Interior DL still a position for Packers to explore in free agency
By Paul Bretl
No, it’s not a receiver, a tight end, or a veteran backup quarterback, but one position that the Green Bay Packers should still consider adding to through free agency is the interior defensive line.
Much like the aforementioned positions, the interior defensive line has a lot of inexperience. Outside of Kenny Clark, TJ Slaton, who has averaged 299 snaps over his first two NFL seasons, is the most experienced played within this position group. Devonte Wyatt didn’t see consistent playing time until the end of the 2022 season, while Colby Wooden, Karl Brooks, Jonathan Ford, Chris Slayton, and others are yet to take any NFL snaps.
With this being a position that is heavily rotated, with four or even five defenders seeing regular playing time each week, depth is a must. As we examine how this defense as a whole will bounce back from an inconsistent 2022 performance, collectively, the Packers have to get after the quarterback more regularly. Green Bay ranked 23rd in total pressures generated last season, but the good news is they have no shortage of pass rush options currently on the roster.
While creating pressure on the quarterback is very important, how the Packers hold up against the run may end up being the determining factor in how good this defense can be. In 2022, Green Bay ranked 28th in yards per carry allowed at 5.0 and 31st by DVOA against the run. Not coincidentally, when the defense was playing its best football during the final few games, they were holding up much better against the run, allowing just 4.4 yards per rush – which would have ranked 15th over the course of the season – during that stretch.
When a defense is able to stop the run on early downs, it puts the offense in predictable passing situations, allowing the defensive front to really pin its ears back in an effort to get after the quarterback. There is also a positive trickle-down effect to the linebackers and members of the secondary as they can play more aggressively as well when an offense faces an obvious passing situation.
Conversely, when the offense is finding success on early downs running the ball, something many opponents did against Green Bay last season, it opens up the playbook for that unit when in second and third and short situations, sets up play-action, and in general, really keeps the defense guessing and off-balance.
As run game coordinator Jerry Montgomery said this past month, the Packers are prepared to “weather the storm” that comes with relying heavily on young and inexperienced players like Wooden, Brooks, and potentially Ford. But with that comes inevitable inconsistencies, even for Wyatt, who is still relatively inexperienced himself and still needs to continue working on his run game technique, something Clark mentioned earlier this offseason.
As I said, the Packers have plenty of pass-rush options, but how they handle early or obvious running downs remains to be seen. Obviously, Clark can’t play 100% of the snaps, nor can Wyatt, which means others have to be relied upon next to Slaton. One configuration I saw during minicamp was Wyatt, Slaton, and Wooden. Out of necessity, there may be times where we see Brooks out there as well.
You can read in more detail here, but in short, the Packers have $16.56 million in available cap space at the moment, according to Over the Cap. However, when factoring in other upcoming and unaccounted-for expenses, the actual amount they have to spend is $4.2 million, per Ken Ingalls, who independently tracks Green Bay’s salary cap situation. That’s not a huge amount, by any means, but enough to make an addition, especially at this time of the year, where many of the contracts handed out are relatively inexpensive.
Also, unlike the quarterback and receiver markets that are low on options, there are still a number of interior defensive linemen available who could make an impact. A few listed on NFL Trade Rumor’s Top 100 Free Agents include Chris Wormley, Dawuane Smoot, Matt Ioannidis, Shelby Harris, Akiem Hicks, and William Gholston.
Brian Gutekunst has a pretty good track record of finding impact players this time of the year, including De’Vondre Campbell and Dallin Leavitt recently. Rasul Douglas was also added in-season. During OTAs, Matt LaFleur said that if the Packers were going to add a veteran quarterback, they would know whether or not that would be the case following offseason programs. I imagine the same goes for the interior defensive line or any other position they may be looking at.