Coming into the 2023 offseason, one of the major concerns for the Green Bay Packers was their pass rushers group. After Rashan Gary went down with an injury last season, the team’s production getting after the quarterback cratered.
Gary, one of the emerging young pass rushers in the game, was injured in the team’s Week 9 contest against the Detroit Lions. Despite missing essentially half the season, he finished second on the team with 6.0 sacks.
Veteran Preston Smith led the way with 8.0, as the next most was Kenny Clark with 4.0. Knowing they needed some reinforcements, the Packers used their first-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft on Iowa edge rusher, Lukas Van Ness.
Alas, what was once considered a weakness now looks to be a strength for Green Bay. Their pass rush came to life this offseason, throughout training camp and the preseason games. JJ Enagbare is taking a second-year leap after being selected in the fifth round in 2022 and Justin Hollins remains a nice rotational piece.
Undrafted free agent Brenton Cox Jr. made such a strong impression he made the 53-man roster, leading to six edge rushers making the team. Three more reside on the practice squad in Arron Mosby, Keshawn Banks and Kenneth Odumegwu. It is a group that Packers head coach Matt LaFleur recently praised.
“That’s a very loaded room right now,” said LaFleur on Wednesday, “which is a great problem to have. We’ve all been in situations where we didn’t have many guys who could rush the passer, and now we’ve got I feel pretty confident a room full of guys that can do that.”
This is a group that dominated at times during training camp. Against the New England Patriots, the Packers racked up 13 would-be sacks in one joint practice. While this group is getting a lot of attention, rookie defensive lineman Karl Brooks has also shown a propensity for getting after the quarterback.
There is a lot of talent on this defense, but it hasn’t always come together in years past. If the pass rush can carry this momentum over into the regular season, the Packers will have one of the best defenses in the NFL.
