The offseason DL thread

[Norm]

32 minutes ago, Cakeshoppe said:

I swear there were like 2 or 3 years where I was surprised every time I saw Dmitri Goodson’s name. I didn’t even hate him, In my mind he had just been released long ago. 

You aren't wrong. I think we all did that. He'd go on ir or something and it seemed like he was gone

[MrBobGray]

Hearing Adams worked on his body comp is huge. He definitely needed some work in that area, he was dragging a real big trunk for a guy who's game is probably best based on his quick twitch game. Adams with 2-4% less body fat alone is probably a significantly better player. 

[boratt]

4 hours ago, MrBobGray said:

Hearing Adams worked on his body comp is huge. He definitely needed some work in that area, he was dragging a real big trunk for a guy who's game is probably best based on his quick twitch game. Adams with 2-4% less body fat alone is probably a significantly better player. 

Adams - finally sounds like he’s working like a pro. Maybe he gets it

Lowry - said to be in the best shape of his career and is letting it loose instead of thinking now

Lancaster - said he’s gotten quicker and more explosive but kept his size and strength too

 

If Daniels has one more big year and Clark is Clark, plus the edge depth.... we have a chance of being a team that can just out-muscle and wear offenses down.

[skibrett15]

"guy works on body during offseason" is such a meme at this point that it's not worth putting any stock into.

 

loved adams coming out of the draft.  LIked lowry too, but he really has gotten his chances and hasn't impressed me.  All of these guys will succeed and fail based on how well they can play within the team defense.  I don't see any of them as independently talented individual contributors.  If they succeed, 90% of credit goes to pettine for putting them in the right position to do what they can.

[boratt]

It sounds like Lancaster, Adams and Lowry have all made physical and experience gains going into 2019. All look to be situational role players who do a few things well and give our top guys some rest. Looking at our defensive front. 

 

Clark

Daniels

Zadadius

Preston

Gary

Lowry

Fackrell

Lancaster 

M Adams

 

Being individually complete isn’t where the charm lies in many of these guys. Lancaster is more of a run player. Fackrell really only plays well in certain pass rush matchups. Gary is young, but with fresh legs and a wound up motor, he can come in and throw some guys around. Lowrys charm is that he’s decent enough to give our big guys a rest and Adams might have some untapped pass rush that will shine brightest as a fresh situational guy. 

Pettine is going to mix and match, resting our big three while at the same time taking advantage of each player’s strengths. 

With so much depth and so many different kinds of pieces, I look for the Packers to be able to work different matchups from game to game and stay fresh into the 4th quarter. The rotation and depth will make our big 3 fresher and stronger and it will also highlight each role players strengths. I look for a monster year up front, honestly. 

Edited July 4, 2019 by boratt

[Hands]

I think Adams and Lowry will make huge impacts for the defense this year. Adams didn't really have a rookie year...Lowry has improved every year. Between the two, they could make life miserable for olines that have been concentrating on Clark and Daniels.

[Shanedorf]

https://www.packers.com/news/dean-lowry-holding-nothing-back-heading-into-2019

Article on Dean Lowry's progress going into in year 4

Thrust into a much larger role than anticipated on the Packers’ defensive line due to injuries to Muhammad Wilkerson, Mike Daniels and Kenny Clark, Lowry put together the best sustained stretch of solid play over his first three NFL campaigns.

During the final eight games of 2018, Lowry recorded 35 of his career-best 57 tackles on the year, all three of his sacks, all four of his deflected passes, plus a forced fumble and fumble recovery.

... towards the end of the year, I just wanted to go out there and play, and just play fast, and not really have anything holding me back,” Lowry said
“I was coming off the ball better, getting great knock-back, and getting off blocks.” 

Lowry already has learned how to be effective lining up almost anywhere across the defensive front, from the nose, to the three-technique outside the guard, to the five-technique on the tackle. That in itself was a change from his college days, when he lined up almost exclusively as a defensive end.

Now he wants to add a greater variety of pass-rush moves to his repertoire, so he can more consistently get after quarterbacks. That’s what he wants to “hone in on” with position coach Jerry Montgomery most this season.

 

[Shanedorf]

Mike Daniels with some film study vs the run game

 

[AlexGreen#20]

11 hours ago, Shanedorf said:

Mike Daniels with some film study vs the run game

 

The full hour version of this on NFL Game Pass is incredible. The entire series is awesome. The one on Zone Coverages especially is great.

[MrBobGray]

4 hours ago, AlexGreen#20 said:

The full hour version of this on NFL Game Pass is incredible. The entire series is awesome. The one on Zone Coverages especially is great.

Well thank you for saying that, I somehow missed there was extended versions of these with game pass. Know what I'm doing today. 

[boratt]

Montravius had a good finish to the season and followed it up with his first professional level off season. It sounds like he’s built on that success and should be a contributor.

Lancaster also had a good finish to the season. He said he kept his strength while increasing his quickness and twitch. He should be a contributor.

lowry is what he is, but he’s a solid contributor. 

Daniels is coming off the foot, but he just turned 30. He has one more big year in him. I’m a huge Daniels fan! He’s a beast in there!

Clark is entering the first year of his prime. I could see 10 sacks if he’s healthy. 

Clark, Daniels and the mixed bag of rotational players combined with the edge depth, again, I’m very very excited for our front 5 this year. I have a feeling Gary is going to be an absolute force!! I can’t wait!

Edited July 20, 2019 by boratt

[Shanedorf]

[Shanedorf]

On 7/3/2019 at 8:32 AM, MrBobGray said:

Hearing Adams worked on his body comp is huge. He definitely needed some work in that area, he was dragging a real big trunk for a guy who's game is probably best based on his quick twitch game. Adams with 2-4% less body fat alone is probably a significantly better player. 

Pettine commented about this in his presser today. Adams is not only in better physical shape, but he dropped weight

[boratt]

I was looking through rookie pics of montravius from his first OTAs and comparing them to this years. Now he has more developed shoulders/arms/chest/legs and he has a slimmer waist. He’s finally figured out how to be a pro. He’s gonna have to prove he really wants it tho, otherwise I worry about giving him a 2nd contract. 

[Shanedorf]

not really just a DL thing, but I'll drop it in here anyways

Football Outsiders just put out their defensive rankings vs Play Action

Packers came in at # 23 in terms of how often they faced it and # 32 in terms of how well they stopped it

https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stat-analysis/2019/play-action-defense-2018

Here's the caveat at the end of the article:

We don't have answers yet. We just have the data. It's something we'll be keeping an eye on going forward as we try to unravel a very peculiar statistical oddity. Until then, just remember that making predictions for future performance based on 2018's data is iffy at best.