Rookie Defensive Linemen Will Be ‘Thrown Into Fire’ by Necessity

Being thrown into the fire means there will be burns and pains. The Packers' revamped defensive line will need to emerge from the ashes in a hurry.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Talking about 2022 first-round pick Devonte Wyatt on Thursday, Green Bay Packers defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery said, “It takes time. Not everybody walks in Day 1 and figures it out. Almost no one does.”

That’s perhaps true. The problem is, the Packers are going to need at least one of their young defensive linemen to figure it out Day 1.

Following the free-agent departures of Dean Lowry and Jarran Reed, Green Bay has only three defensive linemen who’ve played in a game. One is veteran stalwart Kenny Clark, a superb anchor to a young group. The others are Wyatt, who averaged 14.0 snaps in his 16 appearances, and T.J. Slaton, who averaged 19.7 snaps and started two games as a second-year player.

That’s it. Jonathan Ford, a seventh-round pick last year, was inactive for every game. Chris Slayton, a seventh-round pick in 2019, hasn’t played in a game in his NFL career.

During the 2023 NFL Draft, the Packers replaced two veterans by adding two rookies: Auburn’s Colby Wooden in the fourth round and Bowling Green’s Karl Brooks in the sixth round. One or both might have to play important roles in Week 1.

Ready or not.

“Yeah, they’re going to be thrown into the fire,” Montgomery said on Thursday, four days before the start of organized team activities. “There’s going to be a lot of mistakes early and, hopefully, a lot of that happens in preseason and the practices that happen.

“You’re going to have to put them in there and let them learn, and we’ll have to live with those mistakes, where you have a veteran guys like Dean and J-Reed, you limit those opportunities for those guys to make those mistakes and hurt the defense because you have guys who know what they’re doing.”

Colby Wooden (USA Today Sports Images)

Reed and Lowry were seventh-year players. They weren’t spectacular but they were solid, steady and reliable. Reed played in all 17 games with 14 starts and averaged 41.5 snaps. Lowry played in 15 games – his 101-game streak ending with a late-season injury – with 12 starts and averaged 32.1 snaps.

Could there be more upside and big plays with the rookies? Certainly. Reed (2.5 sacks, five tackles for losses) and Lowry (half-sack, one tackle for loss) combined for three sacks and six tackles for losses. That’s not season-changing stuff, especially at their salaries.

But there’s something to be said about sucking up blocks, being in the right gap and playing your responsibility. That’s what Wyatt and Slaton, in particular, need to show. It’s going to be impossible for Green Bay’s horrendous run defense to improve if Wyatt’s getting blown out of the hole or Slaton botches his responsibility.

“Whoever those guys are that are in those roles need to step up,” Montgomery said. “You lose two starters, you’ve got to replace them. Those guys that left were really good players. I had high expectations for T.J. last year and I don’t think he played those consistently, but he showed flashes. My expectations for him is to be the best version of himself every single day. That’s what we’ve got to get out of him.

“Devonte, Year 1 to Year 2, I expect a massive jump for him. He knows the defense much better. It allowed him to play free and fast instead of worrying about where you go and those things. As you get older in this league, especially being in the same system, the better you know it, the faster you can play.”

With Wyatt and Slaton poised to fill the roles of Lowry and Reed, somebody’s got to take the snaps played by Wyatt and Slaton last year. Even in their minor roles, they averaged almost 32 snaps per game.

The pressure is on Montgomery to get Wooden and Brooks prepared to play in Week 1. It won’t be easy. To illustrate Montgomery’s point about it taking time: Only one defensive tackle selected during the final four rounds of the 2022 draft started a game last year. Only four Day 3 rookie defensive tackles started more than one game the past three drafts.

“You’re going to have to throw them in the fire. My job is to get them ready,” he said. “That’s what I’ve got to do. Come season opener, they’ll be ready to go, one way or another.”

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