Paul Bretl | 11/11/2024
GREEN BAY, Wis. — With Preston Smith now on the Pittsburgh Steelers, opportunity now awaits several young members of the Packers’ defensive end room.
“Yeah, we’re excited to see both of those guys, see some more snaps,” said Brian Gutekunst of Mosby and Cox. “I think certainly they’ve earned it. I thought they did a really nice job in training camp, and they’ve continued that through practice, and I think Mosby’s done a really nice job on teams for us. Brenton’s just really, I think he’s eager, and we’re eager to see him.”
When it came to final roster cuts back in late-August, the Packers would go very heavy along the defensive front, keeping 11 players in total between the defensive end and defensive tackles positions. The trickle-down effect of going heavy at one spot is going light elsewhere, but Green Bay couldn’t risk losing either Cox or Mosby–so they kept both.
Cox, who wins with power and violent hands, has always had the ability to rush the quarterback, and that part of his game should be magnified and on display in Jeff Hafley’s defensive scheme, where the ultimate goal is for the members of the defensive front to get off the ball and into the backfield, generating TFLs and sacks–a play-style that Cox has “embraced,” as LaFleur put it over the summer.
Mosby would make several splash plays over the Packers three preseason games, including an interception and a forced fumble that was returned for a touchdown. Also a contributing factor to him making the initial 53-man roster was his versatility, able to fill a variety of roles along the defensive front that helped distinguish him.
“He’s very versatile, pretty much one of the fastest guys in the room,” said JJ Enagbare on Monday. “He can leverage naturally through his height so he’s able to get under guys and pretty much has everything that everyone else has – the speed rush, the power rush. He can do a little bit of it all, very versatile guy.”
Cox has been inactive each game during the regular season, although that is now likely to change going forward. Mosby, meanwhile, has been a core special teams contributor, ranking sixth on the team in snaps, playing steadily across four different phases.
Over the last two weeks, Mosby has also seen a few defensive snaps against Jacksonville and Detroit, which included him earning his first career NFL sack, bringing down Jared Goff on a third-down play.
“I just got in there, did my part” said Mosby of the sack. “They called my number, just like I said used my speed and then transitioned to power and it just happened to go how it was planned and got a sack.
“Just going forward believe in my speed, believe in my power, what the guys teaching me since I got into this role playing D-end.”
Although from the outside looking in, with Cox and Mosby playing either no or very few defensive snaps this season, we have no idea how they are performing in practice or what kind of strides they are making. However, as Gutekunst said, the momentum that the two established over the summer has carried over into their play on the practice field during the regular season, earning them these opportunities.
“Really invested in my speed, believing in my speed, going forward,” said Mosby on where he’s seen growth in his own game. With RG and them guys that I’ve been a part of, you gut JJ, Lukas Van Ness, those guys, just going on with them and them telling me believe in my speed. So really just believing in it going forward.
“That last preseason game, it kid of showed a little bit and then now just going forward and I had the little sack against the Detroit Lions. Really just going forward, believing in my speed, believing in my strength and let the rest be the rest.”
Of course, it’s not as if Mosby and Cox will be tasked with shouldering the entire workload when it comes to turning the Packers’ pass rush performance around. It’s going to be a group effort.
Lukas Van Ness and JJ Enagbare will both see more opportunities as Green Bay fills the 20-25 snaps per game that are now available without Smith.
“He’s been here all my three years here and was a big part of my success and growth as a player and partly as a man, and as a teammate,” said JJ Enagbare about Smith being traded. “Losing him is definitely hit us close to the heart, but we got guys in here in our room who are ready to take advantage of the opportunity that’s about to come up in the next few weeks and therefore after.”
With Smith no longer in the meeting rooms or on field, the Packers defensive end group doesn’t only have snaps that now have to be filled on Sundays, but there’s a leadership role that has become vacant as well.
Enagbare would mention that, as one of the veterans on the team, Smith was often the one giving pre-game or post-game speeches, and always helped bring the juice before taking the field. He was also mentor, both on and off the field, to many of the young defensive ends that ended up in Green Bay.
Filling that void will start with Rashan Gary in the defensive end room, but to some degree, it will be a collective effort, and will extend beyond this one position group.
“There’s definitely some guys like X, RG, probably a Josh Jacobs, Jordan Love,” said Enagbare about filling that leadership role. “We have numerous guys. We’re still a young team but we still got guys who have played a lot of football and pretty much led and lead well.”
Overall, the Packers haven’t gotten enough consistent production out of their pass rush this season. According to ESPN’s pass-rush win rate metric, which measures how often the Packers’ pass rushers win their matchup within 2.5 seconds, Green Bay entered their bye week ranked 29th. The success that they have found in getting after the quarterback has often come from manufactured pressures designed by Hafley.
When it comes to the Packers’ defense as a whole reaching its ceiling this season, an improved four-man pass rush over the second half of the season will be a must. The name of the game is getting after the quarterback, and when done consistently, there is a positive trickle-down effect to the rest of the defense with the timing and rhythm of the play being disrupted, which can then lead to mistakes.
Accomplishing this turnaround will now be much more dependent upon the play and contributions that the defense gets from what has quickly become a young, a somewhat inexperienced defensive end room.
“Step up. Step up,” said Rashan Gary when asked what his message was. “Plain and simple. There’s a big opportunity. Everybody prays and asks for opportunities like this, so the opportunity’s out there, let’s make the most of it and finish the season how we want to finish it.”