With Martin’s Return, Which Packers Rookie LB Will Start?

Fifth-round pick Kamal Martin had won a starting job in training camp but undrafted Krys Barnes has been quite a revelation.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Rookie linebacker Kamal Martin, who spent the first five weeks of the regular season on injured reserve following knee surgery, returned to practice on Monday.

The Packers have three weeks to add Martin to the roster. When that happens, defensive coordinator Mike Pettine will have a decision to make with his starting lineup. Will he go with the fifth-round draft pick, who seemingly had won a starting job in training camp? Or will he go with undrafted rookie Krys Barnes, who somehow went from released to in the starting lineup in a span of eight days?

How good has Barnes played? Barnes was named to ProFootballFocus.com’s all-rookie team on Thursday.

“In a sub-package role, Barnes has been just what the doctor ordered for the Packers’ defense,” PFF’s Mike Renner wrote. “He’s made seven stops on only 85 snaps and, maybe more importantly, not missed a single tackle on 21 attempts. He came within a hair of getting his first career interception this past week against Atlanta, as well, with the ball clanging off his fingertips.”

After playing 15, 15 and 17 snaps in the first three games, Barnes played 38 snaps in last week’s victory over the Atlanta Falcons.

“No matter how many I did get, you just want to treat it like it was gold,” Barnes said on Monday. “For me, to be able to get the chance to go out there and display my ability and contribute to the team in some sort of fashion is all I could ask for. It’s tremendous for me to get out there and be able to see the things I want to see to get better at. Talking with my coach on this bye week, we covered some things to help me make that next step coming up for this next game.”

Barnes has outplayed touted veteran addition Christian Kirksey. Barnes is second on the team with 23 tackles (including two for losses) in 85 snaps. That’s a tackle rate of one for every 3.70 snaps. Kirksey, who is on injured reserve with a shoulder injury, has a team-leading 27 tackles (zero for losses) in 128 snaps, or one for every 4.74 snaps. In 44 run-defending snaps, Barnes has five run stops, a PFF metric that essentially measures impact tackles. Kirksey has only two in 49.

At UCLA, Barnes broke up 15 passes in his career, including eight as a senior. To become a legit NFL starter and not just an injury replacement, he’ll need to improve that phase of the game. According to PFF, he’s allowed nine completions in 10 targets and is last among the team’s inside linebackers in snaps per reception.

To Barnes’ credit, he didn’t shrink from the moment against the Falcons. For years, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers spoke with fondness about the cat-and-mouse battles with Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher at the line of scrimmage. For every check Rodgers made, Urlacher had a counter. To which, Rodgers had a response. Against Atlanta, it was the rookie Barnes against Pro Bowl quarterback Matt Ryan.

“It’s good to be able to go against that, to be able to grow real fast and pick up on what he’s doing or what he might be telling his offense,” Barnes said. “For me, as a Mike [linebacker], I’ve got to be able to respond and make our checks based off what he’s doing. I feel like I did a pretty good job. Still have a lot to grow on, like I’ve said. It was great to be able to go against Matt Ryan and these great quarterbacks each and every week. For me, it’s continuing that get that experience, continuing to grow and continuing to focus on what I need to focus on to get better and be able to be that contributing force for this team in the near future, hopefully.”

What will be Martin’s future once he gets back into football shape? When Martin arrived for training camp at the end of July, he was eight months removed from playing in his final game with the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Nonetheless, despite the long layoff and lack of offseason practices, he quickly made his presence felt to blow past Oren Burks and into the starting lineup. His athleticism, instincts and offensive tackle-like length all flashed on a regular basis.

“The goal is to do the best you could possibly do without ever thinking that you left anything on the table,” he said during training camp. “That’s success in a lot of people’s minds. Doing everything you could do to the best of your ability, knowing that you didn’t leave anything on the table. That comes with mental work, that comes with physical work, that comes with just understanding how to be a good teammate, all of that stuff. To take that into effect, that’s kind of what my mind-set was coming in.”