In our continuing series on the Packers All-Quarter Century Team, we’re picking one more player to help out in the box on defense.
Earlier this week, you helped us define the Green Bay Packers’ top two players from the last 25 years at each of the defensive tackle, edge, and linebacker positions. Accounting for schematic changes on defense makes this exercise a bit challenging, so today we’re adding one more flex player on the front seven to complete our lineup.
In other words, it’s time to pick from
the remaining top choices at those spots to fill out our defensive front. Here’s a quick reminder about who has already been selected:
DT: Kenny Clark, B.J. Raji
EDGE: Clay Matthews, Aaron Kampman
LB: Nick Barnett, A.J. Hawk
Let’s get to the remaining nominees, pulled from the top vote-getters at each of those three positions in the original polls.
Front Seven Flex Nominees
Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila (EDGE, 2000-08)
1x Pro Bowl
Regular season stats: 124 games played, 74 starts; 302 total tackles (225 solo, 77 assisted), 74 TFLs, 74.5 sacks, 11 pass defenses, 17 forced fumbles, 7 fumble recoveries, 1 interception (returned for a touchdown)
Postseason stats: 8 games played, 4 starts; 23 total tackles (15 solo, 8 assisted), 7 TFLs, 2.5 sacks, 1 forced fumble
Few players in the entire NFL over the last 25 years can match the ability and production that KGB had as a pure speed rusher. The 5th-round pick out of San Diego State was a menace to tackles and quarterbacks off the edge with his incredibly quick get-off, bend, and closing ability. He recorded four straight double-digit sack seasons starting in 2001, when he was just a rotational player in his second year. He also posted multiple forced fumbles every year from 2001 to 2007 and missed only two games in that span.
Of course, Gbaja-Biamila gave up quite a bit in run defense. He was lean, measuring in at a shade under 6-foot-4 and weighing in the mid-240s for most of his career, quite undersized for a 4-3 end. Had the Packers played a 3-4 defense during his career, perhaps he could have had an even more impressive set of statistics. Instead, when his speed and elite athleticism (9.41 RAS at DE, despite his small size) started to wane, he was relegated to a situational pass-rusher role.
All told, KGB was a full-time player for the middle five years of his career, flanked by two years each of situational work on the front and back ends. But those years were still productive in the limited role, and even with places like Pro Football Reference going back to credit players for sacks prior to that statistic becoming official in 1982, he still ranks fourth on the Packers’ all-time franchise leaderboard.
Julius Peppers (EDGE, 2014-2016)
1x Pro Bowl
Regular season stats: 48 games played, 43 starts; 103 total tackles (69 solo, 34 assisted), 21 TFLs, 25.0 sacks, 14 pass defenses, 8 forced fumbles, 4 fumble recoveries, 2 interceptions (both returned for touchdowns)
Postseason stats: 7 games played/started; 21 total tackles (11 solo, 10 assisted), 5 TFLs, 4.5 sacks, 2 pass defenses, 2 forced fumbles
Few could have predicted after Peppers’ Hall of Fame-worthy career with the Panthers and Bears that he would sign with the Packers as a 34-year-old free agent in 2014. In fact, his arrival in Green Bay was perhaps the best-kept secret in recent Packers free agency history, with nobody knowing about it until the team posted on social media that he was at Lambeau Field signing his contract.
Peppers had never played in a 3-4 system before signing in Green Bay, and there were plenty of questions about whether he would fit at outside linebacker, but he answered them quickly. His first season saw him serve as a do-it-all player, posting 7 sacks, 11 pass breakups, 4 forced fumbles, and two pick-sixes. He earned a Pro Bowl in 2015 with 10.5 sacks, then followed it up with another 7.5 in 2016 before finishing his career back in Carolina for two more seasons.
A member of the Hall of Fame class of 2004, Peppers provided the 2014 Packers with a much-needed defensive spark that nearly took them back to the Super Bowl.
Za’Darius Smith (EDGE, 2019-21)
2x Pro Bowl, 1x second-team All-Pro
Regular season stats: 33 games played, 32 starts; 108 total tackles (77 solo, 31 assisted), 29 TFLs, 26.0 sacks, 2 pass defenses, 5 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries
Postseason stats: 5 games played, 4 starts; 13 total tackles (9 solo, 4 assisted), 3 TFLs, 4.0 sacks
Another big free agent addition, Za’Darius Smith came over from Baltimore and ripped off two exceptional seasons in 2019 and 2020. The big edge rusher posted 26 sacks in 32 games over those two years, menacing quarterbacks from outside on base downs before shifting to an interior position in passing situations.
Smith’s tenure may be best remembered for the chaos of 2021, however, when injuries and his frustration with not being named a team captain led him to play just one game. The Packers released him the following offseason with one year left on his contract, and he signed with the Vikings seemingly to try to spite Green Bay. He finished 2024 with another NFC North team, the Lions, but currently remains a free agent.
