Special Teams Once Again Isaiah McDuffie’s Path to Packers Roster

As a sixth-round draft pick in 2021, Isaiah McDuffie made the Green Bay Packers’ initial 53-man roster coming out of training camp and stuck there for the entire season.

McDuffie saw just one defensive snap the entire season, and that came in the meaningless Week 18 matchup with Detroit. He was, however, a core member of the special teams unit, playing 211 snaps–the seventh-most on the team.

McDuffie spent time on each phase of the special teams unit, with the bulk of his snaps coming on the kick return, kick coverage, and punt return units. He would finish with three total tackles, two missed tackles, and for what it’s worth, he was one of Green Bay’s lowest graded special teams players by PFF’s grading system ($$).

Special teams play will once again be McDuffie’s path to making this year’s roster with what is now an even more crowded Packers linebacker room.

De’Vondre Campbell and Quay Walker will take the majority of the defensive snaps and allow the Packers to stay in their base defense more frequently. Green Bay also has Krys Barnes, who could fill a niche role against the run, but after that, there really won’t be many — or any — defensive snaps to go around as long as everyone remains healthy.

So not only for McDuffie, but also for Ty Summers, Ray Wilborn, Caliph Brice, and Ellis Brooks, special teams contributions will be crucial.

McDuffie brings impressive speed to the linebacker position, running a 4.61-second 40-yard dash at the combine, which certainly helps on special teams. He was also a relatively sound tackler at Boston College as well.

In addition to that, McDuffie has experience over Wilborn, Brice, and Brooks–although, given how poorly the Packers special teams unit was in 2021, experience may not carry as much weight.

We’ve already seen roster turnover in this phase of the game, with four of the top 10 players in terms of snaps playing elsewhere in 2022, including the top three.

From an experience standpoint, Summers runs into a potentially similar issue as McDuffie, with it perhaps not meaning as much. With that said, where McDuffie could have the advantage over Summers is that he is only entering his second season while Summers is in the final year of his rookie deal, making him more expendable if it’s a close competition.

Another element to consider, not only for McDuffie but the rest at this position, is how many inside linebackers the Packers choose to keep.

If it’s four like it was in 2019 and 2020 under Matt LaFleur, then there is only one spot available. But if they keep five as they did in 2021 under Joe Barry, a former linebackers coach, then there is a little more leniency.

And when it comes to these back-end of the roster battles, because special teams are such a strong determining factor in who stays and who goes, the competition extends beyond the specific position group.

In addition to deciding whether to keep four or five linebackers, the Packers have a similar decision to make at safety as well as tight end. Green Bay will also have to decide between three or four running backs and five or six interior defensive linemen.

If a fifth tight end or a fifth safety is outperforming the fifth linebacker on special teams consistently, the Packers will likely roster just four linebackers in this example.

With all of that said, of course, a player’s defensive performance will very much matter as well, specifically whether or not they can hold their own against both the run and the pass–which was an obvious priority this offseason with the re-signing of Campbell and the selection of Walker.

Based on what we heard from OTAs and minicamp, it could be Wilborn who is the front runner for that fourth linebacker role as it was him who was lined up next to Barnes when the second team defense was on the field.

There is certainly still a long ways to go before anything is decided, and the true test comes when the pads are on in a few weeks. Many successful NFL players take a step forward in their second season, and for McDuffie to make this roster, it’s going to be important that he does as well.