Packers Training Camp Preview: Linebackers

Quay Walker will be the man in the middle for the Green Bay Packers, who added two draft picks and a highly regarded position coach this offseason.

Quay Walker led the Green Bay Packers in tackles last year. / Tork Mason-USA TODAY Sports

GREEN BAY, Wis. – There’s a new scheme, a new position coach and a couple new faces at linebacker for the Green Bay Packers.

Here is a closer look with Packers training camp starting next week.

Packers Linebackers Depth Chart

Edgerrin Cooper: With the move to a 4-3 base defense and the release of De’Vondre Campbell, you knew the Packers would make a big move at linebacker. And they did by making Cooper the first linebacker selected in this year’s draft. Cooper was an All-American at Texas A&M after leading the SEC with 17 tackles for losses. With a nose for the ball and excellent athleticism, Cooper is the quintessential modern linebacker. He figures to start camp behind Eric Wilson on the depth chart, but it shouldn’t take long for Cooper to move to the front of the line.

Quay Walker: Walker was a first-round pick in 2022 and, like Cooper, the first linebacker off the board. Among the linebackers in that draft, Walker trails only fellow first-round pick Devin Lloyd in tackles (242 to 239) but has superior pass-rush and tackle-for-loss production. Walker took a big step last season in terms of maturity after getting ejected in two games as a rookie. Now, he’ll be tasked with being the middle linebacker and key communicator in the new defense. He’s got to improve on pass defense, too; PFF charged him with an 85.2 percent catch rate.

Isaiah McDuffie: A sixth-round pick in 2021, McDuffie started eight games last year due to injuries and recorded 86 tackles. His 6.26 snaps per tackle was far better than Walker (7.19) and Campbell (7.67), and his four games with 10-plus tackles included 11 in the big win at Detroit. PFF charged him with an 80.0 percent catch rate; that’s going to have to improve in order to hold off Cooper for a full-time role. A full-time role, in turn, will pay off in free agency next offseason.

Eric Wilson: With the Vikings in 2020, Wilson had 122 tackles, three interceptions, eight passes defensed and eight tackles for losses. It was a one-year wonder sort of season, though. The Packers grabbed him off the Saints’ practice squad early in 2022 and he wound up tying for the team lead with 13 tackles on special teams. In 2023, he didn’t start any games on defense but proved to be a valuable role player with 20 tackles on defense and a team-leading 11 stops on special teams. He’s back on a one-year deal.

Kristian Welch: The Packers signed the Wisconsin native to their practice squad after final cuts. He wound up playing in the final 12 games (plus both playoff games) as a key contributor on special teams. An undrafted free agent from Iowa in 2020, he spent his first three seasons with the Ravens, where he was a valuable player on their perennially powerful special teams. For his career, he’s played 1,101 snaps on special teams and 44 on defense. He’s back on a one-year deal.

Ty’Ron Hopper: With the release of Campbell and with McDuffie, Wilson and Welch playing on expiring contracts, the Packers doubled down with Cooper in the second round and Hopper in the third round. Hopper spent his first three seasons at Florida before transferring to Missouri, where he was coached by former Packers linebacker D.J. Smith. Not unlike Cooper, Hopper boasts excellent physical traits. “He’s a four-down player. He’s got a lot of versatility, and his size and speed is what the new linebackers look like,” Smith told Packers On SI.

Christian Young: Young went undrafted last year, spent training camp with the Seahawks and finished the season on Green Bay’s practice squad. Young spent most of his collegiate career at Arizona playing safety. That includes starting all 12 games as a fifth-year senior in 2022, when he set career highs with 76 tackles and 6.5 tackles for losses. In four seasons with extensive action, he had nine tackles for losses and 11 passes defensed.

Ralen Goforth: Goforth spent four years at USC, highlighted by 61-tackle season in 2021, before transferring to Washington for his final season. He played off the bench for the College Football Playoff runner-up but was a valuable backup. He had 37 tackles and a career-high four TFLs in 2023, highlighted by two tackles and a fumble recovery in the playoff win vs. Texas.

