USATSI_19752216 — The Lions' Jamaal Williams finds a big hole in the Packers' run defense. (Jeff Hanisch/USA Today Sports Images)

31 Days Until Training Camp: No. 31 Ranking Shows Biggest Problem

The Green Bay Packers have an enormous problem that must be addressed when they hit the practice field for the first time on July 26.

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
Jun 25, 2023 5:21 PM EDT

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – When the Green Bay Packers practice for the first time in training camp in 31 days, they’ll do so with three enormous question marks. Is Jordan Love a good quarterback? Are the young receivers and tight ends going to be good enough?

Those two questions have been thoroughly discussed.

The other huge question surrounding the Packers could render the others meaningless.

Can they stop the run? Even a little?

Whether it was Mike Pettine or Joe Barry serving as defensive coordinator, it hasn’t mattered. Green Bay’s run defense has been softer than Charmin. Holier than Swiss cheese. Leakier than a rusty pipe. As tough as tissue paper.

During coach Matt LaFleur’s four seasons on the job, Green Bay ranks 31st in yards allowed per rushing attempt.

According to SportRadar, the Houston Texans have given up an NFL-worst 4.93 yards per carry since the start of the 2019 season. The Packers are next with 4.73 yards allowed per carry.

In the two seasons with Barry, the Packers rank 30th with 4.84 yards allowed per rushing attempt.

The run defense was supposed to improve in 2022 with the addition of linebacker Quay Walker with a first-round draft pick. With athleticism and length to help in coverage, Walker was supposed to be a real X-factor.

Because of the inability of Green Bay’s linebackers to play pass coverage, Pettine and Barry leaned heavily on six-defensive-back dime packages. With Pettine in 2020, Green Bay played dime 49.9 percent of the time, No. 1 in the league. With Barry in 2021, Green Bay played dime 24.0 percent of the time, No. 6 in the league.

With Walker pairing with veteran De’Vondre Campbell in 2022, Barry lined up in dime on 4 percent of the defensive snaps, 19th-most in the league, according to Sports Info Solutions.

With two inside linebackers on the field rather than one inside linebacker and a sixth defensive back, Green Bay should have been harder to push around. Not so. In 2021, the Packers yielded 4.70 yards per carry. In 2022, it gave up 4.95 yards per carry – second-worst in franchise history. They gave up 150 rushing yards in eight of 17 games, second-worst in the league.

That absolutely, positively must be fixed. Otherwise, Love’s going to have to throw 40-plus times per game with the Packers in catch-up mode.

Fixing the run defense won’t be easy. Veterans Dean Lowry and Jarran Reed departed in free agency. Maybe TJ Slaton and Devonte Wyatt will be upgrades by default. By the numbers, they could hardly be worse.

Moreover, a pair of Day 3 draft picks, fourth-rounder Colby Wooden and sixth-rounder Karl Brooks, will move into the backup positions.

How can the run defense get tougher with Kenny Clark the only sure thing in the five-man rotation? Defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery delivered a blunt answer at the start of OTAs.

“It’s a mindset. At the end of the day, it’s a mindset,” he said. “We had a great conversation in our room a couple weeks ago. We’re watching Kenny do it, and then we’re watching other guys try to do it. They’re being taught the same thing, but it’s in the mindset in which you do it. Kenny is trying to knock your head off across from you every single time, where these other guys are just trying to do the technique.

“So, it’s a mindset, and when those guys build that mindset, and I coach with that temperament, because I coach grown men and I’m teaching grown men to out-physical other grown men across from each other. If you don’t have that mindset, you’re in the wrong business.”