After knocking on the door of the Super Bowl two years ago, even ringing the doorbell with an NFC Championship Game at Lambeau Field only to get their bell rung again by Tampa Bay last season, Green Bay Packers Head Coach Matt LaFleur has decided to change direction with two of the three phases of his football team. New coordinators on defense and special teams have put their systems in place and now Joe Barry on defense and Maurice Drayton with special teams have a month to get their units ready for the 2021 season.
Here’s what’s coming for those units as Training Camp is about to begin.
Defensive Line
Kenny Clark, Dean Lowry, Tyler Lancaster, Kinsgley Keke, Willington Previllon, T.J. Slaton, Jack Heflin.
Clark remains the center piece up front and must find a way to say healthy after missing weeks 2-4 with a groin injury suffered on opening day last year. Lowry and Lancaster remain the blue collar, high effort muckers but Keke may be the one to watch. He flashed with a pair of 2 sack games in 2020 that pointed his arrow up for more playing this year. Previllon, Slaton and Heflin will battle it out for a roster spot or ticket to the practice squad.
Linebackers
Za’Darius Smith, Preston Smith, Rashan Gary, Krys Barnes, Kamal Martin, Oren Burks, Ty Summers, Jonathan Garvin, Randy Ramsey, Tipa Galeai, Isaiah McDuffie, Delontae Scott, Carlo Kemp, De’Jon Harris, De’Vondre Campbell, Ray Wilborn.
The interesting half of this 16 member class is at inside linebacker. The hope is Barnes and Martin will grow into the starting roles together. Both had their moments as rookies. Can Burks and Summers push them for snaps? The clock is really ticking for Burks now in year four. He can’t be just a core special teams player anymore. Outside, the Smith brothers now have a half brother in Gary. The trio will be counted on to produce the majority of the pressure on opposing quarterbacks. Za’Darius remains the most consistent, Gary earned more time and Preston has to rebound from a sub-standard season. Garvin and Ramsey have the length and speed to compete and the only draft choice of the entire group, McDuffie, will get a long look in the pre-season games. The one other player who caught my attention at times in last year’s camp was Galeai. He won his share on one on one battles with offensive linemen at practice.
Cornerbacks
Jaire Alexander, Kevin King, Chandon Sullivan, Ka’dar Hollman, Josh Jackson, Kaion Ento, Stanford Samuels, Eric Stokes, Shemar Jean-Charles.
From the sponge to the front runner, Alexander became a Pro Bowl corner very quickly. Teams are testing him less and less every game and he’s become as close to a lock down defender as there is in the entire league. King has to shake off the shaky Championship game performance and become a consistent playmaker on a prove it, one year deal he signed to return in the off-season. Sullivan will have first dibs at the nickel spot and whether he progresses to the point of becoming the “Star” defender in coordinator Barry’s package, remains to be seen. Talented reinforcements arrived in April’s draft with number one pick Stokes and Jean-Charles, the 5th rounder. I was impressed by both in the spring and they’ll certainly push the under-performing Jackson and Hollman to get into the mix.
Safeties
Adrian Amos, Darnell Savage, Will Redmond, Vernon Scott, Henry Black, Innis Gaines, Christian Uphoff.
The number of snaps Amos and Savage have now compiled as a tandem should continue to reap dividends. Savage made instinctive plays on the ball late last season while Amos smartly directs all the back end traffic. Savage could also be a strong candidate for that Star position. Redmond may be the most valuable player on the special teams’ cover units while Scott showed hustle as well. Even Black gave a solid accounting of himself in the secondary at times. The Packers believe they have one of the better starting pair of safeties in the league.
Specialists
Mason Crosby, J.K. Scott, Hunter Bradley, J.J. Molson, Ryan Winslow, Joe Fortunato.
There will be competition at two of three positions. Bradley and Fortunato for the long snapping job and Scott and Winslow at punter. Fortunato has been trying to stick on an NFL roster for four years and this might be his best shot. If Winslow pushes Scott toward more consistent strikes, J.K. will probably survive and I can’t see any way Molson out-kicks Crosby, coming off one of his finest years. He’ll at least give Mason’s leg a bit of a break this summer.
