Green Bay Packers Hope to Bolster Run-D with Daylon Mack Signing

With a roster spot still open, the Green Bay Packers have signed second-year defensive tackle, Daylon Mack, who will hopefully help bolster this run defense.

While the wide receiver position garnered much of the attention this offseason, perhaps the biggest hole on this Green Bay Packers team entering the 2020 season is the interior defensive line, excluding Kenny Clark, of course.

After giving up just over 120 rushing yards per game last season – the 10th most in the NFL – the Packers’ interior defensive line remains relatively unchanged. GM Brian Gutekunst would bring in Treyvon Hester, who now finds himself on IR, along with undrafted free agent Willington Previlon, who is on the practice squad.

So, by and large, Green Bay is banking on Dean Lowry returning to his 2017-2018 form and for Kingsley Keke to take a step forward in Year 2. Ideally, Montravius Adams would progress as well, but he’s been injured for much of training camp.

However, with one roster spot still open, they’ve recently added a new run-stuffer to the mix. Late Wednesday night, Rob Demovsky of ESPN reported that the Green Bay Packers had signed second-year defensive tackle, Daylon Mack, who they had in for a workout earlier this week.

Mack was a very experienced player coming out of Texas A&M in the 2019 draft, where he was selected in the fifth round by the Baltimore Ravens. At A&M – where Mack was also teammates with Keke – he would appear in 47 games, totaling 108 tackles, 27 of which were for a loss, along with eight sacks.

During his rookie season, Mack would appear in just one game for the Ravens before ending the year on IR. This offseason, he was signed by Detroit but failed a physical. He then spent a portion of training camp with the New York Giants before being cut.

At 6’1″ – 340 pounds, Mack is massive and can help clog the middle against the run, which is the kind of player that this Packers’ run defense could use. But for his size, he has a very explosive first step as evidenced by this film clip from Ben Fennell – also, take note of who he is up against – and there is plenty more where this came from:

For a closer look at Mack’s game, here is what Joe Marino of The Draft Network had to say in his pre-draft scouting report:

"“A five-star recruit, Mack blossomed as a senior and dominated the East-West Shrine Game which earned him a Senior Bowl invitation. When projecting Mack to the NFL, his ability to process the run, burst, play strength and urgency makes him an effective run defender.With that said, his lack of length is prohibitive for two-gapping duties so his best fit comes as a plug in a 4-3 scheme. His pass rushing skill set is lacking outside of pushing the pocket with an effective bull rush. Mack should be a quality rotational defensive lineman that brings good energy to the lineup but there are limitations to be mindful of.”"

The first year of Mack’s NFL career didn’t go as he would have hoped, but for Green Bay Packers’ fans, we should be quite excited about the upside and much-needed skill-set that he adds to this defense. Although it may not be right away, Mack will hopefully work his way into a rotational role quickly and provide this run-defense a boost.

UPDATE: It’s recently been reported that Mack has been signed to the practice squad and not the 53-man roster.