The first two games made it look as if Lukas Van Ness was finally ready to turn promise into production. He had 2.5 sacks, a burst of impact that briefly gave the Packers a legitimate edge-rush storyline to talk about. Then the feed went quiet. Over the last three games, Van Ness has not recorded a sack, and that is exactly the kind of stretch that forces a harder conversation about where this is going.
This is not a player who can live forever on flashes. In the fourth year, the expectation is that the easy explanations start to disappear. Van Ness has still done enough to show activity, with 16 pressures that place him 21st out of qualifiers, but that is hardly the kind of number that settles the argument. It is a useful sign, not a final answer.
A start that raised the stakes
The problem with opening the season with 2.5 sacks in two games is that it changes the standard immediately. It tells fans and coaches to expect more, not less. When the sacks stopped coming over the next three games, the contrast became impossible to ignore. For a Packers pass rush that has been a problem over the last weeks of the season, Van Ness’s quiet spell does not help, even if it does not explain everything on its own.
That is why this season feels so defining. Van Ness has remained in Green Bay partly because of the rookie contract reality that keeps players in place while teams keep hoping the next jump is coming. But hope is not a long-term plan. A fourth-year edge rusher has to be more than a streaky presence. He has to force opponents to account for him every week, not just in bursts.
The verdict is still unwritten, but the clock is ticking
To be clear, this is not a write-off. Sixteen pressures is not nothing, and ranking 21st out of qualifiers suggests he has at least stayed involved enough to matter. But the Packers need more than involvement. They need consistent disruption. They need a player who makes the pass rush feel less like a weekly concern and more like a strength.
That is the uncomfortable truth hanging over Van Ness now. The early sack rush bought him attention. The next three games have reopened the debate. If this pattern keeps going, the question will not be whether he has moments in Green Bay. It will be whether the Packers can still justify building around them.
