How Will Packers Handle Gaping Hole at Linebacker?

In the switch to Jeff Hafley's 4-3 defense, the Green Bay Packers have a big void in the lineup after the release De'Vondre Campbell. What's ahead with the NFL Draft one month away?

Author:
Bill Huber
Mar 25, 2024

In this story:

Isaiah McDuffie

Quay Walker

Brian Gutekunst

NFL Draft

Free Agency

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers will enter the 2024 NFL Draft with a number of needs. Perhaps chief among them is linebacker, where the transition to the 4-3 defense and the release of De’Vondre Campbell has the Packers playing a man down where they need to be a man up.

From one perspective, the Packers might be fine. Quay Walker is a three-down linebacker and Isaiah McDuffie played well in relief of Walker and Campbell last season. Moreover, whether it was Joe Barry’s 3-4 scheme in 2023 or Jeff Hafley’s 4-3 scheme in 2024, the Packers will play the overwhelming majority of snaps with two linebackers and five defensive backs on the field.

“That extra linebacker, it’ll be interesting how we go about it this year but he’s only on the field 15 percent of the time, or less at times. I think the most a team really utilized that was close to 20 percent, so it’s not a lot,” general manager Brian Gutekunst said at the NFL Annual Meeting in Orlando, Fla., on Monday.

On the other hand, can the Packers do better than McDuffie as an every-down linebacker? And, if nothing else, are Eric Wilson and Kristian Welch good enough to serve as the potential third and fourth linebackers? Remember, even while they were not starters last year, McDuffie played 513 defensive snaps (46.2 percent) and Wilson played 121 (10.9 percent).

That’s 633 snaps – 58 more than Campbell.

So, while Gutekunst is obviously right about the percentage of snaps, that’s a perfect-world assessment of the situation.

“I feel really good about Isaiah,” Gutekunst said. “We obviously signed Eric Wilson back. We signed Kristian Welch back. Two guys who were here last year, played a lot on (special) teams. Eric’s got a pretty extensive history playing linebacker in this league. I feel much better now.

“But, we’ll add, I’m sure, whether it’s the draft or later on in free agency, I’m sure we’ll add to that competition in that room. But I do feel better about it today than when I think I spoke with you guys last [at the Scouting Combine].”

The free-agent group has been picked over. What had been a strong group, filled with in-their-prime standouts such as Patrick Queen and Jordyn Brooks and short-term rentals such as Bobby Wagner and Lavonte David, has been decimated by teams looking to upgrade their linebacker corps.

For a moment, two former Packers, Campbell and Oren Burks, were arguably the best available. At this point, Zach Cunningham might be the best of the rest.

However, Gutekunst signed Campbell in June and got an All-Pro season. While he’s unlikely to repeat that success, he seems to be banking on the combination of a draft pick and a veteran signing to provide the necessary depth.

With the 25th pick of the first round and a pair of picks in both the second and third rounds, Gutekunst should be able to find an instant-impact player if he believes he must take a big swing to shore up the position.

“They’ve got to be able to do everything we’re asking them to do from an instinctual (standpoint) in the run game and pass game,” Gutekunst said. “Quite frankly, for me, and I’ve talked about this a lot – you’ve got to be very careful pigeonholing guys to positions that can only do a certain skill-set. Because you have so many injuries in this game. He may be the strong-side linebacker today but he may be starting at Will or Mike for five or six games.

“He’s got to be able to do all that. So, from a personnel man's perspective, I want these guys as versatile as can be so that when those things do pop up, we don't have to change the way we play.”