While this is typically the quiet part of the offseason, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Miami Dolphins thought otherwise. However, with little recent Green Bay Packers news, I’m taking a look at the key back-end-of-the-roster battles for the few spots up for grabs in some of Green Bay’s more competitive rooms, starting with the corner back room last week.
This week: Bring on the edge rushers.
One ripple effect of the Jalen Ramsey trade is that Adam Schefter reported shortly after that T.J. Watt was unhappy with his contract situation, which many of us were aware of, considering that he skipped minicamp last week. However, the Steelers have been unwilling to move him. Still, Schefter reported that outside team interest is likely to increase.
That could be an intriguing addition at the right price. Watt, who is turning 31 in October, has dealt with numerous injuries and had a down season by his standards last year. Still, Watt would add juice to a room that would otherwise lack it, especially if one of the current occupants weren’t to take a major step.
As for the guys currently in the edge room, the players Ourlads lists on Green Bay’s depth chart are:
- Rashan Gary
- Lukas Van Ness
- Kingsley Enagbare
- Barryn Sorrell
- Brenton Cox Jr.
- Collin Oliver
- Arron Mosby
- Deslin Alexandre
That doesn’t look like an elite group on paper. However, there’s a plethora of players in the room who have occasionally flashed real potential. Oliver and Sorrell are rookies who are archetypes that Green Bay doesn’t typically covet in the draft. Still, many fans have clamored for players like them.
Last season’s initial 53-man roster after cutdowns included Gary, Van Ness, Enagbare, Cox Jr., and Mosby. The Packers cut Alexandre in the final round, then signed him to the practice squad.
Unlike the cornerback room, there’s a lot of familiarity among the group outside of the rookies. Still, beyond Gary and Van Ness, I don’t think anyone is locked into a role or even a roster spot.
Gary will have his role as the No. 1 edge, and they will need a much more consistent year out of him than they got last season. On the other hand, Van Ness will have a lot of opportunities in front of him after a disappointing, injury-plagued second season. He’s coming in fully healthy with a clean slate and the ability to be a major contributor on defense.
The Rookies
Oliver and Sorrell are most likely locked into a roster spot because they are rookies. Gutekunst rarely cuts his draft picks, and it’s even more unlikely he cuts a fourth- and fifth-round pick. Unless Oliver and Sorrell wildly underperform in training camp or something unforeseen happens, I’d expect both to be on the Week 1 roster, barring injury.
Both players are archetypes that Gutey hasn’t targeted in the past: smaller pass-rush specialists.
Sorrell is a fourth-round pick out of Texas. He measured in at 6’3”, 256 lbs. at the combine. He posted a 9.31 RAS score, so despite the size, he’s a Packers-type athlete. Sorrell had nine sacks in his senior season, according to PFF. Because of his size, he’ll be an outside edge rusher, mainly used to rush the passer. Still, he played over 200 snaps both over the tackle and in the B gap because he can defend the run, so he provides a bit of versatility to the room if the run defense translates to the NFL at his size.
Collin Oliver is much further on the pass-rush specialist spectrum. He posted an 8.92 RAS score at defensive end despite scoring poorly in the measurables category at just 6’1.5”, 240 lbs. He’s an extremely explosive and fast edge rusher with natural instincts for finding the QB.
Oliver is in the mold of a Dontayvion Wicks-type draft pick in that he had much more productive years earlier in his career. He had 11.5 sacks as a freshman and two more seasons of five-plus sacks after that. However, he only played two games this past season. Still, he posted 15 pressures on just 46 pass rush snaps in that pair of opportunities, good for a 32.6 pressure percentage.
Because of his size and athleticism, Oliver should have a special teams role immediately. Still, I would also love to see the Packers give him five to 10 defensive snaps a game on obvious passing downs right away.
Kingsley Enagbare
At this point, it feels like Enagbare is who he is as a player. He’ll be a nice third or fourth edge who we all probably will be annoyed by when he’s playing over the rookies. Still, he’ll be solid throughout the season.
I find it very unlikely that the Packers will cut Enagbare. Still, if one of the rookies emerges in training camp and Cox or Mosby continues the ascension that we saw at the end of last season, he could become expendable via trade.
The Fringe of the roster
As for Brenton Cox and Arron Mosby, it’s likely Green Bay will only keep six edge players. Therefore, if they keep all of the guys previously mentioned, that leaves one spot between these two.
Cox and Mosby made Green Bay’s initial 53-man roster last season. However, Cox wasn’t active for the first nine games of the season. Mosby was, because he was a special teams ace who played 241 ST snaps.
Mosby finally got opportunities to play real defensive snaps, and Cox started getting activated after they traded Preston Smith. Cox, especially, took that opportunity and ran with it. In seven games, he had four sacks and posted a 72.2 PFF grade and a 72 pass-rush grade, both well above average.
That’s not extremely surprising, given he was a high-level recruit going into college. Still, he went undrafted because of off-the-field issues. Cox’s sample size was small, but I don’t think it was an outlier. If he can continue his rise, he should be a roster lock.
That would leave Mosby on the outside looking in. After adding Kristian Welch, Isaiah Simmons, and Collin Oliver, special teams roles are going to be harder to come by. After adding Oliver and Sorrell, the edge room became even more crowded. I think it’s likely Mosby ends up on the practice squad unless they keep seven edge players or trade one of them.
Finally, that leaves us with Deslin Alexandre, whom the Packers released at cutdowns and signed to the practice squad but never called up. He’s now 27 and hasn’t played a snap in the NFL, so I don’t see a real chance that he makes the roster. I could see Green Bay re-signing Alexander to the practice squad due to his familiarity with the team. I could also see them looking to replace him with someone younger to develop.