29 Days Until Training Camp: Biggest Question at Defensive Line

Without veterans Jarran Reed and Dean Lowry, can any of the Packers' young defensive linemen help Kenny Clark stop the run?

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
Jun 27, 2023 10:25 AM EDT

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers lost starting defensive tackles Jarran Reed and Dean Lowry in free agency. Combined, they played about 1,200 snaps and delivered 95 tackles, 2.5 sacks, six tackles for losses and 19 quarterback hits.

Joining veteran Kenny Clark on the new defensive line and replacing Reed and Lowry will be third-year player T.J. Slaton and 2022 first-round pick Dean Lowry. Combined, they played about 550 snaps and had a hand in 36 tackles, 1.5 sacks, two tackles for losses and three quarterback hits.

Replacing Slaton and Wyatt as the backups will be some combination of 2022 seventh-round pick Jonathan Ford, fourth-round rookie Colby Wooden and sixth-round rookie Karl Brooks. Ford was inactive for all 17 games last season and the rookies are, well, rookies.

With Packers training camp beginning in 29 days, can this revamped defensive line fix a run defense that ranks 31st in yards allowed per rushing attempt during Matt LaFleur’s four seasons as coach?

“Whoever those guys are that are in those roles need to step up,” defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery said at the start of OTAs. “You lose two starters, you’ve got to replace them. Those guys that left were really good players.”

From one perspective, considering the Packers finished 28th with 4.95 yards allowed per carry last year, Slaton, Wyatt and the rookies could hardly be worse. From another perspective, there’s little evidence that they will be better.

Last season, according to Pro Football Focus, 134 interior defensive linemen played 113 snaps against the run. That was Wyatt’s snap count. From that group, 98 players’ average tackle limited the run to less than 3.0 yards. Slaton ranked 104th (3.1) and Wyatt ranked 117th (3.3).

PFF has a metric called run-stop percentage that matches Green Bay’s win/loss grading system. A solo tackle on a first-and-10 run that limits the play to 3 yards or less is a run stop, as is a solo tackle on second down that limits the play to less than half the remaining yardage or a solo tackle on third down that prevents a first down. In other words, they’re impact tackles. Slaton ranked 87th and Wyatt ranked 123rd.

TJ Slaton and Devonte Wyatt (Mark Hoffman/USA Today Sports Images)

“I had high expectations for T.J. last year and I don’t think he played those consistently, but he showed flashes,” Montgomery said. “My expectations for him is to be the best version of himself every single day. That’s what we’ve got to get out of him.”

There were flashes, as Montgomery said. Even in limited playing time, Slaton had a hand in seven stuffs (a tackle at or behind the line vs. the run), which tied for fifth on the team and was two more than Lowry.

Moreover, with Lowry sidelined by injury for two huge late-season NFC North games, Slaton was one of the best players on the field in the Week 17 victory over Minnesota and Wyatt was one of the best players in the Week 18 loss to Detroit.

“Devonte, Year 1 to Year 2, I expect a massive jump for him,” Montgomery said. “He knows the defense much better. It allowed him to play free and fast instead of worrying about where you go and those things. As you get older in this league, especially being in the same system, the better you know it, the faster you can play.”

When Green Bay lines up in its base 3-4 defense, the front will be Clark, Slaton and Wyatt. When Green Bay lines up in its nickel package, which has only two defensive linemen but a fifth defensive back, expect the pairing to be Clark and Slaton on run downs and Clark and Wyatt on pass downs.

As for the rookies, who knows? It’s tough for any rookie defensive lineman to make a dramatic impact, with Wyatt being Exhibit A. Looking at the rookie classes from the last five drafts, only four Day 3 defensive linemen started more than four games, only four had more than 30 tackles and only one had three-plus sacks.

Wooden is undersized. He was listed at 284 pounds at Auburn and slimmed down to 273 so he could run fast at the Scouting the Combine; that’s his weight on the Packers’ roster, for what it’s worth. Brooks is a beefier 296 pounds but played a lot on the edge against a less-than-rigorous slate of Mid-American Conference opponents.

“Yeah, they’re going to be thrown into the fire,” Montgomery said. “There’s going to be a lot of mistakes early and, hopefully, a lot of that happens in preseason and the practices. You’re going to have to put them in there and let them learn and we’ll have to live with those mistakes.”