Green Bay Packers Put Emphasis on Special Teams Help in Draft

As good as this Green Bay Packers team was as a whole last season, their special teams unit was abysmal, to put it simply. After an inconspicuous start to the season, from the Houston game onward, there was what felt like a special teams blunder every single week.

Against Houston, Green Bay would allow a blocked punt. They gave up punt return touchdowns to both Jacksonville and Philadelphia, while Darrius Shepherd fumbled a kick return attempt against Indianapolis. And speaking of the kick return unit, getting the ball beyond the 25-yard line on return attempts oftentimes felt like an impossible task.

There were penalties, bad snaps, even missed extra points from Mason Crosby — although he was the lone bright spot on this unit — and JK Scott had his own struggles while ranking third to last in net punt average among all punters.

I apologize for missing anything — chances are I did — but in my defense, there were a lot of mishaps.

Last season the Green Bay Packers special teams unit was ranked 29th by PFF ($$) and Rick Gosselin of Sports Illustrated, who comes out with his yearly special teams rankings, also had Green Bay ranked 29th. The year before, when the Packers were on a historically bad punt return pace before Tyler Ervin saved the day, PFF ranked their unit 24th and Gosselin 26th. In fact, if you look back at Green Bay’s special teams unit in recent years, there is, unfortunately, a lot more bad than good.

This led to the firing of special teams coach Shawn Mennenga, which, what else were the Packers to do after how the last two years played out? And eventually led to them hiring internal candidate Maurice Drayton, who had been serving as the team’s assistant special teams coordinator the past three seasons.

After the promotion became official, Matt LaFleur had this to say about Drayton and what he adds to this Green Bay Packers squad as the special teams coordinator:

"I’ve had a chance to witness him for the last two years and I’ll tell you what, he’s a teacher. He’s an excellent communicator,” LaFleur said via the Wisconsin State Journal. “(He) brings great energy to that room, and that’s really what I thought was needed — just his voice leading that room. I’ve got a lot of confidence in his ability. I think he’s going to do a tremendous job for us.”"

As I mentioned above, a change at coordinator had to take place, and hopefully, Drayton’s ability to communicate and his energy that LaFleur refers to can be the catalyst behind what turns around a floundering special teams unit—but ultimately, the players are going to have to make plays. And with that, it’s clear that adding some new talent to the special teams’ room was an area of emphasis for GM Brian Gutekunst during the draft.

While, naturally, finding help in the draft on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball is what we all focus on, realistically, and especially early on, the biggest overall impact from the incoming rookie class is going to likely be felt on special teams, where most will see a majority of their snaps.

When it comes to the Green Bay Packers’ incoming rookie class, several members should make an immediate impact on special teams.

With the 4.25 speed that Eric Stokes’ possesses, from Day 1 he can be an excellent gunner for the Packers, and as Andy Herman of Packer Report mentions in a recent article, he is someone who can rush off the edge when Green Bay’s opponents are either punting or kicking a field goal in an attempt to block the kick.

Amari Rodgers brings ample punt return experience — an area that the Packers have been severely lacking in — with 68 career attempts at Clemson while averaging 7.8 yards per return with one touchdown.

Fifth-round pick Shemar Jean-Charles has 331 career special teams snaps at Appalachian State and was called a “special teams ace” by Jordan Reid of The Draft Network in his pre-draft report. Isiah McDuffie also has plenty of experience with 320 career snaps and very good speed for a linebacker–he was called a “core special teams player” by NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein. Even running back Kylin Hill, who has very little special teams experience, is on Drayton’s radar.

In the short time that these rookies have been in Green Bay, understandably so, Drayton is already impressed with what they can add to the special teams unit and is excited to work with them, as he told reporters recently:

"“I tell you, this draft class, I’m really excited about it. In no particular order, I really love Shemar Jean-Charles out of Appalachian State. He has an attitude about teams that I really like. Excuse my phrase, but he has this dog mentality that’s kind of infectious, so we like him a lot. Of course, Amari, looking forward to big things out of him, very smooth athlete, very smart, heady. Eric Stokes, if called upon, he will be ready to play, as well as Kylin Hill. Just pleased with that group.“"

Will this be the year that we see the Green Bay Packers take a step forward at special teams? I don’t have that answer, and I don’t believe anyone does at this time–however, I sure hope it is.

After last year’s disaster, the Packers are fortunate that the special teams’ issues didn’t impact the win-loss column strongly—but there is no guarantee that happens again. The good news is that, by the looks of it, Green Bay will be infusing that unit with some young and talented players.