Paul Bretl | 8/2/2024
GREEN BAY, Wis. — In the new defensive scheme under Jeff Hafley, Packers’ defensive tackle TJ Slaton has acclimated himself very well to the change, even surprising Matt LaFleur in a few ways.
“I think TJ’s had an outstanding camp,” said LaFleur before Thursday’s practice. “He really has. I think just, you know quite frankly he’s surprised us in some ways. He’s just been, his ability to get off the ball and wreck double teams, whatever it may be, I think he’s done a really nice job. So I’m really excited to see how he’s progressed.”
At 6-4 – 330 pounds, Slaton may not have the prototypical build of a defensive tackle in a 4-3 system, but rather may be better suited in that regard for a 3-4 scheme as the nose tackle, which is the role he filled under Joe Barry.
However, that hasn’t been the case at all. As defensive line coach Jason Rebrovich mentioned earlier in the offseason, Slaton is the “biggest man athlete” that he’s ever seen in his life. Adding that Slaton can two-step dunk a basketball. So from an athleticism perspective, Rebrovich as no concerns about Slaton acclimating to his new role.
“You know you never quite know how one guy’s going to transition to a certain style of defense,” added LaFleur, “but he’s done a really good job.”
Through nine training camp practices, we are seeing the disruptive results that can occur when you combine Slaton’s size and athleticism with an attacking front where the goal is to get off the ball an into the backfield. Whether it’s against the run or the pass, Slaton’s presence in the backfield has become a regular occurrence at practice over the last week-plus.
“The coolest part about him right now,” said Hafley, “and I was joking doing bed check the other night, I talked to him for a while, the way he’s getting off the ball at his size and how disruptive he can be and penetrate, he’s hard to block. And you kinda saw a smile on his face and another guy who I believe has bought in and he’s doing everything that we’re trying to have those guys do and coach them to do.
“If you get big guys like that penetrating up front causes problems and I’m really happy with the way he’s started and I hope he can continue to build off of it because I think if he does and continues to improve he can really helps us out a lot and help himself out a lot.”
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.
LaFleur really likes the depth that the Packers have between the defensive tackle and defensive end positions, with nine players that can be relied upon each week. With this new attacking play-style, the need for depth upfront becomes even greater, with Kenny Clark mentioning that that rotating players in and out to stay fresh will become of greater importance.
Having that much depth and different skill-sets can really allow Hafley to mix and match his rotations based upon the opponent and game-plan. The specifics of what that might look like is still be cultivated and may remain fluid throughout the season. But early on in training camp, we’ve seen Slaton among the starters, lining up next to Clark on early downs or obvious running situations.
“I like this. I like this a lot,” said Slaton about the new defense. “You’ve got to play fast. You’ve got to get off the ball and be very aggressive to play in this scheme, in this really attacking type of defense.”
Improved play from the defense as a whole starts with more consistency up front. This is a group that ranked 23rd in average yards per carry allowed last season and gave up 200-plus rushing yards in four games. The pass rush also ran very hot and cold, recording seven games, according to PFF, with a pressure rate of greater than 45 percent–which is excellent–and seven games with a pressure rate below 30 percent–which is not excellent.
The quickest way to blow up any offensive play is with immediate pressure up the middle. That not only becomes an emphasis for the defensive front but the focal point of what Slaton and his teammates are going to being asked to do by Hafley. Slaton’s ability to carry this play-style and disruptiveness into the regular season can have a heavy impact on not only improving the play of the defensive front but the defense as a whole with the positive trickle-down effect that can have.
“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.”