Grading Packers on Salary Cap Curve: Outside Linebackers

In the seventh of a series of season-ending report cards, we look at the Green Bay Packers’ outside linebackers through the lenses of performance and the salary cap.

Author:
Bill Huber
Updated:
Jan 24, 2023 11:48 AM EST
Original:
Jan 24, 2023

In this story:

Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Rashan Gary entered the season as one of the Green Bay Packers’ most irreplaceable players. Sure enough, when Gary suffered a torn ACL at Detroit in Week 9, the Packers never got close to replacing their indomitable outside linebacker and premier pass rusher.

Preston Smith had a solid season, rookie Kingsley Enagbare flashed some real potential and Justin Hollins provided some juice after being claimed off waivers. But there’s no replacing Gary, who not only had a team-high 9.5 sacks in 2021 but ranked second among NFL edge defenders in pressures (81) and pass-rush win rate (26.0 percent), according to Pro Football Focus.

Here is Part 7 of our annual series of player grades as viewed through the lens of the salary cap. All cap figures are from OverTheCap.com. Analytical stats are from Pro Football Focus and Sports Info Solutions.

Preston Smith ($11.46 million; 15th among edge defenders)

Preston Smith had this annoying habit of posting big-time production in odd-numbered seasons and feeble production in even-numbered seasons. He put a halt to that odd career “curse” with 8.5 sacks, nine tackles for losses, 20 quarterback hits, 11 stuffs (a tackle at or behind the line vs. the run) and 59 tackles. The first four of those figures led the team and the fifth was a career high.

Of 100 edge defenders with at least 200 pass-rushing snaps, Smith ranked 51st in PFF’s pass-rushing productivity, which measures sacks, hits and hurries per pass-rushing snap, and 56th in pass-rush win rate. Of 100 edge defenders with at least 132 run-defending snaps, Smith ranked 10th with 20 run stops but 55th in run-stop percentage. (Click here for run-stop definition.) He added a forced fumble.

Smith had five sacks and nine quarterback hits in a stretch of five games late in the season but had just one hit in the final two games. One really troubling stat for the 30-year-old: Smith missed 18 tackles, two more than the previous two seasons combined, his career high by six and more than the rest of Green Bay’s outside linebackers combined.

All in all, it was a good season, but that cap charge suggests the Packers needed more.

Grade: C-minus.

Rashan Gary ($5.05 million; 36th among edge defenders)

The next step in Rashan Gary’s evolution was well under way. He had two sacks as a rookie in 2019, five in 2020, 9.5 in 2021 and six in the first eight games in 2022. But in Week 9 at the Lions, Gary suffered a torn ACL while changing directions. Not only was his season over but it might be a stretch for him to be ready for Week 1.

Of 100 edge defenders with at least 200 pass-rushing snaps, Gary ranked second in pass-rushing productivity and eighth in pass-rush win rate. He had almost as many pressures in nine games (38) as Preston Smith had in 17 (42). He also was fifth in PFF’s run-stop percentage, though that phase of the game was more boom-bust than consistent dominance. He went from zero missed tackles in 2021 to five in 2022, according to SIS.

Even while missing half the season, Gary tied for second on the team with seven tackles for losses, was third with 12 quarterback hits and tied for fifth with seven stuffs (one less than last season). He added one forced fumble.

These grades have always been bottom-line production. Obviously, he was not a “C” player when healthy.

Grade: C.

Jonathan Garvin ($914,821; 134th among edge defenders)

A seventh-round pick in 2020, Garvin’s career appears to have stalled. He was a healthy scratch three times and made almost no impact in his 193 defensive snaps. He was in on eight tackles (all assisted) and chipped in two quarterback hits, one stuff and two passes defensed.

Had Garvin played enough snaps to make our top-100 lists, he would have been 83rd in pass-rushing productivity, 99th in pass-rush win rate and last in run-stop percentage. In fact, Garvin had zero run stops in 109 snaps while Justin Hollins had three in 40 snaps.

Grade: F.

Kingsley Enagbare ($765,639; 149th among edge defenders)

A productive pass rusher at South Carolina, Enagbare plunged into the fifth round of this year’s draft due in large part to putting up horrendous testing numbers at the Scouting Combine and at pro day.

On the field, though, he looked nothing like that player who flirted with 5.0-second times in the 40-yard dash. Enagbare turned a solid training camp into earning the No. 3 job entering the season. When Rashan Gary went down with his torn ACL, Enagbare moved into the starting lineup.

Was he great? No. Was he an all-rookie type of player? No. But he contributed 31 tackles, including three sacks and five for losses. He was fifth on the team with eight quarterback hits and led the team’s outside linebackers and defensive linemen with three passes defensed. Only one of the sacks came after Gary’s injury.

In our top-100 lists, he was 64th in pass-rushing productivity, 36th in pass-rush win rate and 42nd in run-stop percentage. On run plays, his average tackle came 1.4 yards downfield. That was 11th-best in the league. He added five stuffs.

Grade: B.

Justin Hollins ($375,278; 176th among edge defenders)

Claimed off waivers in November, Hollins had nine tackles, 2.5 sacks, three tackles for losses and four quarterback hits in just six games. By PFF’s count, he had six pressures in 10 games with the Rams but nine in six games for Green Bay.

Overall, he ranked in the bottom fifth of our top-100 pass-rushing lists. Focusing only on his six games in Green Bay, he would have ranked 35th in pass-rushing productivity, 75th in pass-rush win rate and 16th in run-stop percentage. His average tackle on a running play came 1.3 yards downfield, which would have ranked eighth in the league and No. 1 among Green Bay’s outside linebackers. He chipped in three stuffs.

A fifth-round pick in 2019 who’s bounced around a bit, he’d be a wise re-signing this offseason.

Grade: B-minus.

Grading the Packers

Aaron Rodgers and the quarterbacks

Aaron Jones and the running backs

Christian Watson and the receivers

Robert Tonyan and the tight ends

David Bakhtiari, Zach Tom and the offensive line

Kenny Clark and the defensive line

100 Days of Mocks

Starting Jan. 17, when there were 100 days until the start of the NFL Draft, we started our mock-worthy goal of 100 mock drafts in 100 days. Here’s the 100-day-countdown series.

100 days: First-round quarterback?

99 days: Trading for outside linebacker

98 days: Stud tight end

97 days: This pick would break a long drought

96 days: NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah goes back to Georgia

95 days: Two firsts if Rodgers is traded

94 days: College Football News mocks Mayer

93 days: Safety first for Bucky Brooks in NFL.com mock