Green Bay Packers: Way too early 53-man roster prediction
By Paul Bretl
Inside Linebacker (4)
Blake Martinez, Oren Burks, Ty Summers, James Crawford
On paper, there will be four players listed at inside linebacker, which is one less than last season, however, with the new options that Green Bay has at safety, I imagine we will see Josh Jones playing down in the box in a similar role to that of an inside linebacker quite a bit.
Outside of Martinez, this is an inexperienced group. Burks will hopefully make that year two jump and won’t be hindered by an injury and Summers will be a likely special teamer, that could see some action on obvious running downs.
Crawford was a rookie last year and played in all 16 games for the Green Bay Packers, primarily on special teams where he would make a big impact. Crawford played over 70 percent of the special teams snaps last season and led the unit in tackles. While he still may not see much action on defense with Martinez, Burks, and Jones taking snaps ahead of him, with LaFleur’s emphasis on special teams this year, I expect Crawford to be a part of the roster where he can be a difference maker on the special teams unit once again.