The Green Bay Packers are counting on Lukas Van Ness to take a real step forward in 2026. Bleacher Reports’ Matt Holder isn’t sure he will.
B/R’s NFL 1000 ranked Van Ness 49th at his position and dropped the edge rusher into its “functional performer” tier, one of the middling groups in the outlet’s leaguewide scouting project.
The NFL 1000 grades every non-rookie on a 100-point scale built from position-specific traits. Van Ness came in at a 69.
Lukas Van Ness Lands in Bleacher Report’s ‘Functional Performer’ Tier
Here’s how Van Ness scored across the publication’s five categories for edge rushers: pass rush (21 of 30), run defense (16 of 25), disruptiveness (13 of 20), tackling (12 of 15) and versatility (7 of 10).
Holder didn’t sugarcoat his evaluation of Van Ness.
“Van Ness has had a frustrating career to date,” Holder wrote, noting that the Iowa product “infamously never started in college and has always been a bit of a project, especially for a first-round pick.”
The tools have never been the issue. Van Ness measured 6-foot-5 and 272 pounds with a 9.39 Relative Athletic Score coming out of Iowa, and B/R acknowledged that combination of size and athleticism has shown up — but only in flashes.
The problem is turning those flashes into a full body season of work.
“The Iowa product needs to be more consistent to live up to his draft status,” Holder wrote.
Van Ness has 8.5 sacks in three seasons since Green Bay took him 13th overall in 2023. A foot injury wrecked his 2025, holding him to 1.5 sacks across nine games, though his pressure rate told a more encouraging story when he was on the field.
Packers’ Depleted Pass Rush Puts Pressure on Van Ness in 2026
The timing of this ranking matters, because Green Bay has cleared a path for Van Ness whether he’s ready for it or not.
The Packers traded Rashan Gary to the Dallas Cowboys in the offseason. Star addition Micah Parsons, coming off a torn ACL, is expected to miss at least the first four weeks of the season.
That leaves Van Ness as the guy Green Bay leans on early.
“With the Packers trading away Rashan Gary in the offseason and Micah Parsons potentially missing time at the beginning of the season, Van Ness should have plenty of opportunities to prove himself,” Holder wrote, calling 2026 a “now or never” campaign for the former first-rounder.
That’s the situation in a sentence. Van Ness has the athletic traits, the draft pedigree and, for the first time in his career, a clear runway to snaps.
What he hasn’t had is the production to match any of it. The Packers spent a first-round pick betting that would change. This is the season they find out if it will.
But even if he doesn’t, the Packers, in a surprising move this offseason, decided to exercise his $13.7 million fifth-year club option for 2027, according to Spotrac. He’ll make a little more than $3 million for the upcoming season.
Nevertheless, it’s evident the Packers have a belief in the 25-year-old. They’re now committed to him for the next two seasons.
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