Chris Brooks is set to open Packers OTAs this week as the team’s No. 2 running back behind Josh Jacobs, a role that has taken on more weight with Emanuel Wilson gone and Green Bay still sorting out the depth chart.
That matters because Jacobs took 67 fewer touches in 2025 than he did in 2024 after a knee injury slowed him down, and the Packers did not add a veteran or draft a replacement for Wilson when he left for the Seahawks in free agency. For now, the job of backing up the starter appears to belong to Brooks, who has played two seasons in Green Bay and has 106 career touches between one year with the Dolphins and two with the Packers.
Brooks has been around long enough to show what he can do, even if the sample is modest. He has carried the ball 82 times and caught 24 passes in his NFL career, with a 4.8 yards per carry average that suggests he can keep the offense on schedule when called upon. Last season, 13 of his 27 carries came in Week 18, a late surge that gave the Packers a better look at him before the offseason began.
Coach Adam Stenavich sounded comfortable with where Brooks stands as the team gets back on the field. Brooks, he said, runs hard and is ready. He also pointed to the broader value Brooks brings in a backfield that asks for more than one skill set, saying he can protect, run the ball and handle the different hats a running back has to wear. Stenavich added that Brooks does a nice job when the Packers use two tailbacks, both blocking and carrying the ball, and called him a versatile player the team is glad to have back.
The wider picture is less settled than the depth chart suggests. Wilson had developed into a competent running back before leaving for Seattle, and his departure created a hole the Packers chose not to fill with outside help. Brian Gutekunst passed on both veteran insurance and a draft pick, leaving Green Bay to find out during OTAs whether Brooks is the answer behind Jacobs or just the first man to get the reps.
That is the part the Packers cannot know yet. Jacobs is still the starter, but his workload dropped in 2025, and the team heads into the spring without a proven second option it actively chose to bring in. Brooks will get the first chance to show whether Green Bay can trust him when the pads are off and the competition begins in earnest.
