3 Winners from Green Bay Packers Family Night Practice
By Paul Bretl
Green Bay Packers IDL Devonte Wyatt
On what is a deep Green Bay Packers interior defensive line unit, Devonte Wyatt has regularly been the fifth defender in the rotation behind Kenny Clark, Jarran Reed, TJ Slaton, and Dean Lowry. And with that, it’s been a quiet start.
However, he was very much flashing during Friday night’s practice and, perhaps most importantly, doing so in a variety of ways. We saw Wyatt use a spin move on Sean Rhyan that, in a real game, may have resulted in a sack. He also used his power to generate push as well as his quick first step to get around the blocker and into the backfield.
Wyatt is a rare athlete at the interior defensive line position, posting a Relative Athletic Score of 9.56 out of 10. He ranked sixth during his final season at Georgia in PFF’s run-stop rate metric, and with that athleticism he possesses, there is upside as a pass rusher. He finished his college career with 70 pressures per PFF ($$).
Wyatt may be a first-round pick, but based on what we’ve seen so far, he is going to begin in a rotational role along the defensive front, given that the Packers have some experience to lean on at this position. This also isn’t an uncommon practice for Green Bay, who often brings rookies along slowly.
If we look back at every Brian Gutekunst draft class, the only rookies who have come in and been the preferred starter right away were Darnell Savage, Josh Myers, and Quay Walker. In terms of snap counts, every other rookie either began their rookie seasons either in a rotational role or they were cemented as a backup.