Green Bay Packers: PFF Ranks LB Unit Near Bottom of NFL

In Pro Football Focus’ latest positional rankings, the Green Bay Packers’ linebacker unit is near the bottom of the NFL.

Once again, the Green Bay Packers are entering a new season with concerns and question marks at the inside linebacker position. And really to no surprise, in Pro Football Focus’ latest linebacker rankings, the Packers’ unit is near the bottom of the NFL.

For the last few seasons, the linebacker position has been held down by the durable Blake Martinez, who was the quarterback of this defense and rarely missed a snap. However, he came with his limitations as well.

Although he’d rack up a ton of tackles, many occurred four, five, or even six yards downfield. Not to mention that working in space wasn’t a strong suit of his. Ultimately, Martinez was paid more elsewhere in free agency, and the Green Bay Packers signed Christian Kirksey to take his place.

So the unit made of up Kirksey, Oren Burks, Ty Summers, Kamal Martin, Curtis Bolton, and Krys Barnes ranked 28th in Pro Football Focus’ recent rankings. And not to repeat myself, but I’m not terribly surprised either.

Now, I will say that I believe that there are scenarios where this group can be productive as the talent and athleticism is certainly there.

Although new to the team, Kirksey is familiar with Mike Pettine’s defense after playing with him during his first two NFL seasons. When healthy, Kirksey has been a proven tackler, a good blitzer, and someone who was asked to work in space quite often while in Cleveland.

However, as we all know by now, Kirksey has played in only nine games the past two seasons combined. But if he’s able to stay healthy, there’s the very real possibility that he is an upgrade over Martinez and at a much lower cost.

After Kirksey on the depth chart is a lot of inexperience. As a former third-round pick, Burks was supposed to give Green Bay a coverage linebacker, but injuries each summer have derailed the start of his first two seasons, and he hasn’t been able to get back on track.

Burks struggles to shed blockers in the run game, and once engaged, he’s all but taken out of the play. While in coverage, he’s been slow to diagnose what’s going on and just hasn’t given the defense that boost. Although the biggest issue is that Burks can’t get on the field. During his first two seasons, he has played in only 195 total defensive snaps.

Meanwhile, rookie Kamal Martin is someone who I am excited to see in action as he was lined up all over the field at Minnesota and displayed an ability to affect both the run and passing games. With that said, he is only a rookie in what has been a very unusual offseason, so his impact, at least initially, may be marginal.

Summers has very good athleticism but has to become a more reliable tackler and show that he is more than a special teams player. Bolton impressed last preseason, especially in coverage, but realistically after missing an entire year, we don’t know what to expect from him upon his return. And lastly is undrafted free agent Krys Barnes, who is going to have an uphill battle even making the roster.

In the Pro Football Focus article, author Steve Palazzolo does mention that Martin is someone worth keeping an eye on and that if this Green Bay Packers’ weakness is going to become a strength, it falls on the shoulders of Kirksey and Burks to “play up to their athletic potential.”

One of the underlying takeaways is that GM Brian Gutekunst has constructed an athletic group at the linebacker position, which is something that the team hasn’t really had in recent years. While that’s certainly a positive, there’s obviously more to playing the position than just that. Kirksey has to stay healthy, Burks has to prove that he deserves playing time, and the other four players have zero combined defensive snaps in the NFL.

So yeah, in the past if I’ve disagreed with a ranking, I’ve voiced my opinion, but I understand this one.

All stats via Pro Football Focus and Pro Football Reference