As the 13th pick of the 2023 draft, Lukas Van Ness owns the distinction of being the Green Bay Packers' earliest selection since 2019. The pick that year, No. 12 overall, was also an edge rusher - Michigan's Rashan Gary.
Gary is gone, flipped to Dallas for a fourth-round pick, but the Packers have signaled their commitment to Van Ness. They made that much clear by picking up his fifth-year option before the May 1 deadline, granting him a $13.75 million salary in 2027.
Gary never lived up to the hype. Then again, neither has Van Ness. Green Bay is confident enough to bet that he will. The hope is that Van Ness will give Micah Parsons the running mate off the opposite edge that, in the end, Gary couldn't be.
Slow start to NFL career hasn't damped Packers' faith in Lukas Van Ness
Gary kicked off last season red-hot, racking up 7.5 sacks before the halfway point. The rest of the way, he failed to record a single sack or do much of anything at all. Set to carry a $28 million cap hit in 2026, he was more of a burden than an asset.
Now that the Packers have moved on from Gary, Van Ness becomes the next man up after Parsons. He has yet to pay off his own high draft stock through three seasons. His 2025 campaign was derailed by a foot injury that limited him to nine games. All in all, he has accumulated a modest 8.5 sacks and 17 tackles for loss in 43 career games.
In two years at Iowa, meanwhile, Van Ness tallied 13.5 sacks and 19.5 TFLs. Combine solid college production with his athletic traits and size (6-foot-5, 272 pounds), and it's easy to see why the Packers drafted him where they did.
They haven't given up on the one-time Iowa Hawkeye. Playing on the option, Van Ness's 2027 salary will be over three times the annual value in the first four years of his rookie contract. The Packers evidently believe that, despite an underwhelming start to his career, he can be the Robin to Parsons' Batman during the team's Super Bowl window.
Locking in Van Ness now is risky, but it could prove to be prudent. If this is the year he fulfills his potential or just establishes himself as a quality starter, he would command a lucrative deal in free agency. By picking up the option, the Packers secure the likely No. 2 option opposite Parsons for at least the next two seasons.
They had hoped Gary could be that, but at his pay grade, anything less than Pro-Bowl-worthy play would be a disappointment. He never notched a 10-sack season. He lapsed against the run. Accounting for both production and paycheck, Gary couldn't carry his weight.
The front office is trusting Van Ness to live up to his first-round billing and be the second half of the dynamic duo that the ex-Wolverine failed to be most of last season. He'll have to do that before they hand him his own extension, after sinking that cost in Gary yielded such frustrating results.
With Parsons still likely out for the first few games, Van Ness will have a chance to make an impactful first impression one way or the other.
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