3 Big Things from the Green Bay Packers 1st Round Picks
By Paul Bretl
Green Bay Packers load up on defense
As David Bakhtiari tweeted out following the first round, “defense wins championships.”
This is a popular mantra in football and one that the Green Bay Packers appear to be fully embracing. Green Bay already had a fairly stout defense, but with their first two picks, they addressed their two biggest weaknesses, the interior defensive line rotation, and the linebacker depth.
Devonte Wyatt will provide the Packers with another interior presence, which could mean moving Kenny Clark around more often in search of one-on-one opportunities–that, of course, is a good thing. He should also provide an added pass-rush ability with his explosiveness. Wyatt produced 63 pressures and six sacks over his final three seasons at Georgia on 611 pass-rush attempts, according to PFF ($$).
The quickest way to disrupt a play is with pressure up the middle, and when there is a strong presence along the interior defensive line creating pressure, eating up space, and taking on double-teams, the entire defense benefits. As mentioned, Joe Barry will have the flexibility to move Clark around more; there are fewer double-teams for the edge rushers to contend with, while the linebackers and safeties are kept clean to make plays.
At linebacker, we often saw De’Vondre Campbell as the only ILB on the field last season, which, it turns out, was due to necessity rather than that being Green Bay’s preference. As Justis Mosqueda of Acme Packing Co. pointed out, Green Bay brought in Jaylon Smith to get back to utilizing a more traditional nickel look, but that move didn’t pay off.
"“It’s been a while since we’ve been able to stay in certain packages with two inside backers who we think can handle everything,” said Gutekunst."
Like Wyatt, Walker is an explosive athlete who will bring versatility to this defense. This past season at Georgia, he would allow only 7.2 yards per catch in coverage while recording 16 pressures and 26 stops. He was also PFF’s fourth-highest graded tackler at the linebacker position, only missing 3.9% of his tackle attempts.
Walker will bring added versatility, along with the ability to cover tight ends and running backs to this defense, and he will be an upgrade over Krys Barnes, who is limited in what he can do. Walker should also provide immediate help — and perhaps provide the biggest impact — to a Packers run defense that ranked 30th in yards per carry allowed and 28th in run DVOA.
On paper, this Green Bay defense looks pretty darn good.