Zaire Franklin became a full-time starter for the Indianapolis Colts in his fourth season with the team. The seventh-round pick in 2018 worked hard and made himself into a valuable player. He also became a team leader in Indy, and now he will try to be that for the Green Bay Packers.
General manager Chris Ballard traded Franklin to the NFC North team this past offseason, and in return, Indianapolis received defensive tackle Colby Wooden. Both players could likely have done with a change of scenery, and at least adding Wooden made Indy younger, though maybe not better on the field.
In the locker room? Maybe. Franklin was a strong-headed leader who didn't hold his tongue about his displeasure with the direction of the team at times. He also had a habit of rehashing the same cliches when speaking about an upcoming season. That hasn't changed in Green Bay.
Zaire Franklin is with the Green Bay Packers as he was with the Indianapolis Colts. Sort of.
Speaking with reporters this week after a session of training camp, Franklin said, "(We're) not the same team that they were a year, two years ago. The Green Bay Packers are ready to take that next step. We're ready to be that dominant team to take over the league. Build off everything that they had last year, let's go ahead and be that dominant team."
Insert "Indianapolis Colts" for "Green Bay Packers," and the words sound a lot like Franklin might have said during training camp in his eight seasons with Indy. Not that the words are necessarily bad, but they tend to be meaningless overall. Hopefully, the way he speaks to his new teammates is more positive than he might have spoken publicly about Indianapolis in recent seasons.
What matters most is that Zaire Franklin needs to perform better for the Packers than he did recently for the Colts, at least for Green Bay fans to be happy. Indianapolis fans can likely issue them a warning about the linebacker.
#Packers linebacker Zaire Franklin experiencing his first training camp in Green Bay: “Packerland - the best I’ve ever seen” @ZiggySmalls_ pic.twitter.com/zAL8FEm7J0
— Kyle Malzhan (@KyleMalzhan) July 29, 2026
They shouldn't expect good pass coverage, for instance. The Packers need to be prepared to have a hole in the middle of the field for a quarterback to throw to and keep picking up first downs. The linebacker is horrible in coverage, and Green Bay will need to give him some help.
In 2025, his quarterback rating allowed when trying to cover running backs and tight ends, mainly, was 111.5. He gave up three touchdowns and 10.5 yards per catch. That's a poor number for an inside linebacker.
Franklin has also had tackling issues for the last two seasons. He whiffed on 12.2 percent of his attempts in 2024, a bad number for a player at his position, and missed on 15.5 percent last year. That's unacceptable for an off-ball linebacker and should get him benched on a team with any depth at the spot.
For those Colts fans who liked Franklin a lot, one should hope he does well. As for his new team, Indianapolis fans likely do not have the same adoration for the Packers, and if they don't win a game, that's fine.
Add us as a preferred source on Google