Green Bay Packers: 6 Big Questions for Defense Entering Training Camp
By Paul Bretl
What can we expect from the new Joe Barry defense?
The expectation is that the defense that we see Joe Barry deploy is going to be similar to that of the Los Angeles Rams’ defense from 2020 under then defensive coordinator Brandon Staley.
As Ross Uglem of Packer Report noted in this year’s Cheesehead TV Draft Guide, that means a zone-heavy 3-4 defense with a nose tackle and two 4-tech defenders. They will also play with lightboxes, and the safeties will play closer to the line of scrimmage in a two-high look.
Last year the Rams finished first in points per game allowed and ranked fourth by DVOA. However, that of course doesn’t mean that the Green Bay Packers will have the same success — although we hope they do — or that Barry won’t add his own iteration to this defensive system—he probably will.
Will we see Alexander traveling with the opponent’s top receiver as Jalen Ramsey did? How will Barry deploy his three edge rushers? Who fits best at linebacker? These are just a few of the questions that will be answered once we see this defense in action.
Yet, even though there are obvious differences, there is also plenty of overlap between Barry’s defense and Mike Pettine’s, as Adrian Amos pointed out:
"“It’s been great. His system, (there’s) a lot of different terminology that he uses and different concepts. I feel like it’s going to translate well onto the field,” explained Amos to the Wisconsin State Journal. “(It’s) not that big of a transition. I know me personally, I’m familiar with a lot of things he does, and there’s a lot of carryover between what we did last year and this year. “There may be some differences in how plays are called or certain concepts and things like that, but at the end of the day, football is football. And I feel like we’ve got the guys no matter what we call out there.”"
As is to be expected, there are a number of moving parts with all of this, which is why this is such an intriguing question heading into training camp and the preseason.