By: Paul Bretl 7/16/2024
With Green Bay Packers training camp on the horizon, I’ll be doing a position-by-position preview. Next up is the defensive tackle position.
If you missed any of the previous position previews, you can find them below:
Quarterbacks
Running backs
Tight ends
Wide receivers
Offensive line
Roster: Karl Brooks, Kenny Clark, James Ester, Jonathan Ford, TJ Slaton, Colby Wooden, Devonte Wyatt, Spencer Waege
An attacking defensive front: Under new defensive coordinator Jeff Hafely, one of the more noticeable differences in his system compared to Joe Barry’s will take place along the defensive front, where the defenders will be responsible for attacking one-gap rather than trying to defend two of them.
In Barry’s two-gap defense, as the name suggests, each member of the defensive line was responsible for two gaps, tasked with reading the movements of the offensive line and the backfield, then determining which gap was the most vulnerable and trying to fill it. Interior defenders are more so space eaters in this style of defense, helping to create opportunities for the edge rushers and linebackers to make the plays.
In Hafley’s defense, however, with the defensive line responsible for only one gap, there should be a much more proactive play style instead of reactive, with the front asked to get north and south quickly, penetrating their way into the backfield, rather than reacting to what the offense is doing.
Former Packers defensive lineman Mike Daniels said that the role of the defensive line in this system is “simplified” as it allows them to “cut it loose.” Kenny Clark said that it should allow the front to be “way more disruptive.”
“It’s an attack front, guys,” said defensive line coach Jason Rebrovich. “If you put the tape on with San Fran, Houston, the Jets, things like that, been very fortunate in my background being in Buffalo and in Jacksonville and that’s really what we did back then, so been fortunate to be around it.
“But it is, it’s about TFLs and sacks. We’re going to look to create havoc in the backfield. Every down, we’re looking to penetrate and make something big happen. Offensive linemen, not moving so fast laterally, they’re going to have to stay on the line of scrimmage a little bit longer with the movements and the ability for us to get in the backfield.”
Mixing and matching: Between the defensive tackle and defensive end positions, nine different players were relied upon regularly each week last season. While the depth of the receiver room on this Packers’ team is what garners a lot of the attention – and understandably so – Matt LaFleur is quite fond of the depth in the defensive trenches as well.
“I think much similar to the receiving group, we feel really good about our front,” said LaFleur. “When you’ve got RG and Preston and J.J. and then inside you’ve got Kenny Clark, Heavy D, Karl Brooks, Colby Wooden, I mean, there’s a lot of players there. T.J. Slaton. Like, we feel really good about the collective unit and I think each one of those guys is going to get more 1-on-1 opportunities along the way because it’s hard to zero in on just one guy.”
With depth comes a wide variety of skill sets. From a game-planning perspective, there is a layer of unpredictability that the Packers’ front can have, allowing for Hafley to mix-and-match his rotations from week-to-week depending upon the opponent. This can even be taken a step further if there is going to be movement between the defensive end and defensive tackle position groups.
There is also the ability to maximize those individual skill sets by putting each player in specific situations where they can thrive rather than having blanket rotations that are utilized regardless of the situation.
A big year for Devonte Wyatt? This system should benefit the entire defensive front, but one player whose name keeps getting brought up as someone who will thrive playing this way is Devonte Wyatt, as this one-gap defense fits his skill set and play style to a tee.
Last season, Wyatt’s 48 pressures were the fourth-most on the team and the 20th-most in the NFL among his position group. He also ranked 12th in pass rush win rate, but a new level of play for Wyatt under Hafley could be unlocked.
“Devonte Wyatt, I think he’s going to thrive in this defense,” said Vice President of Player Personnel Jon-Eric Sullivan. “Where you can kind of just pin your ears back, get off the ball. That’s what he was at Georgia — quick, work edges, penetrate, disrupt. I think there’s a bunch of guys who are going to benefit from what we’re doing.”
