Packers Free Agents Stay or Go: Dean Lowry

Should the Green Bay Packers re-sign Dean Lowry or let him go? We deliver the pros and cons in Part 10 of this series on the Packers’ 2023 free agents.

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
Mar 3, 2023 12:00 PM EST

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers have 14 players who are scheduled to be unrestricted free agents this offseason, including steady defensive tackle Dean Lowry.

Going in alphabetical order, our “Stay or Go” series will look at each of those players in advance of the official start of free agency on March 15. Why should the Packers re-sign Lowry? Why should they let him go? Is there a replacement on the roster? Could they get a compensatory draft pick in exchange?

Packers Should Re-Sign Dean Lowry

Lowry long has been one of Green Bay’s more underappreciated performers. Has he ever been a star? No. A game-changer? Rarely. But there’s something to be said about showing up every day and doing your job.

Pro Football Focus has a stat called run stops. Essentially, it measures impact tackles, and it mirrors Green Bay’s win/loss grading system. A tackle on first-and-10 that holds the play to 3 or fewer yards, a tackle on second down that holds the play to less than half the remaining yardage or a tackle on third down that prevents a first down is a run stop/win. In 2022, Lowry had more run stops than Kenny Clark despite playing 63 fewer run-defending snaps.

His average tackle vs. the run came 2.3 yards downfield, best on the unit and 35th out of 78 interior defenders who played at least 200 snaps of run defense.

Lowry missed one game in the first six seasons of his career before going on injured reserve for the final two games of 2022. From 2019 through 2021, he started all 49 games.

Packers Should Let Lowry Sign Elsewhere

With the addition of Jarran Reed in 2022, Lowry saw his role cut back, particularly in passing situations. He went from five sacks and 42 pressures in 2021 to a half-sack and 17 pressures in 2022.

Lowry will turn 29 in June. He’s got plenty of steady football ahead of him, but the Packers could save money and hand a bigger role to big TJ Slaton, who came on strong down the stretch and will be entering his third season.

Who Would Replace Lowry?

Defensive line is one of the big question marks entering the offseason. Reed and Lowry are scheduled to be unrestricted free agents. That leaves Clark, Slayton, first-round pick Devonte Wyatt, seventh-round pick Jonathan Ford (inactive for all 17 games) and Chris Slayton (practice squad).

Could the Packers Gain a Compensatory Draft Pick for Lowry?

Looking at last year’s group of free agent defensive linemen, the answer is … perhaps.

Last offseason, Tim Settle went from the Washington Commanders to the Buffalo Bills for $4.5 million per season despite having only two starts in four seasons. OverTheCap.com is projecting the Commanders will gain a sixth-round comp pick in this year’s draft. The Packers gave Reed a one-year deal worth $3.25 million that might net the Chiefs a sixth-rounder. The Bears handed Angelo Blackson – with 38 starts in a nomadic seven-year career – a two-year, $5.5 million deal that could fetch the Cardinals a seventh-rounder.

The Verdict on Dean Lowry

A fourth-round pick in 2016, Lowry has more than lived up to that initial investment. Perhaps fans ding him on his last contract, with the expectation that the three-year, $20.3 million extension that he signed in 2019 would reap six- and eight-sack seasons. Don’t hold that against him. The reality is he’ll probably play another five seasons.

That being said, Green Bay’s run defense has been chronically bad for far too long. That’s certainly not all Lowry’s fault but it’s long past time to add a defensive tackle who can command double teams and make plays.