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HOUSTON, TX - JANUARY 04: Zaire Franklin #44 of the Indianapolis Colts celebrates during an NFL football game against the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium on January 4, 2026 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Green Bay Packers have traded defensive tackle Colby Wooden for former Indianapolis Colts off-ball linebacker Zaire Franklin, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. The Packers started Wooden as their starting nose tackle in 2025, following the trade of Kenny Clark to the Dallas Cowboys, after Wooden previously played a three-technique earlier in his Green Bay career.
Without Wooden, Green Bay is strongly expected to be in the nose tackle market, as they’ll look for his replacement. Wooden was on the final year of his rookie contract, going into the 2026 season.
Franklin has been solid in the past, but received a 38.4 grade from Pro Football Focus in 2025, ranking him as the 87th of 88 qualifying linebackers per the scouting service. He is set to make $6.24 million in base salary with $765,000 in per-game roster bonuses this year, meaning that the Packers are back over the salary cap after their previous move of converting Xavier McKinney’s salary into a bonus got them under the cap.
It was reported this week that the Packers were talking to agents of off-ball linebackers at the NFL scouting combine, which was interesting for a couple of reasons. First of all, the team doesn’t need to be in the off-ball linebacker market, if they weren’t going to let Quay Walker, their starting Mike, walk in free agency. Take this as a sign that Walker is going to hit the open market.
Secondly, Green Bay is expected to transition to a 3-4 defense under Jonathan Gannon, based on comments from general manager Brian Gutekunst and the quarters-system tree mostly living out of a 3-4 league-wide. Needing a starting linebacker means that Edgerrin Cooper will likely stay in the Will linebacker role, which he’s played throughout his career. Ty’Ron Hopper is an undersized linebacker who can really only play the Will position at the NFL level. It looks like Hopper will be Cooper’s backup moving forward.
Franklin, a 2024 All-Pro, will likely start over Isaiah McDuffie, who should serve as the backup Mike linebacker on the depth chart. Under Joe Barry, the last time the Packers played a 3-4 defense, Green Bay usually kept just four off-ball linebackers on the gameday 48-man roster, compared to the five that Jeff Hafley’s 4-3 defense typically carried.
Unless the team ships out one of their backups, that’s probably going to be the four-man unit that the Packers carry in 2026.
We’ll continue to update this article as more details surface.
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