The Green Bay Packers have always done things a certain way under Brian Gutekunst, and for the most part, his approach has been successful. The Packers have made the playoffs five times in Gute’s seven seasons as GM including two trips to the NFC Championship Game.
When it comes to drafted edge rushers, however, Gutekunst has had a specific approach which has had mixed results. In the first round, Gutekunst has tended towards adding bigger, more athletic players who have outstanding tools but may not have enjoyed outstanding college productivity. These players usually need time to develop into quality NFL players.
The first example of this was Rashan Gary who Gutekunst selected with the 12th overall pick in 2019. The former Michigan star is 6’5” and weighs 277 pounds. He had an elite relative athletic score (RAS) which measures how a player does in comparison to NFL players at his position.
However, even in college, Gary did not put up outstanding sack totals. In fact, his job, at Michigan, was often to occupy multiple blockers in order to free up teammates to make sacks or tackles. In three seasons with the Wolverines, Gary had a total of 10.5 sacks.
It took Gary three years to make the adjustment to life in the NFL and become a starter with the Packers. He has become the team’s best pass rusher although he has still yet to reach double-digit sacks in a single season. Gary has developed into a quality NFL starter and even earned Pro Bowl honors for the first time in 2024.
In 2023, Gutekunst selected Lukas Van Ness with the 13th overall pick. The Iowa had similar measurables to Gary, standing 6’5” and weighing 272 pounds. He also had outstanding athleticism but lacked polished pass rushing techniques.
Van Ness never started a game at Iowa and had a total of 13.5 sacks in two seasons with the Hawkeyes.
Again, like Gary, the athletic tools were there, but the pass rushing strategy and techniques to maximize that talent were underdeveloped.
Thus far, Van Ness has struggled to make an impact in his two NFL seasons. He has got better against the run in 2024, but managed only three sacks in 17 games, one fewer than his rookie total.
Van Ness has also yet to start a game for the Packers. When Green Bay traded away veteran Preston Smith at the trade deadline, Van Ness was beaten out for the staring job opposite Gary by Kingsley Enagbare. He remains a work in progress as he enters his third NFL season, and the Packers are hoping he takes a leap forward in 2025. The jury is still out on Van Ness after his first two seasons in the league.
Perhaps the time has come for Gutekunst to mix things up a little bit when he drafts edge rushers who are now defensive ends in Jeff Hafley’s 4-3 base defense. Perhaps it’s time for Gutekunst to add a player who is a little more polished in his pass rushing technique and has been more productive in college.
For example, a player like Donovan Ezeiruaku out of Boston College recorded 16.5 sacks in 12 games last season. He possesses good but not elite athletic traits, but he knows how to use his hands effectively to shed blocks and to use various strategies to set up blockers at key times to put pressure on the quarterback.
Ezeiruaku is also smaller than both Gary and Van Ness at 6’2” and 248 pounds. He has a different body type than the players the Packers typically draft and already have.
This is not to suggest that Gutekunst abandon his preference for drafting elite athletes and trying to coach up their skills, but perhaps a mixture of skill sets, and body types would give Hafley and the defensive coaching staff more options when it came to rushing the passer and help diversify the Packers pass rush.
The Packers need to add defensive linemen who can rush the quarterback this year in the draft. Perhaps it is time to diversify the type of players they add to the mix to accomplish this goal.