Biggest Strength: Linebackers Coach Anthony Campanile

The Dolphins hired former Packers defensive coordinator Joe Barry to be their linebackers coach, and the Packers happily swooped in to hire Campanile to be their linebackers coach.

The fiery Campanile has a strong track record for what has been a perennial weakness for Green Bay. The 2023 season was his fourth in Miami. The Dolphins finished sixth with 3.81 yards allowed per carry last year and were 10th with 4.21 yards allowed per carry during his tenure. Contrast that to the Packers, who were 23rd last year with 4.42 yards allowed per carry and 31st over the past four years with 4.66 yards allowed per carry.

The Packers will count on him to maximize the talents of Walker while getting Cooper up to speed ASAP.

“My coaching style I would say, I don’t know, maybe some people think it’s passionate – or whatever you want to say about it,” he said before the start of OTAs. “But I just want to be as detailed as I can be and really, at the end of the day, you want to make sure that you’re getting guys to where they want to go. Sometimes they’ve got to do the things they don’t want to do to be the player they want to be.”

Biggest Question: Can Quay Walker Be the Man in the Middle?

When the Packers made the move to the 4-3, one of the immediate questions was who would be the middle linebacker. Throughout the offseason, that was Walker.

“Quay’s a talented player,” defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley said. “As we build this thing, we’re going to make sure he’s in position to make a lot of plays.”

Walker has been at his best when in see-ball, get-ball mode. Now, he’ll be tasked with relaying the defensive call and getting the unit organized – which he’d done at times the last couple years, anyway.

“I think just to keep doing what he’s been doing right now in this offseason” is the key, Campanile said. “I can’t speak to anything before I got here. But this guy is very dialed in. I’m very excited for him, and I think he’s trying to do things the right way. He’s a really, really talented guy, and beyond that he’s a great person. He really is like a great guy to be around – got the right attitude, is driven and wants to be great.”

Biggest Battle: Edgerrin Cooper vs. Isaiah McDuffie

In the base 4-3, the Packers figure to line up with Walker in the middle, with Cooper on one side and McDuffie on the other. But the reality of today’s NFL is the nickel package is the true base defense, and the league almost universally runs a 4-2-5.

So, who will be the two linebackers? Walker is a lock for one spot. It will be McDuffie vs. Cooper for the other spot.

McDuffie has the obvious edge as far as experience. Playing linebacker is challenging given the proliferation of misdirection-based offenses. Is that a handoff or play-action fake? Is that a jet sweep or eye candy? Will the RPO be a run or pass? McDuffie can lean on the 513 defensive snaps he played last season.

Cooper, however, has the physical toolbox to change the defense.

“It’s the speed and the athleticism and the ability to play in space,” Hafley said. “If you look right now, just look at the first round. Look at how many guys were drafted to catch the ball and run or to play in space and score fast. We need guys that can run and shrink the field, and there’s certain ways to do that. You get guys who have really good length and can play the game this way, and then you have guys that can fly.

“We’re fortunate to have a couple guys that have length and can run. This is a game that there’s so much speed on the offensive side of the ball that, whether we’re playing vision-break zone or man coverage, you have to be able to run right now.”

Biggest Key: Quay Walker

Even while missing three games, Walker led the team with 118 tackles. He added 20 more in the playoffs. In 16 total games, he had five of 10-plus tackles. He’s made plays in the backfield, both vs. the run and pass. He’s been an effective tackler (ninth-best missed-tackle percentage among linebackers, according to PFF).

Now, he’s got to take the next step. It’s a necessity, really, in order for the defense – and the Packers – to maximize their potential.

In two seasons, the other linebacker taken in the first round in 2022, Devin Lloyd, has 242 tackles, three interceptions and 15 passes defensed. Walker has 239 tackles, one interception and 10 passes defensed.

Last year, he gave up too many completions and made too few plays (one interception and two dropped interceptions accounting for his three passes defensed) vs. the pass and didn’t make enough impact tackles vs. the run (31st out of 57 off-the-ball linebackers with 250 run-defending snaps in run stops, according to PFF).

The potential is there. With the help of Campanile, this has to be the year Walker emerges as a top player at the position. 

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