All-NFC North Team: Packers’ Kenny Clark Must Rebound

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Even coming off a down season, Green Bay Packers defensive tackle Kenny Clark is considered one of the best defensive tackles in the powerful NFC North.

For our All-NFC North Team, On SI’s four NFC North beat writers ranked the top five defensive tackles in the division, with No. 1 getting one point, No. 2 getting two points and so on. Detroit’s Alim McNeill swept the first-place votes for four points and Clark received three second-place votes and one third-place vote to land the other first-team position with nine points.

All-NFC North Defensive Tackles

Clark is a three-time Pro Bowler who has been one of the top defensive tackles in the NFL for several seasons. Last year, though, he disappeared.

In 2023, he was picked for the Pro Bowl after setting career highs with 7.5 sacks, nine tackles for losses and 16 quarterback hits. In 2024, new defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley implemented an attacking style. Clark was excited for what it could mean for his career. Instead, he had one sack, four tackles for losses and five quarterback hits. Other than his rookie season in 2016, it was the worst statistical season of his career.

Is Clark a bad fit for the scheme? Was he slow to adjust? Did age catch up with him? Was it the ankle injury sustained on a Week 1 Tush Push against the Eagles?

“It was a tough year for me,” Clark said during OTAs. “I had surgery on my foot in January, so, yeah, it was a tough year.”

He said the injury affected him “a lot.”

“It was tough, but it is what it is,” Clark added. “Football is football. I don’t complain. The foot is the foot, toe is the toe. I’ve got to just keep building off of it, keep getting better this year, and put my best foot forward.”

The Packers badly need Clark – one of the highest-paid players in the league at the position – to have a big-time bounce-back season at one of Green Bay’s thinnest positions.

A third-round pick in 2021, McNeill has started 50 games in his career, including all 44 appearances the last three seasons. After recording five sacks in 2023, he had 3.5 sacks in 2024. He led all NFC North defensive tackles with 45 pressures, according to PFF.

Last season, he signed a four-year contract extension worth $97 million, meaning the Packers will have to deal with him through 2028.

“He has become an increased pass-rush presence over the course of his career, and has the versatility to play in multiple positions along the defensive line,” Lions On SI’s John Maakaron said. He will provide a “massive boost” to Detroit’s defense once he returns from last year’s torn ACL.

The rest of the vote: Chicago’s Gervon Dexter, 15 points (one second-place vote, one third-place vote, two fifth-place votes); Detroit’s D.J. Reader, 16 points (one third-place vote, two fourth-place votes, one fifth-place vote); Minnesota’s Jonathan Allen, 16 points (one third-place vote, two fourth-place votes, one fifth-place vote).

The 335-pound Reader had three sacks last year. His average tackle on running plays came 1.6 yards downfield, second behind only Clark (1.3) among NFC North defensive tackles who played at least 110 snaps against the run.

“Reader has a strong reputation throughout the league and teams account for him strongly, as he frequently sees double teams when opposing teams are trying to run the ball,” Maakaron said.

The Vikings signed Allen this offseason. A first-round pick in 2017, he had 42 sacks and 60 tackles for losses in eight seasons with the Commanders. He had three sacks last year in eight games, missing half the season with a torn pectoral.

“The expectation for 2025,” Vikings On SI’s Joe Nelson said, “is that he'll be free to dominate while playing alongside Javon Hargrave, as opposing teams focus on slowing the ferocious edge attack from Andrew Van Ginkel and Jonathan Greenard.”

Bill Huber’s Ballot

The vote: Detroit’s Alim McNeill, Chicago’s Gervon Dexter, Green Bay’s Kenny Clark, Detroit’s D.J. Reader, Minnesota’s Jonathan Allen. That made me the lone dissenter on having Clark at No. 2.

Why?: Production in 2024 rather than career achievement. Dexter beat Clark in sacks (five to one), quarterback hits (19 to five) and pressures (39 to 33). They tied in tackles for losses (four). The expectation is Clark will rebound – it’s impossible to believe he got lazy, old or simply forgot how to play the game. He’ll have to prove it, though, as Dexter is young and on the rise.

Voting was done by Bill Huber of Packers On SI, John Maakaron of Lions On SI, Gene Chamberlain, Bears On SI and Joe Nelson, Vikings On SI

All-NFC North Team

Offensive line | Tight ends | Receivers | Running Backs | Quarterbacks

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