Green Bay’s defensive line is running on fumes right now, with their usual five interior defensive linemen on the 48-man gameday roster cut down to a shocking four for last week’s game. This isn’t just a minor tweak; it’s a huge problem, and it directly exposed their depth at a critical position.
Nickel Isn’t Always the Answer, Even for Green Bay
We’ve heard it a lot: “nickel is the new base.” And yeah, sure, defenses usually try to match up their personnel with what offenses put out there. If an offense rolls out 11 personnel, that’s three receivers, one back, and one tight end, and most defenses, including Green Bay’s, will counter with nickel or dime sets to get a slot defender on the field. The Packers have played 291 of their 292 snaps against 11 personnel in nickel or dime this year, a ridiculous 99.7 percent. But here’s the kicker: when offenses go heavy,multiple backs, multiple tight ends, even extra linemen,defenses still crank out “base” personnel, an extra body in the box. For the Packers, that means a 3-4 defense, which they’ve used 75.9 percent of the time against those heavier looks this season. So, no, nickel isn’t *always* the new base. It’s really only when the offense wants it to be.
Injuries Gutted the Interior, and Dallas Got Lucky
This is where it gets spicy. Green Bay’s defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon typically rolls with five interior defensive linemen on his gameday roster. But against the Dallas Cowboys last week, they could only carry four big bodies because Javon Hargrave and Jonathan Ford were both stuck on injured reserve. Rookie Chris McClellan was suddenly thrust into the starting 3-4 nose tackle spot for the first time, filling in for Ford. And get this: the only defensive lineman on the sideline for those limited 3-4 defensive looks was Anthony Campbell, who had a grand total of nine career NFL snaps coming into the game. Nine!
Honestly, the Packers caught a serious break against Dallas. The Cowboys are a team that lives in 11 personnel, playing 73 percent of their snaps in that look all season, the third-highest rate in the NFL. Against Green Bay, for whatever reason, they essentially stayed in 11 personnel full-time, averaging 1.0 running backs and 1.1 tight ends per play. Campbell still ended up playing 32 defensive snaps, which is wild considering the Cowboys mostly kept Green Bay in two-defensive tackle looks for most of the game. If Dallas had decided to lean into heavier sets, the lack of depth on that defensive line would have been absolutely brutal. To make matters worse, starter Edgerrin Cooper is also on injured reserve, leaving the Will linebacker spot in a rotation between Isaiah McDuffie and Ty’Ron Hopper.
This is a massive red flag for Green Bay. Defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon has to be hoping for quick returns from injured players, because this D-line simply cannot sustain it. Opposing offenses are already taking notes on how thin they are up front, and you can bet they will try to exploit that moving forward. Keep an eye on how quickly Green Bay can get their big boys back on the field, because it’s going to define a big chunk of their season.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Acme Packing Company.
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