The Green Bay Packers' defensive tackle room is seeing injury after injury this season, which is truthfully a microcosm of the campaign at large. What was once a promising year quickly became a game of survival. That leaves Green Bay limping into the playoffs, with their depth shattered at multiple spots.
DT is the most obnoxious example of a position that is woefully undermanned further down the depth chart, to the point one wonders where Brian Gutekunst's focus was when looking at the interior defensive trenches throughout the year.
The front office kicked the can down the road on the DT room's issues after Devonte Waller's season-ending injury on Thanksgiving Day against the Detroit Lions. Why else would they be bringing back Jonathan Ford (h/t NFL.com's Jason B. Hirschhorn) this late in the year?
Ford has four assisted tackles and 0.5 stuffs this season for the Chicago Bears. Maybe he's just an inconsequential Week 18 play to have a familiar body on the field during a regular season game. They're locked into the No. 7 seed, with the NFC West boasting three teams with 11-plus wins, but it's not as though the team is willing to lay an egg so soon before the postseason. There's value in every NFL snap.
Perhaps it's a sign that Gutekunst continues getting guys Jeff Hafley doesn't trust on the field, like Quinton Bohanna, who finally got a look against the Ravens in Week 17. And it looks like Ford's arrival meant Bohanna wouldn't get more looks, as he was released by the team on Monday.
The Packers need to answer these questions right after the calendar turns to 2026. The postseason is around the corner, and the position being a weakness would be catastrophic for Gutekunst's hopes of convincing Ed Policy he's worthy of sticking around.
Colby Wooden Is the Packers’ Prayer at DT
Former Auburn Tiger Colby Wooden is in a position to become a staple in Green Bay by holding down the position group. Teammate Micah Parsons, who's also gone down in what's been a bad-luck run for the Packers, sent his respect to Wooden in October.
“We call him the General,” Parsons said. “Like, he owns his role. He understands he stops the run. Like, he comes in, like, do what you do.”
Wooden needs to own his role in the playoffs. Through 16 games this season, he has supplied 50 total tackles, six TFLs, and three QB hits. There's clearly a lack of confidence in his fellow DTs. The best of the fallen believe in him, though.
That belief needs to translate into bullying opposing IOLs and helping Green Bay pull off what'd be, at this point, a substantial playoff upset.