Fresh Faces Add Ferocity to Competition at Outside Linebacker
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The battle at outside linebacker is one of the most fascinating of training camp for the Green Bay Packers.
And one of the most important.
Behind the front-line tandem of Rashan Gary and Preston Smith is the great unknown. And that great unknown is a great big deal. Even with each missing only one game last season, Gary was not on the field for 398 snaps and Smith for 390. That’s a lot of playing time that’s up for grabs.
The race to grab hold of the lion’s share of almost 800 available snaps is the dictionary definition of a wide-open battle.
Jonathan Garvin, one of the top backups last season, played only 11 snaps last week against San Francisco. That would suggest he’s the front-runner to be the third outside linebacker.
With Gary sidelined for the end of Tuesday’s joint practice against the Saints, Kobe Jones joined Smith as the No. 1 tandem for the starters vs. starters two-minute drill. That would suggest he’s the leader of the battle.
Rookie Kingsley Enagbare is one of the hottest players on the defense. That would suggest he’s got an opportunity to grab hold of the job.
“We’ve still got another week and a half left, and it’s going to go right down to the wire,” defensive coordinator Joe Barry said on Thursday, one day before the Packers face the Saints in their second preseason game. “That’s what training camp should be. That’s what you want. And we’ve definitely got it.”
Jones is quite a story. As a senior at Mississippi State in 2020, the “Mayor of Starkville” had two sacks. He went underafted, spent training camp with Atlanta and served a brief practice-squad stint with Miami. After this year’s draft, the Packers invited Jones to rookie camp as one of the tryout players. He grabbed the only available roster spot.
Jones turned in two strong days vs. New Orleans. In one of his most impressive plays on Wednesday, he drove his blocker into the backfield and into the lap of the quarterback.
“He’s done a nice job,” general manager Brian Gutekunst said on Thursday. “I think he’s making the most of his opportunities, and that’s good to see. I think he plays with a pretty good edge to him. These guys are learning, so there’s going to be days where the learning part gets them, and then there’s other days where it kind of clicks for them, and he’s had a couple nice days here over the past week.”
The main addition to the group was Engabare. He had a breakout junior season, OK solid season and poor Scouting Combine. A fifth-round pick, Enagbare had a slow start to camp. At times, it was Enagbare and undrafted rookie Chauncey Manac working as the bottom tandem.
Enagbare seemingly has changed his destiny in the blink of an eye. He had one sack against San Francisco, perhaps three sacks of Aaron Rodgers during a two-minute drill on Sunday and he practically wore out the Ray Nitschke Field turf by continually marching into the Saints’ backfield with one excellent pass rush after another. A draft pick, he might have made the roster, anyway, but he’s certainly won one over the past handful of days.
“These rookies come in here and it’s literally like they’re learning a new language,” Barry said. “It’s like going to a different country and learning a new language. So, I think all of our guys, their heads were swimming, especially in OTAs. I think some guys it happens a little bit quicker to get their feet underneath them and for it to click, and I think a number of guys, we’re in the fourth week of training camp right now, so it’s starting to click. Which is great.”
While Jones and Enagbare have been impressive, they still lack the professional resumes of Garvin and Tipa Galeai. They were the top backups last season. Garvin, a seventh-round pick in 2020, averaged 24.7 snaps per game last year but had only 1.5 sacks. He was inactive for the playoff game but is only 23. Galeai, an undrafted free agent in 2020, averaged 21.7 snaps over his final seven games and had one sack.
From that four-man group of Garvin, Galeai, Enagbare and Jones, someone must emerge to be that important next-man-up at a demanding and vital position. The plot has thickened. It will be a fight to the finish.
“I think the thing that you love about training camp, hopefully, is competition,” Barry said. “Of course, we’ve got two great ones in Preston and Rashan, but after that, it’s competitive.”
