DECEMBER 1: LaFleur confirmed on Monday (via Demovsky) Wyatt will not return this season. In the absence of an extension being worked out, Wyatt will enter the 2026 campaign as a pending free agent.
NOVEMBER 28: Further testing has revealed an ankle fracture, Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero of NFL Network report. As a result, Wyatt is expected to miss the remainder of the season.
NOVEMBER 27: The Packers came away with a critical division win during 2025’s first Thanksgiving game. Their defense appears to have been dealt a major blow in the process, however. 
Defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt suffered an ankle injury during the second half of this afternoon’s game against the Lions. He was carted off the field without being able to put any weight on his left leg. Shortly thereafter, Wyatt was ruled out for the remainder of the contest. No firm timeline is in place at the moment, but head coach Matt LaFleur‘s initial remarks are far from encouraging.
“It doesn’t look good, guys,” LaFleur said when speaking to the media after the game (via ESPN’s Rob Demovsky). “I’m sick for him. I’m sick for us. I mean, that’s a critical loss for our football team, for our defense, obviously.”
A first-round pick for the Packers out of Georgia back in 2022, Wyatt has been working as a full-time starter in Green Bay for the first time this season. Wyatt played a pretty minor role as a rookie, buried on the depth chart behind veterans Kenny Clark, Jarran Reed, and Dean Lowry. With Reed and Lowry out the next year, T.J. Slaton took over an open starting slot, while Wyatt got a bit more run in his sophomore campaign as a rotational third interior defender. At times he proved to be a bit of a liability in the run game, but Wyatt excelled as a pass rusher, logging 5.5 sacks, six tackles for loss, and 11 quarterback hits in 2023.
In Clark’s final year with the team last year, Wyatt and Karl Brooks, a sixth-round addition in 2023, worked as the main rotational options behind starters Clark and Slaton. Wyatt continued to excel as an interior pass rusher — five sacks, nine tackles for loss, and nine quarterback hits — but still struggled as a run stopper.
With Slaton making his way to Cincinnati in free agency over the offseason and Clark getting traded to Dallas in the Micah Parsons-trade, two new starting spots became available on the Packers defensive line. Wyatt claimed one spot while Colby Wooden, another 2023 draft addition, claimed the other. Brooks, though not running as a full-time starter, has actually surpassed both starters in snap count as a main rotational piece on the interior defensive line. With Wyatt seemingly out for the foreseeable future, Brooks is likely to step into the starting role next to Wooden, but without Wyatt, the pass rushing potential of the interior line takes a big hit.
The other aspect of today’s injury concerns Wyatt’s contract. Green Bay picked up the former Bulldog’s fifth-year option on his rookie deal, but expectations were in place for extension talks to occur. If the two sides are unable to reach an agreement on a second contract, the fifth-year option would give them more time to work things out. In his fourth year of play, Wyatt had shown more of the same for the Packers defense with four sacks, five tackles for loss, and seven quarterback hits in a starting role. That being said, his struggles in the run game continued, as well.
If this injury ends Wyatt’s 2025 campaign, this leaves the Packers with a few options. They may try to work out an extension that rewards Wyatt for his pass rushing prowess without giving him top-end money due to the injury or his run-stopping struggles. They may try to make it a more incentive-laden deal to safe-guard against future struggles coming back from injury. They also might just let him play out his fifth-year option and make a determination on how to proceed off of his 2026 performance.
Regardless, it sounds like any plans for Wyatt may be a thought for the offseason. While testing will be done in the days to come, and his prognosis may change, at the moment, LaFleur’s comments seem to indicate that we’ve seen the last of Wyatt in 2025.
Ely Allen contributed to this post.
One of the 5-6 more important players on this team.
Love, Watson, Tom, Parsons… maybe Edge Cooper and… then Wyatt is right there. Just so important to get that interior pass rush.
It’d be nice if Rashan Gary was on that list, but I didn’t even see him playing today(I did, but… it wasn’t particularly impressive).
Gary has been slumping lately. Still, a big win.
Detroit needs to get back on track, fast.
Quay walker, Jacobs, Xavier McKinney……
Gary has been mid. Again. He will be traded in the offseason I would bet.
Breaking news straight from Bearmeat’s crystal ball or his most recent sit down with Gutey. Is there anything this guy doesn’t already know? (The answer to that is a TON).
What about Kraft and Reed?
We need to sign Christian Wilkins now!
Wishing him all the best in recovery from this unfortunate injury. His role in helping my ‘Dawgs secure the 1st our back to back Natty’s will always be appreciated.
This really blows. Not as bad as the Kraft injury. But not at all good.
“This really blows.” That’s some hard hitting, detailed analysis for them man who proclaims to look at every NFL stat known to man. Your knowledge of the NFL, or lack there of, never ceases to amaze.
Hmm. The Clark trade seemed to signal that Green Bay saw Wyatt as a long term piece, but I wonder how much this affects their future contract strategy. I think that it’s pretty certain that the Packers still want to re-sign Wyatt, but terms and length may be less than what he’s amenable to after the injury. Already, he was a player that was one sided (pass rush being far superior to his run defense), on whom Green Bay was counting on improving to become a two way anchor.
Desire, I would imagine, exists on both ends (there’s a quote), but I wonder how much of a door this opens to Green Bay losing Wyatt instead. Perhaps our Packer friends can offer more insight, because I can see it going either way.