6 Green Bay Packers Positional Battles to Watch this Summer
By Paul Bretl
Green Bay Packers Edge Rusher Position
Outside linebackers coach Jason Rebrovich would tell reporters back in April that he wants a rotation of four edge rushers on a weekly basis. On top of that, Green Bay is likely to keep five edge rushers on the roster.
So this means there are two openings in contributing roles, and in total, three roster spots available. We know who two of those positions on the depth chart will belong to, but after that, I’m not so sure.
Competing for that playing time and roster openings will be Jonathan Garvin, Tipa Galeai, La’Darius Hamilton, Kingsley Enagbare, Randy Ramsey, Kobe Jones, and Chauncey Manac.
Regardless of who ends up winning these jobs, the Green Bay Packers need to get more out of their rotational edge rushers than what they did a season ago.
For starters, this is a heavily rotated position with Smith and Gary on the field for about two-thirds of the defensive snaps–which means the other 33% of the snaps are being played by other players. The playmaking against both the run and pass suffered as well when those two were off the field. And while there is always going to be a dropoff going from Smith and Gary to whoever is coming off the bench, the edge rusher rotation has to be better.