New defense brings change for Kenny Clark and more opportunities: Kenny Clark has spent his entire career, including his time at UCLA, playing in a 3-4 defense. So, as Clark enters his ninth NFL season, change is in store for him, but it’s something he’s looking forward to.
“I think it’s going to be really good,” said Clark on transitioning to a 4-3 scheme. “It’s one of things where all my career I’ve been kind of been playing this way, but in more of a controlled way.
“And I think now this is giving us a chance to shut all that other stuff off, no technique really and just use your ability and just go up the field and be disruptive. I just think with my get-off and how I am, I think it’s going to suit me well.”
In addition to the more aggressive and proactive play style that Hafley’s defense asks of the front, it also means that Clark won’t be lining up at defensive end anymore, “just 3-tech and nose…but primarily 3-tech,” said Clark.
Even in what is, relatively speaking, a more passive front under Barry, Clark remained highly productive. He set a career-high in sacks last season with 7.5, while his 66 pressures were the sixth-most among all interior defensive linemen. However, under Hafley, where the defensive tackle’s job is to get into the backfield as quickly as possible, the opportunity is there for Clark to be even more disruptive.
“Every offseason I would go out and train with guys,” Clark said. “I’m a big fan of the game, so I trained with DeForest Buckner and (Arik) Armstead and all those guys, and they played a 4-3 their whole career.
“So I would check up with them and see what it’s like playing in that. I always wondered what it was like, but now that I’m in it, I see how they made so many TFLs and all those plays they were always making. It all makes sense. They were really just cutting it loose that whole time.”
Colby Wooden bulks up to better suit his role in 2024: When the Packers drafted Wooden in April of 2023, he was undersized for a defensive tackle. During the pre-draft process, he was listed at 273 pounds. Wooden said during the Packers’ virtual draft party that he played his rookie season at 278 pounds and got up to around 290 pounds this offseason.
In order to put on that additional 12 pounds, Wooden’s focus this offseason was on strength training and yoga.
“Really it was just getting in the weight room,” said Wooden after Tuesday’s practice. “Mixing that with yoga. You still want to be flexible, versatile. All I did was weight room and yoga. Conditioning.”
For the first two games of last season, Wooden was the fourth member of the Packers’ defensive tackle rotation, playing 36 snaps each week. However, the quick emergence of Karl Brooks bumped Wooden back to the fifth spot in the rotation.
From Weeks 3 through the NFC Divisional playoff round, Wooden averaged just over 13 snaps per game. He totaled 12 pressures and one sack. With Wooden packing on some extra pounds, he won’t be making the move to defensive end in Jeff Hafley’s 4-3 defense. Instead, he will stay at defensive tackle.
“Coming into Auburn,” added Wooden, “I was actually doing this. So I’m familiar with the system. I have two years in it.”
TJ Slaton’s fit in this defense: Listed at 6-5 – 330 pounds, Slaton had an obvious fit in Joe Barry’s 3-4 defense as the nose tackle–someone who took on double-teams and ate up space, helping others to make plays. But as is the case for the other members of the defensive front, that reactive approach will no longer be what’s required. Slaton is going to be asked to get into the backfield.
“It’s not as much as we perceive it to be,” said Rebrovich on shifting from a 3-4 to a 4-3 defense. “There’s a lot of 11 personnel in today’s NFL, so it’s a lot of four-man front. There is going to be some subtle changes in how we align on some certain things but it’s not going to be a huge blow up one system, put another system in. It’s more of a mindset, a mentality. That’s been the biggest change.”
Assisting Slaton with this transition is an impressive athletic skill set given his size. Coming out of Florida, he posted a Relative Athletic Score (RAS) of 7.96, which included a 5.09-second 40 and a broad jump of 9-01.
“I will tell you this,” added Reborvich, “TJ Slaton might be the biggest man-athlete that I’ve ever seen in my life. If you put a basket right here, my man can two step jump and dunk that basketball. So the athletic part, the athleticism, the 3-4, the nose, is he athletic enough? There’s no question TJ Slaton is athletic enough to play in this scheme and system.”
