Is the Packers 5th edge rusher on the roster yet?

One of the biggest question marks surrounding this Green Bay Packers team prior to training camp was the depth at the edge rusher position.

To a degree, some of these questions have been answered.

Based on Kingsley Enagbare’s play, which includes nine pressures in three games, and Jonathan Garvin’s playing time, which has been relatively minimal, thus suggesting that he will be on the team, it would appear that those two will be the third and fourth edge rushers on the depth chart behind Rashan Gary and Preston Smith.

However, who that fifth edge rusher might be, remains an unknown.

The battle comes down to Tipa Galeai, Kobe Jones, and La’Darius Hamilton. Each has had the opportunity this summer to play with the second-team defense in practice, and each has made some splash plays as well.

Galeai has been on the “starting” defense in the first two preseason games and has been very efficient as a pass rusher with four pressures in 13 pass-rushing snaps. He has also battled injuries this summer as well and has been held out of practice and Thursday night’s game in Kansas City.

Jones logged four pressures and a sack in three preseason games but just two pressures in his last 35 pass rush reps, according to PFF ($$).

Hamilton would miss the first preseason game against San Francisco but logged two pressures in Week 2. He failed, however, to get to the quarterback in the most recent game.

All have made plays defensively, but all have disappeared as well.

Ultimately as the fifth edge rusher, while defense matters, special teams play will likely be the determining factor when it comes to who is on the roster.

Jones leads the way among the three with 35 special teams snaps, while Galeai has 14 and Hamilton 17. All have played in several different phases, which is important–as they say, the more you can do.

Perhaps these snap counts provide us some insight into where this roster battle stands, but for the most part, things remain unclear. All three players are even graded similarly by PFF.

Given that none of these players have consistently stood out above the rest, it could be possible that the Packers’ fifth edge rusher isn’t on the roster yet.

Edge rusher is one of the most important positions in the game, and the Packers need more contributions from their rotational players than what they got a season ago. As good as Smith and Gary are, there was little impact when they were on the sidelines, which occurred relatively frequently with both players on the field for about 70% of the defensive snaps.

With $16.03 million in available cap space, the Packers have the room, and it’s not as if anyone left on the market is going to break the bank. A few notable free agent names include Dee Ford and Jason Pierre-Paul.

While this is one avenue, if the Packers are going to make an addition, my guess is that it won’t be a big-name player that we all know. Rather, they may wait and see who is cut by other teams when rosters have to be trimmed to 53 players this coming Tuesday.

Although the fifth edge rusher is the roster spot in question, added competition for Enagbare and Garvin isn’t a bad idea either. Enagbare is a fifth-round rookie, while Garvin ranked 76th last season out of 123 edge rushers in PFF’s pass-rush win rate. The point being that there are still unknowns about these two as well.

This, of course, is all speculation, but with edge rusher being a premier position, and from the outside looking in, no player really seizing that final roster spot, the Packers could explore outside options. As we’ve seen often in the past, Brian Gutekunst isn’t afraid the continually churn the bottom of the roster.