Just two years into his run as Head Coach of the Green Bay Packers, Matt LaFleur has changed course with two of the team’s three phases, leaving only his offense intact.
Even coming off back to back 13-3, NFC Championship Game campaigns, this off-season, LaFleur parted ways with Defensive Coordinator Mike Pettine and Special Teams Coordinator Sean Mennenga. Now he’s overseeing the installation of new philosophies on defense and special teams. Unlike having a virtual off-season program a year ago, at least there are on-field opportunities to hasten the education of his players.
Enter Joe Barry.
The veteran NFL assistant handled linebackers for the Los Angeles Rams defense last year, a unit that finished number one in yards and points allowed. Barry spent most of the spring pouring over the film from his players in the past. Now he gets to see them on the field and after team meetings Wednesday, I asked Barry to go over the process of evaluating his inherited talent and determining how he envisions using those players in his scheme this fall.
One of the key components of Barry’s defense is the utilization of the “Star” position. It’s the evolution of the nickel back position, taking on more responsibilities with many more deployment options. In 2020, Jalen Ramsey, the first team All-Pro corner, lined up in the Star position often. Barry says it’s not one player exclusive, corners, safeties and even hybrid linebackers could all get their turns. Defensive Backfield coach Jerry Gray said a lot of DB’s will get a chance to prove their worthiness and by training camp, 4 finalists should emerge.
From the sideline at the open media practice this week, it appears both Preston Smith and Kenny Clark look a bit trimmer than last year. Barry said it wasn’t something the staff requested but believes it will help both players. In today’s NFL, Barry said the biggest defensive requirement is speed and than can apply to all three levels.
Clark said he’s excited about the Barry defense. Safety Adrian Amos said there are a lot of similarities to Pettine’s system which will accelerate the learning. Barry has worked with inside linebackers coach Kirk Olivadotti in Washington a few years ago. He, along with the rest of the defensive staff, spent the past four months understanding Barry’s scheme and now they’re being asked to translate the language differences to the players.
As for the Special Teams, assistant Maurice Drayton was promoted by LaFleur to take over the unit. Drayton is a similar boat to Barry’s learning what players will be best suited to get what he wants done on the cover and return units. A big advantage for Drayton, he’s been with the Packers for the past four seasons and has a pretty good handle on what he’s got.
Drayton will two key position battles to settle this summer. Punter and long snapper. J.K. Scott is getting challenged Ryan Winslow and Hunter Bradley has snapping competition from Joe Fortunato who has been trying to make an NFL roster for the past four years.
Third round pick Amari Rodgers will get a strong look as the primary punt returner. Drayton on his biggest asset, “He catches the ball.” Expanding, Drayton said Rodgers tracks the ball very well, catches with nearly identical hand position every time and he has an explosive first few steps.
The Packers wrap up the first OTA practice week with a 90 minute workout on Thursday.
In other notes…
With the top five wide receivers staying away from the opening week of OTA’s the Packers have been caught short at the position for practice. With a roster spot open after cutting KeiVarae Russell on Tuesday, the Packers have signed wide receiver DeAndre Thompkins. He’s a first year player from Penn State. The 5-11, 188 receiver went undrafted in 2019 and signed with Philadelphia but was released on the final cut. Thompkins was with the Pittsburgh Steelers for a brief time last year. At Penn State, he finished with 1245 receiving yards but also returned two punts for touchdowns in his career.
Dean Lowry is the latest veteran to agree to a restructured contract. The former Northwestern defensive lineman got a nice extension a year ago and heading into his sixth season, base salary was converted to a signing bonus that will free up just under 2.5 million dollars in salary cap space for the team.
About that cap. The NFL announced the 2022 salary cap ceiling will be set at 208.2 million dollars. The 2020 pandemic and empty stadiums sagged this year’s cap to around 185 million. With the Packers moving money around for several players this off-season along with huge contracts for Aaron Rodgers, David Bakhtiari, Za’Darius Smith and Kenny Clark in particular, Green Bay will be nearly crippled to conduct any business. They are a projected 31.3 million above that 2022 cap figure already, even without a new deal for Davante Adams. They will be the league’s most severely Cap strapped team next year.
With only three pre-season games, the NFL will go back to multiple cut dates this summer. There will be three rounds of cuts to go from the training camp number of 90 rostered players to the final 53. Each cut will be made by the Tuesday after the pre-season weekend with the final cut on August 31.
Finally, while Aaron Rodgers is away, he’s still going to play. NBC Sports and PGA Champion Phil Mickelson have announced the pairings for this summer’s celebrity golf match. Mickelson and Tom Brady will go up against US Open Champ Bryson DuChambeau and yup, Rodgers. The match play event will take play on July 6 from Big Sky, Montana.
