landed Franklin in a trade this offseason<\/a> that sent starting defensive tackle Colby Wooden to Indianapolis. Before finalizing the deal, the Packers asked their new defensive coordinator about Franklin from their days together with the Colts. Gannon\u2019s description: \u201cTeam-first guy, tough as nails, very smart.\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cI feel like me coming here,\u201d Franklin said, \u201cit was a bit of fate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Feel-good partnerships aside, what can Franklin actually offer the Packers on the field and in the locker room as a replacement for Quay Walker, their 2022 first-round pick who signed with the Las Vegas Raiders in free agency?<\/p>\n
Franklin has been a captain in Indianapolis, and Gutekunst valued that leadership. Talking to other players and coaches this week, it\u2019s clear that it has already rubbed off on them.<\/p>\n
Head coach Matt LaFleur: \u201cZaire\u2019s been awesome. Just a real leader, an alpha. You can feel him. Does a great job communicating. He wears the green dot (he\u2019s done that since 2022) and so naturally, you\u2019re the quarterback of the defense and I think he holds himself to a high standard, and he holds those around him to a high standard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Safety Xavier McKinney, who has long been friends with Franklin and trained with him: \u201cHell of a person, hell of a player \u2026 from the leadership standpoint, he\u2019s really going to help us in that aspect and then obviously his play speaks for itself. He\u2019s a guy that\u2019s going to be around the ball all the time. He makes hella tackles. He makes a whole bunch of plays, and he\u2019s also smart. Even now, he calls out things before a lot of us do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Edge rusher Micah Parsons also listed a couple of teammates when discussing the importance of being a player-led group, and Franklin was the second name he said after quarterback Jordan Love.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really just one of the guys,\u201d Franklin said. \u201cI done seen a lot. I done did a lot, from a late-round pick to a full-time special teamer to one of the highest paid at my position \u2026 I understand what it means to try and have to make a team and prove yourself in OTAs, and I also understand what it means when a team is looking for you to lead and stand out in front and be an example both in the locker room and in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for on the field, Franklin scoffed at a question about how much he has left in the tank as a player about to turn 30, a profile Gutekunst hasn\u2019t exactly targeted in marquee offseason additions during his nine years as Packers GM.<\/p>\n
Franklin made the All-Pro Second Team and the Pro Bowl in 2024 after leading the league in tackles, forcing five fumbles, intercepting two passes and registering 3.5 sacks. Last season wasn\u2019t as prolific, particularly in pass coverage, but Franklin clearly feels that he has plenty to offer in between the white lines even after a season with one forced fumble, no interceptions and two sacks as the Colts collapsed down the stretch.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year, I mean, you could call it \u2014 my career lows are some guys\u2019 career highs,\u201d Franklin said. \u201cBut at the same time, this a year-by-year league. It\u2019s a week-by-week league. I gotta go out there and earn it every single year and every single week, so I\u2019m looking forward to going out there and earning it.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the field, I\u2019m just a dog. I ain\u2019t gonna lie to you. That\u2019s just how I like to play. I like to get into issues and make plays and take the ball away.\u201d<\/p>\n
How good can the linebacker tandem of Franklin and 24-year-old rising star Edgerrin Cooper be? That remains to be seen, but combining Franklin\u2019s experience, tenacity and ball production with Cooper\u2019s range, speed and playmaking ability should give Gannon plenty to work with as he and Franklin reunite to lead the Packers\u2019 defense into a season with championship aspirations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GREEN BAY, Wis. \u2014 Zaire Franklin wasn\u2019t playing and didn\u2019t feel appreciated. He was a youngster for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":687861,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,1804,398,396,397,99],"class_list":["post-687860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-football","tag-green-bay-packers","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=687860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/687861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=687860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=687860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=687860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}