Mike Daniels (DT, 2012-18)
1x Pro Bowl
Regular season stats: 102 games played, 72 starts; 225 total tackles (154 solo, 71 assisted), 47 TFLs, 29.0 sacks, 5 pass defenses, 2 forced fumbles, 3 fumble recoveries (1 returned for a TD), 1 interception
Postseason stats: 10 games played, 8 starts; 27 total tackles (17 solo, 10 assisted), 2 TFLs, 2.5 sacks
The Packers had a remarkable run of success with 4th-round draft picks under Ted Thompson, and Daniels was perhaps the best of those who played on the defensive side of the football. An undersized pass-rushing tackle out of Iowa, the 6-foot Daniels made a splash as a rookie with a long fumble return for a touchdown, then broke out with 6.5 sacks in a rotational role as a second-year pro in 2013.
With Raji on the shelf and Pickett departed in 2014, Daniels took over a starting job and posted another 5.5 sacks while bringing a hard-nosed, tough-guy attitude to the Packers’ defensive front. Daniels posted at least four sacks in five straight seasons with the Packers and earned a Pro Bowl appearance in 2017.
He dealt with some injuries in 2018 that limited him to ten games, but that would be the end of his Packers tenure. After reportedly trying to trade him during the 2019 offseason, Green Bay ended up releasing him just before the start of training camp. He quickly signed with the Detroit Lions, but in three more seasons with Detroit and CIncinnati, he recorded just one sack in 22 games.
Cullen Jenkins (DT, 2004-10)
Regular season stats: 93 games played, 66 starts; 194 total tackles (130 solo, 64 assisted), 40 TFLs, 29.0 sacks, 16 pass defenses, 5 forced fumbles, 4 fumble recoveries, 1 interception
Postseason stats: 8 games played, 3 starts; 15 total tackles (11 solo, 4 assisted), 5 TFLs, 2.0 sacks, 1 pass defensed
The lesser-known Jenkins brother (Kris was a 2nd-round pick in 2001 and a two-time All-Pro), Cullen signed as an undrafted free agent in 2003. He did not make the team out of training camp, but re-signed after that season and was on the roster to start the 2004 campaign. That season, he played every game, starting six contests and recording 4.5 sacks.
Jenkins bounced in and out of the starting lineup for a few seasons while moving back and forth from tackle to end, but he remained an important piece of the defensive line rotation. In 2007, he started 15 games at defensive end in base defenses with Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila relegated to a designated pass-rusher role, but often he would shift in to tackle in passing situations. An injury cost him all but four games of the Packers’ 2008 season, but he returned in 2009 to a new position in Dom Capers’ 3-4 defense.
As a 3-4 end, Jenkins was a rare force as a pass-rusher. He started every game in 2009, recording 4.5 sacks, then set a career-high with 7 sacks in 2010 despite playing only 11 games. He missed the final four games of the regular season with a calf injury, but returned in time for the postseason and a long Super Bowl run. Jenkins did not start any of the four playoff games that year but he still made a major impact, recording a half-sack (in the NFC Championship Game against Chicago) and three total TFLs in that playoff run. He signed with the Philadelphia Eagles as a free agent in the 2011 offseason and bounced around the NFC East for another six seasons before retiring after the 2016 season.
Ryan Pickett (DT, 2006-13)
Regular season stats: 119 games played, 113 starts; 319 total tackles (198 solo, 121 assisted), 18 TFLs, 3.5 sacks, 18 pass defenses, 2 fumble recoveries
Postseason stats: 11 games played, 10 starts; 33 total tackles (28 solo, 5 assisted), 2 TFLs
One of the Packers’ two big free agent acquisitions during the 2006 offseason, Pickett came in to replace Grady Jackson at nose tackle and bolster the interior of the defensive line. He was a solid player for five seasons with the St. Louis Rams prior to signing a 4-year, $14 million deal with the Packers early on in free agency, and he continued that type of play for the Packers, first as a 4-3 tackle, then as a 3-4 nose tackle and later as a 3-4 end.
Pickett was never a big-play type of tackle for the Packers, as his sack and TFL numbers show, instead serving as an excellent anchor against the run who could occupy multiple gaps. However, he helped provide a critical momentum-changing play in Super Bowl XLV when he combined with Clay Matthews to force a fumble out of Reshard Mendenhall on the first play of the fourth quarter. He responded to Matthews’ alert “Spill it, Pickett!” call before the play, penetrating into the backfield and getting a hand on the running back just as Matthews came in from the edge and helping to deliver a huge turnover at a critical juncture in the game.
Pickett played three more seasons in Green Bay after that, then signed with the Texans for one season in 2014 before retiring.
Desmond Bishop (LB, 2007-12)
294 tackles (16 for loss), nine sacks, one interception
69 games played (26 starts)
Dubbed Mr. August early in his career for his outstanding preseason play, Bishop finally ascended to the starting lineup in 2010. He immediately paid back the Packers’ faith, recording a season-high 13 tackles and a sack in his first start and returning his only career interception 32 yards for a touchdown two weeks later — spoiling Brett Favre’s second trip to Lambeau Field in a Vikings uniform in the process. That same season, Bishop would recover a fumble forced by Clay Matthews on the famous “spill it!” play in Super Bowl XLV. Bishop would return to the starting lineup in 2011, recording a team-leading 115 tackles, but a bad hamstring injury prior to the 2012 season scuttled that season and ended his Packers career.
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