3 Ways the Green Bay Packers Defense can Improve in 2020
By Paul Bretl
Although the Green Bay Packers’ defense was much improved overall in 2019, these are three ways that they can be even better in 2020.
After struggling for several years and oftentimes referred to as the weak part of this Green Bay Packers team, in 2018 under new defensive coordinator Mike Pettine, we the defensive unit make strides in the right direction.
Then to help solidify that side of the ball even further, during the 2019 offseason, General Manager Brian Gutekunst went all-in with three major free-agent additions while also spending both first-round picks on the defense. Of course, the group of players that I’m referring to includes Za’Darius Smith, Preston Smith, Adrian Amos, Rashan Gary, and Darnell Savage.
The result was a defense that would give up only 19.6 points per game, the ninth fewest in football, with Aaron Rodgers also exclaiming “we’ve got a defense” after their Week 1 win over the Chicago Bears.
However, as is always the case, there is room for improvement. Despite keeping their opponents out of the endzone, this is a defense that gave up a lot of yards. In fact, ‘bend but don’t break’ was the mantra that many had for this group. Not to mention that I’m sure we all remember how the NFC Championship Game ended.
So as we begin to look ahead to the upcoming season, for this Green Bay Packers’ defense to get better once again, these are three areas that they have to improve upon.