Defensive Line Looks Deep And Nasty

This is the sixth story in a series examining Green Bay’s positional groups. The first five parts were on the quarterbacks, wide receivers, running backs, offensive line and tight ends.

For several years now, Kenny Clark has been the Batman of the Green Bay Packers’ defensive line.

The two-time Pro Bowl nose tackle has developed into a dominant force. And even though Clark is entering his seventh season, he’s still just 26 years old and at the peak of his powers.

What the Packers have lacked, though, during the Clark-era is someone to play Robin. That may finally change in 2022.

Green Bay used a first-round draft choice on Georgia defensive end Devonte Wyatt in April. Veteran Dean Lowry is coming off his finest season. And in a move that received little fanfare, Green Bay added veteran Jarran Reed — a player with 21.5 sacks since 2018 — to the mix in March.

Suddenly, Green Bay has the makings for its finest defensive line since the 2010 unit spearheaded by Cullen Jenkins, Ryan Pickett and B.J. Raji.

“We’ve got a lot of depth. We’ve got a lot of depth,” Clark said this offseason. “We’ve got a lot of guys that are eager to learn, eager to compete. There’s a lot of great players and we’re ready to get this thing going.”

While quarterbacks and high-powered offenses steal the headlines, standout defensive line play is often the key to greatness. In fact, it could be argued the last two Super Bowl champions hoisted the Lombardi Trophy thanks to their defensive lines.

In the 55^th Super Bowl, Tampa Bay pressured Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes on a remarkable 55.3% of his dropbacks (31 of 56). Then last season, Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow was pressured on 42.9% of his dropbacks (18 of 42) by the Los Angeles Rams.

Many believe Green Bay’s defensive line could have that type of impact in 2022. In fact, Pro Football Focus ranked the Packers’ defensive line third in the NFL to begin the season.

“You have D-linemen,” Wyatt said. “You already have Kenny Clark. You have a lot of older guys. That’s one thing I thought about.

“You have a lot of older guys and a lot of great young talent coming in. For us to come in and be with the older guys, I feel like we definitely might be the No. 1 defense this year.”

Clark, of course, is the key to everything Green Bay does up front.

Clark is coming off his finest season in which he led Green Bay’s defensive line with 48 tackles. He also finished fourth on the team in sacks (4.0), third in tackles for loss (six) and third in quarterback hits (13).

According to Stats Pass, Clark also finished sixth in the league among defensive tackles with 43.5 quarterback hurries.

Clark was also named to his second Pro Bowl, joining Henry Jordan (1960-61, 1963, 1966) and Dave Hanner (1953-54) as the only Packers defensive tackles to make multiple Pro Bowls.

“He’s always been the first guy in last guy out, before practice,” Packers defensive line/running game coordinator Jerry Montgomery said of Clark. “So he’s always putting the work in. But I just feel like he’s playing at a really high level … and hopefully he continues.”

Lowry is coming off the finest of his six NFL seasons.

Lowry set a career high in sacks (five) and in passes defended (four) in 2021. Lowry has also been remarkably reliable, missing just one game in his first four NFL seasons.

Lowry’s short arms (31 inches) and mediocre athleticism have prevented him from ever being dominant. But the 6-foot-6 Lowry has ideal length, is incredibly intelligent and works as hard as anyone in the building.

“He’s Steady Eddie,” Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said of Lowry. “He’s consistently improved from the time we got him. He’s a true professional, effort, work ethic, and he’s gotten better. You just see how he’s really worked himself into being a really good NFL football player, and he’s been very reliable and dependable.”

In late March, Green Bay signed Reed to a one-year deal that could be worth up to $4.5 million.

The 6-foot-3, 313-pound Reed was a second-round draft pick in 2016 who’s been a workhorse throughout his career. Reed played his first five seasons in Seattle, then spent the 2021 campaign with Kansas City.

Reed’s finest season came in 2018, when he had 10.5 sacks, 12 tackles for losses and 24 quarterback hits. And over the last four years, he’s played an average of 71.3% of the snaps every season.

“Pretty excited to add a guy like that, next to Kenny, next to Dean,” Montgomery said of Reed. “That will be pretty exciting.

“He’s been a dominant player in this league. Was really, really productive in Seattle and I think he had an O.K. year last year. But I’m excited to work with him and he brings a lot to the table both in the run and in the pass.”

Wyatt’s growth may eventually determine exactly how good this unit can be.

The 6-foot-3, 304-pound Wyatt began his career at Hutchinson Community College, then transferred to Georgia in 2018. Wyatt was primarily a back-up his first two years with the Bulldogs, moved into the starting lineup as a junior and had a breakout senior season.

In 2021, Wyatt had 39 tackles, including seven for loss with 2.5 sacks and two forced fumbles in 14 starts. Then he ran the 40-yard dash in a blazing 4.77 seconds at the NFL Combine, one of the fastest times by a defensive lineman.

“I think he’s such a disruptor on the line of scrimmage,” Gutekunst said of Wyatt. “He can play the 1, he can play the 3, he’s a dynamic pass rusher. He’s a dynamic pass rusher. His ability to scrape and get to the ball in the run game is almost linebacker-like.”

Wyatt is far from a slam dunk, though.

Wyatt was arrested and charged for a “family violence” issue in 2020. NFL teams also found three domestic violence incidents connected to Wyatt, and he posted a Wonderlic score of just eight.

Some teams took Wyatt off of their draft board due to character issues, and it’s quite possible former Green Bay general manager Ted Thompson would have done the same. Gutekunst is gambling, though, that Wyatt can stay out of trouble while causing trouble for opposing offenses.

“Obviously he had a couple hiccups there at Georgia,” Gutekunst said. “So we brought him in and spent a lot of time with him not only when we brought him in here to Green Bay, but really did kind of a deep dive in the human being and making sure that he could fit in our culture here. Like I said, I give a lot of our staff here credit because we walked away feeling really good about who he was and how he would be here for the Green Packers.”

Second year man T.J. Slaton could be poised to make a jump.

The 6-foot-4, 330-pound Slaton is an impressive athlete who ran the 40-yard dash in 5.09 seconds coming out of Florida. But he must improve his stamina and consistency to make an impact in 2022.

“T.J.’s done a nice job,” LaFleur said. “I think he’s light years ahead of where he was a year ago.”

Green Bay also used a seventh-round draft pick on massive Jonathan Ford, a 6-foot-5, 338-pounder from Miami.

Ford was a three-year starter who had 3.0 sacks in 2019. But he lost his job for a time in 2020, doesn’t run well (5.47) and totaled just 19 tackles in 10 games last season.

“Huge man that can clog up a lot of space,” Gutekunst said of Ford. “I think he’s obviously a 1-technique (nose tackle) more than anything else, but he’s tough to move off the spot. I think his best football’s ahead of him. We’re excited, to find a guy who’s played as much as he has, and a guy of obviously his size is something we were looking for.”

Top to bottom, this could be Green Bay’s deepest and most talented unit in more than a decade. And after carrying his share of the weight — and then some — for years now, no one is more excited than Clark.

“I think it’s going to be a good thing for us,” Clark said of Green Bay’s depth. “Just to keep us fresh. It’s hard to stop any one of us when we’re coming off the field. When we come on the field on third down and we’re able to rush the passer and have our wind, our legs under us, it’s going to be hard to stop us.”