Last season, Slaton saw his pass rush opportunities more than double from his first two seasons with the Packers. He went from having just 134 pass rush snaps in 2022, according to PFF, to 303 in 2023. Slaton also played 466 snaps from the B-gap, compared to only 171 the year prior. And with that, he took advantage of those opportunities, recording a career-high in pressures with 16. His previous high was just six.
In addition to his pass rush production, Slaton recorded the fourth-most run-stops of any defensive tackle last season and the fifth-most tackles in the run game. Run defense may still be his calling card, but Slaton showcased last year that he can move around and be disruptive getting after the quarterback as well.
“I think he can play nose,” said Hafley. “You put him in a ‘0’ in a 3-4, you put him in a shade or you put him inside leverage on a guard and he’s still right around that A gap. There’s things we can do with him, we can tighten him up and get him in a 3-4 spacing.
“They’re going to go and they’re going to get off the ball,” Hafley added. “Before we break every meeting and I dismiss them and I talk to the back end, I tell them to go get after the quarterback, and that’s what they’re going to do. And then you get a big guy like that, against the run, I mean, that nose has to be, he has to be a guy that makes it really hard to run the football. He’s got the size and he’s got the body to do that. now we’ve got to coach him up and make sure we get the most out of him. But he’s done a nice job so far.”
Year 2 jump incoming for Brooks: As far as sixth-round picks go, the Packers really couldn’t have asked for more from Karl Brooks last season.
Snap count-wise, Brooks finished as the fourth-member of the defensive line rotation, ahead of Colby Wooden. Production-wise, he totaled 30 pressures and four sacks, and like many players on this Packers’ team, Brooks began to put things together during the second half of the season.
From Week 11 through the divisional round of the playoffs, Brooks ranked 15th among all interior defenders in total pressures, as well as 15th in PFF’s pass-rush win rate metric. Of Brooks’ 440 total snaps, 309 came as a pass rusher, with him spending time in the B-gap and lined up over the tackle. In Hafley’s defense, Brooks–who played his share of snaps at edge rusher while at Bowling Green–could be someone who is moved around relatively often.
A player’s second NFL season is oftentimes when we see the biggest developmental leap for them. There is the comfortability of playing at the NFL level along with having a full offseason to work on their craft rather than preparing for the draft. Also contributing to a potential leap for Brooks will be this attacking play-style the defensive front will be asked to play with.
“Biggest jump in my opinion in my years and time of being in the NFL is from your rookie to sophomore year,” said Rebrovich. “Every guy that you see that luckily I’ve been around, I say I, we, us, organization, coaches, from Year 1 to Year 2 that is when that light, that is when it clicks.
“At this level as you guys have heard me say, it’s knowing about you’re matchup. It’s knowing about protections. It’s knowing about the scheme. You’ve got to know where the fit is. You’re not looking over at the sideline and looking at a card to tell you where you’re alignment is like college football is right now. And it’s different and these guys have got to take the time to learn it.”
Jonathan Ford, Spencer Waege, and James Ester: This is a position group that is already well established, which means Ford and Ester will be fighting for a spot on the practice squad. Ford was on the practice squad last season, and at 6-5 – 338 pounds, he brings a run-stuffing presence in the middle, but in this new defense he’ll have to showcase that he can get off the ball and after the quarterback as well.
Ester would sign with the Packers as a UDFA following this year’s draft. He was a team captain at Northern Illinois and is listed at 289 pounds. He’s an experienced player with over 2,000 snaps in five college seasons, and is someone whose production continued to improve each year. Ester produced a career-high 24 pressures and four sacks in 2023, and for what it’s worth, graded out well against the run by PFF’s metrics.
Waege was claimed off waivers by the Packers in May after he was released by San Francisco. Waege went undrafted in 2023 out of North Dakota State and measures in at 6-5 – 295 pounds, posting an impressive RAS of 9.58 during the pre-draft process. Waege would spend the bulk of his snaps in college lined up as an edge rusher and recorded 42 pressures and 12 sacks in 2022, ranking 18th in pressures at the FCS level and 78th in PFF’s run defense grade.