Packers 2024 Report Card: Grading Rashan Gary and Defensive Ends

The Green Bay Packers expected a lot more bang for the buck from their defensive ends, with really only one player having a bit of a breakout season.

Green Bay Packers defensive end Rashan Gary (52) rushes New Orleans Saints quarterback Spencer Rattler. / Wm. Glasheen / USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

 

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Rashan Gary, in Year 2 following a torn ACL? Lukas Van Ness, in Year 2 after being a first-round pick?

The Green Bay Packers had every reason to believe their defensive ends would sack quarterbacks and change games.

That, of course, did not happen.

Here is Part 6 of our annual series of player report cards. As we’ve done for about 15 seasons, the grades are viewed through the lens of the salary cap. Why? Because the financial component is so critical to building a team. A championship team needs its most-expensive players to be among its best players, and it needs young, inexpensive players to rise to prominent roles.

All cap figures are from OverTheCap.com. Analytical stats are from Pro Football Focus and Sports Info Solutions.

Rashan Gary

2024 salary cap: $11,146,135. Position rank: 17th.

Coach Matt LaFleur likes to talk about “creatures.” Those are the game-wrecking defensive linemen, the ones who must be game-planned around on every snap.

With a four-year, $96 million contract extension, Gary ranks eighth among edge defenders (4-3 ends and 3-4 outside linebackers) in annual pay at $24.0 million per season. He’s supposed to be the player that can create that game-changing play on any snap.

Instead, the 27-year-old had a modest 7.5 sacks and nine tackles for losses. Six seasons into his career, he’s still looking for his first 10-sack season. Gary had 15 quarterback hits; the average for the other edge rushers in the top 10 in annual salary was 23.

According to Pro Football Focus, 79 edge defenders had at least 250 pass-rushing opportunities. Gary ranked 37th in pass-rushing productivity, which measures sacks, hits and hurries per pass-rushing snap, and 39th in pass-rush win rate.

Gary in 18 total games had 49 pressures. The Lions’ Aidan Hutchinson had 45 in five games and his replacement, former Packers star Za’Darius Smith, had 40 pressures in nine games.

It’s true that Gary, who missed only three tackles and whose average tackle limited the play to a gain of 1.9 yards, played much better run defense. Indeed, the run defense was 0.14 yards per carry better when he was on the field. It’s also true that the Chiefs and Eagles are headed to the Super Bowl because their pass rush dominated on Sunday.

Grade: D-plus.

Lukas Van Ness

2024 salary cap: $3,951,840. Position rank: 51st.

The Packers used their first-round pick in 2023 on Lukas Van Ness, who in two seasons at Iowa didn’t start a single game. In two years in Green Bay, Van Ness has started zero games.

The “Year 2 jump” is so cliché that it’s accepted as fact. Well, Van Ness went from four sacks and eight tackles for losses in 17 games in 2023 to three sacks and six tackles for losses in 2024.

According to PFF, 79 edge defenders had at least 250 pass-rushing opportunities. Van Ness ranked 69th in pass-rushing productivity, which measures sacks, hits and hurries per pass-rushing snap, and 57th in pass-rush win rate. In 18 total games, he had zero or one pressure in 14. During the three-game losing streak to end the season, he had one pressure.

Van Ness ranks 17th in the draft class in sacks. Will McDonald, who the Jets selected two picks later following the pick swap from the Aaron Rodgers trade, had 10.5 sacks this season.

The run defense was 0.12 yards per carry when he was on the field, his average tackle came 2.5 yards downfield and he missed four tackles.

Grade: C-minus.

Kingsley Enagbare

2024 salary cap: $1,045,639. Position rank: 129th.

After setting a career high with eight tackles for losses in 2023, Kingsley Enagbare had career highs of 4.5 sacks and two forced fumbles and added six TFLs this year. Coming off last year’s ACL injury, Enagbare is a marvel. He played all 17 games this season with seven starts.

While he’s a valuable role player, he probably hasn’t been productive enough to merit the consistent playing time (around 45 percent) he’s received in each of his three seasons.

According to PFF, 79 edge defenders had at least 250 pass-rushing opportunities, Enagbare ranked 58th in pass-rushing productivity, which measures sacks, hits and hurries per pass-rushing snap, and 71st in pass-rush win rate.

The run defense was 0.52 yards per carry worse when he was on the field, his average tackle was 2.4 yards downfield and he missed a unit-high six tackles.

Grade: C.

Brenton Cox

2024 salary cap: $918,000. Position rank: 144th.

One reason why the Packers traded Preston Smith at the deadline was to get Brenton Cox on the field.

Cox, who barely played as an undrafted free agent in 2023 and was a healthy scratch for the first nine games of this season, wound up fourth on the team with four sacks – one more than Lukas Van Ness and one-half less than Kingsley Enagbare – even though he played in only seven games.

Cox didn’t get enough snaps to qualify for our pass-rush rankings. If he had, he would have ranked first in PFF’s pass-rushing productivity, which measures sacks, hits and hurries per pass-rushing snap. Yes, first, better than Myles Garrett, Micah Parsons and Trey Hendrickson, who led the list. He would have been 11th in pass-rush win rate, as well.

Cox played 150 fewer pass-rushing snaps than Van Ness but had only three fewer pressures. If that’s not incredible enough, he played 196 fewer pass-rushing snaps than Enagbare but had only eight fewer pressures.

The run defense was 0.66 yards per carry when he was on the field, his average tackle came 0.9 yards downfield and he did not miss any tackles.

Now, before we anoint him a potential Packers Hall of Famer, Cox had one pressure in 15 chances against the Eagles. Still, Cox is worth a much, much longer look during training camp.

Grade: B.

Arron Mosby

2024 salary cap: $915,000. Position rank: 145th.

It was Arron Mosby, not Brenton Cox, who provided the depth during the first half of the season. In 16 games, he had a half-sack and but broke up two passes. That was two more than Eric Stokes. Of his 12 tackles, four were on special teams. He missed two tackles.

Grade: C-minus.

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