Green Bay Packers: 3 Defensive Linemen to Target in Free Agency

D.J. Reader

Of the players that I’m going to cover in-depth, D.J. Reader is going to be the most expensive of the group. I’ll dive into that aspect a bit more in a second, but first, let’s take a look at Reader the football player.

Drafted in the fifth round out of Clemson by the Houston Texans back in 2016, Reader has turned into a true force along the interior defensive line. While in his four seasons, Reader has totaled just 6.5 sacks, 2.5 of which came in 2019 along with an additional 36 total pressures, getting after the quarterback isn’t his main objective.

Standing at 6’3″ – 347 pounds, Reader is true run-stuffer. In fact, by Pro Football Focus, he was credited with 35 run stops in 2019 – which are runs that constitute a failure for the offense – and his run stop percentage of 10.9, was the third highest among all interior defensive lineman.

There isn’t a whole lot that Reader doesn’t do well, and really he’s exactly what this Green Bay Packers’ defense needs. But with that level of play, there comes a steep price.

According to Spotrac, they are predicting that Reader lands a five-year deal with an average annual value of $11.9 million. Truthfully, this is probably out of Green Bay’s price range, but I also don’t think anyone expected Brian Gutekunst to sign Za’Darius Smith, Preston Smith, and Adrian Amos last offseason either.