There wasn’t a lot for the Green Bay Packers to like in their performance against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 17. The Ravens bullied the Packers for 307 rushing yards and Derrick Henry was responsible for 216 yards and four touchdowns in a 41-24 loss that locked them into the No. 7 seed in the playoffs. But if there was anything that the Packers could take away, it was the performance of Lukas Van Ness.
A former first-round pick, Van Ness has become the forgotten man on the Packers defense. While part of that is due to a foot injury, he’s been rounding into form in recent weeks including generating three pressures on 16 pass rushing snaps against the Ravens.
“He played a ton of snaps. I think he’s getting back into the groove,” Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said via Jason B. Hirschhorn of The Leap. “He’s still battling through, but it’s good to have him back out there.”
While LaFleur’s comments could be dismissed due to the overall performance against the Ravens, it’s good news for Van Ness, who is showing he’s not a lost cause toward the tail end of his third season.
Lukas Van Ness’s Emergence Is a Great Development for Packers Playoff Push
Van Ness was coming into a big third season with the Packers as a player that hadn’t produced. The 13th overall pick of the 2023 draft, Van Ness had just 42 pressures on 494 pass-rushing snaps according to Pro Football Focus and his outlook appeared cloudy when the Packers acquired Micah Parsons in a blockbuster trade last August.
But Van Ness responded with one of the best starts of his career. He opened the year with four pressures in a season-opening win over the Detroit Lions and set a career-high with six pressures in a Week 3 loss to the Cleveland Browns. Van Ness was cruising until suffering a foot injury in a Week 6 win over the Cincinnati Bengals and missed the next five games until returning for six snaps in a Week 12 victory over the Minnesota Vikings.
The extended absence and a lackluster performance coming off of the injury may have put Van Ness on the backburner but he reintroduced himself with an 80.6 PFF grade that was his highest since his breakout performance against the Browns.
With Parsons recovering from a torn ACL, Van Ness has a tremendous opportunity to keep his momentum going. A strong performance in the playoffs could make picking up his fifth year option a possibility or at least cause Green Bay to use a creative solution as they did with Christian Watson, who signed a one-year extension entering the final year of his rookie deal.
It also becomes interesting with uncertain futures for Rashan Gary and Kingsley Enagbare. If the Packers move on from Gary and Engabare leaves in free agency, Van Ness becomes increasingly important if he can work his way into their long-term plans.
Whatever it is, Van Ness is playing his best at the right time and it could give the Packers some punch heading into the postseason while extending his time in Green Bay.