Three Concerning Questions at D-Tackle for Packers Starts With Best Players

In 2022, Jonathan Gannon coordinated a rampaging defense that helped get the Philadelphia Eagles to the Super Bowl.

That defense finished with 69 sacks and was anchored by defensive tackles Javon Hargrave, Fletcher Cox and Milton Williams, with contributions from first-round pick Jordan Davis and veterans Linval Joseph and Ndamukong Suh, both of whom were signed for the stretch run.

Gannon is the Green Bay Packers’ new defensive coordinator. His defensive tackle group looks … nothing like his group from Philly.

Hargrave is four years older. Devonte Wyatt has shown flashes of excellence but hasn’t been able to sustain it. And nobody would confuse rookie Chris McClellan and young players like Karl Brooks and Warren Brinson with Davis, Williams and Joseph.

Are the Packers good enough at defensive tackle to finally get back to the Super Bowl? That’s the big question, which really consists of these three smaller questions.

Can Devonte Wyatt Become a Star?

There is no doubt Devonte Wyatt is Green Bay’s best defensive tackle. After a quiet rookie season as a first-round pick in 2022, Wyatt had 5.5 sacks in 17 games in 2023, five sacks in 14 games in 2024 and four sacks in 10 games in 2025, the first season in which he was a full-time starter.

It’s not just the sack numbers. Especially for an interior pass rusher, who has the ability to get right in the face of the quarterback, pressure rate is an incredibly important stat. Every season, close to 100 defensive tackles play at least 200 pass-rushing snaps. In terms of pass-rush win rate, Wyatt ranked sixth in 2023, 10th in 2024 and 12th in 2025, according to Pro Football Focus.

He’s become more than just a pass rusher. Not that he’s in-his-prime Gilbert Brown – that will never be his game – but he’s not a speed bump, either. Of the 111 defensive tackles who played at least 150 snaps against the run last season, Wyatt’s average tackle came 1.3 yards downfield, tied for the eighth-best.

“Me personally, I know I got a lot more in the tank,” Wyatt said at the end of last season. “I feel like I got a lot more in the tank than what I put out there this year or the past three years I had. I know I have a lot more and I feel like this injury right here really is going to help me get above this hump, just showing y’all what I have.”

Of course, a player’s greatest ability is his availability. Due in part to injuries, he’s never played even 50 percent of the snaps in a season. Last season, he played 379 snaps before he suffered a broken fibula and a torn ligament in his ankle when a teammate fell on him at Detroit.

Because of the injury, Wyatt missed the offseason practices. He should be ready for the start of camp.

“He’s hungry, he’s very passionate, he wants to be great, and he’s very coachable and adaptable,” defensive line coach Vince Oghobaase said before OTAs. “I believe his best ball is ahead of him. He can rush the passer, he can stop the run. He has an immaculate play style that I love.”

Especially without Micah Parsons, Wyatt – who is scheduled to play this season on the fifth-year option – is Green Bay’s best defensive lineman. The team needs him on the field and at his best as a three-down havoc-creator for 17-plus games.

Does Javon Hargrave Have Anything Left in the Tank?

Javon Hargrave was one of the studs for Gannon’s powerhouse defenses. A third-round draft pick by the Steelers in 2016, Hargrave in three seasons with the Eagles had 23 sacks. He was a Pro Bowler in 2021 with 7.5 sacks, then had a career-high 11 sacks in 2022.

From there, it was onto San Francisco, where he was a Pro Bowler again in 2023 with seven sacks. He missed most of 2024 due to injury – the one and only time in his career that he’s missed more than one game – and was released. He landed in Minnesota for last season but lasted just one year after a nondescript season of 3.5 sacks in 16 games. His average tackle against the run was 3.4 yards downfield, making him the anti-Wyatt in that regard.

So, he’s onto the Packers, with the 33-year-old on his third team in as many seasons, which provides an extra bit of motivation.

“I think right now, being later in my career, it’s the stink of, ‘Does he got it anymore?’ I don’t want to say it’s just trying to prove people wrong, but I just always loved challenges,” he told Packers On SI.

“I just want to show I’ve still got it – still got that juice, still got what it takes to play at a high level in this league. For me, that’s just been my focus is locking in this offseason, working out, eating right and trying to have one of my better seasons.”

Parsons has high hopes.

“It’s tremendous,” he said. “A guy that can get vertical. I think Hargrave is a guy that can really help D-Wy a lot. I don’t think he’s had – obviously, he had Kenny Clark, but I mean like that real 3-tech and the type of success Javon had in his career of winning and deep playoff runs and things he’s been able to do to affect the quarterback. So, I think they’re lucky to have each other and I just can’t wait to play next to those two guys.”

Can Anyone Else Make an Impact?

With rare exceptions, defensive tackle is not a position in which players line up for 50 snaps week after week after week. Devonte Wyatt in his four seasons has played seven games of 40-plus snaps, including one with 50-plus (51 vs. Washington last season). Javon Hargrave is 33 and might be at a less-is-more point in his career after averaging about 34 snaps for the Vikings last year.

The Packers will need more than just those two – obviously, since Gannon’s base defense will be the 3-4.

Third-round pick Chris McClellan, who worked with the No. 1 defense for most of the spring as the nose tackle in the base defense and taking Wyatt’s spot in sub packages, will have a huge role. His long-term outlook is strong, but rookie defensive linemen don’t often make large impacts. Wyatt, for instance, averaged only 14 snaps as a rookie in 2022 and Clark averaged 20.8 as a rookie in 2016.

Oghobaase loves McClellan’s intelligence – “he was picking it up … faster than I thought he would,” he said while snapping his fingers – and motor.

“He’s hungry,” Oghobaase said. “That’s the thing of mine. Are you hungry to go eat? And he’s very hungry to go eat. So, I’ve got high hopes for him.”

Karl Brooks saw his playing time surge and his impact plummet last season with a half-sack and one tackle for loss. Warren Brinson flashed here and there as a rookie sixth-round pick. Nazir Stackhouse, an undrafted rookie, and Jonathan Ford, a seventh-round pick in 2022 who returned for the stretch run, showed their muscle in limited snaps. Ford was signed to replace Jordon Riley following his torn Achilles; Riley remains under contract.

“A lot of guys come in this league and think they’re going to just start Day 1 or go out there and just have immediate success. It doesn’t always work that way,” Oghobaase said.

McClellan is going to have to be an immediate success as a rookie. Brinson and the rest of the younger group must all step up their games. This group is not Gannon’s Eagles from 2022 and probably never will be. But as a group, each individual must play better than last season to lead this defense back into Super Bowl contention. The question is whether they are able.

Related: Here are three questions about the receivers, offensive line, tight ends, running backs and quarterbacks.

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