams on top of his linebacking duties, with 37 starts over the past three seasons, averaging 91.7 tackles a year during that span
McDuffie has experienced four playoff trips while he’s been with the organization but just one postseason victory. Though Green Bay went through considerable change this offseason — moving on from multiple offensive starters, losing McDuffie’s fellow off-ball LB Quay Walker in free agency and bringing in new defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon — the veteran still believes the pieces are there to make a more substantial push to bring home the Lombardi Trophy
“I think we’ve got everything we need,” McDuffie said. “At the end of the day, it’s just finishing. Getting late in the season, just finishing those games when we are up on guys, just putting the nail in the coffin.”
Last season, like the year before it when Green Bay lost its final three games, the Packers proved far from finishers late in the campaign. They dropped five straight results, including blowing a 21-3 halftime lead against the Chicago Bears in the Wild Card Round. The first game of that losing streak, a Week 15 defeat to the Denver Broncos, saw star pass rusher Micah Parsonstear his ACL
Parsons has since said that he also underwent a meniscus procedure and intends to be careful with his recovery, setting the goal of returning at full health rather than hurrying back for Week 1. That means McDuffie’s Packers will likely need to find ways to win for some portion of time without Parsons at the beginning of the season
Just as he has optimism regarding the longer-term vision of capturing a Super Bowl, McDuffie believes the defense can hold things down in the interim
“It’s all hands on deck,” McDuffie said when asked who might step up as Parsons continues his recovery. “We need guys to come in. There’s a job to be done at the end of the day. There’s an expectation to produce and cause havoc and get after the quarterback. We have a lot of great guys in that room, and I see there’s going to be no drop-off there.”
Though McDuffie didn’t name names, the most likely Brenton Cox, Barryn Sorrell and fourth-round rookie Dani Dennis-Sutton until Parsons returns. It’s not a well-known group, but Gannon has found success generating pressure as a defensive coordinator in the past, such as when his Philadelphia Eagles led the league with 70 sacks during the 2022 season — his last one in Philly before coaching the Arizona Cardinals from 2023-25
With Green Bay’s training camp report date 10 days away, McDuffie is confident Gannon will be cooking up something good again soon
“He’s great. He definitely brings a lot to the table,” McDuffie said. “Him being a head coach and having the head-coaching experience brings a lot of leadership. … He definitely brings that juice, and we’re having a lot of fun. We’re going to do some cool things. I don’t want to get too much into it. It’s gonna look a little different, but it’s going to be fun to watch us, I’ll say that.”
