We got some answers about who the Green Bay Packers want to be against a true championship-contending talent this week. What would the offense look like without Tucker Kraft? We got that answer. How would the run defense respond after the Carolina Panthers’ loss? We got that answer. Let’s dive into the Packers depth chart update.
As always, the numbers in the tables below tell you how many snaps the Packers’ players have played in certain positions or personnel packages this year. Cells in red mean
that a player missed the game due to injury. Cells in yellow mean that a player dropped out of the game with an injury. Cells in black mean that a player was a healthy scratch in the game.
These snaps do not count kneels, spikes, pre-snap penalties (false starts, for example) or whatever the heck that throw-away play that the Packers ran on their last offensive play was. These numbers do include plays with post-snap penalties, like accepted holdings, though.
Enjoy.
Offensive Personnel
Holy 11 personnel, Batman. Prior to this game, the Packers’ season-high 11 personnel (3 WRs, 1 TE, 1 RB) was 71 percent in Week 9 in their loss to the Carolina Panthers. Before that, it was in Week 3 (67 percent) against the Washington Commanders.
This week, the Packers played one tight end, one running back looks 86 percent of the time, well above their season-long average of 60 percent. On the final 26 plays of offense this week, Green Bay played 11 personnel on every single snap, despite receiver Romeo Doubs going out with a chest injury.
In this game, the Packers played their receivers and running backs in tight end spots 13 times, equalling their total of the last three games combined. For example, the opening play of the game featured both Christian Wtson and Dontayvion Wicks playing wing positions that usually go to tight ends.
Basically, Green Bay tried to line up in lighter personnel, hoping that the Eagles would match it, so they could run the ball against nickel defenses. The Packers gained just 3.5 yards per carry from their running backs, which would be tied for the worst season-long effort of an NFL team this season, but head coach Matt LaFleur called the run game “effective” in his post-game press conference.
Quarterback
(I don’t think Jordan Love played badly in this game, but I’ll probably save that for an article later this week.)
Running Back
I think Josh Jacobs’ calf injury is no longer lingering, based on his usage. He’s back to his pre-injury snap counts at this point, and Emanuel Wilson’s snaps have dropped from 26 to 17 to 11 over the last three weeks.
For whatever reason, though, LaFleur has got it in his head that Wilson is a third-down specialist, as that’s now when he’s getting on the field, instead of taking full drives from Jacobs. I’m not sure Wilson has done anything as a pass-catcher that Jacobs or even Chris Brooks haven’t done this year. Wilson is also, by far, the worst pass protector of the three backs. Meanwhile, Brooks is a legitimately game-changing pass protector.
Personally, I’d rather have Brooks get more reps, but I’ve felt that way since the Packers started phasing him out after the two decisive wins to start the year.
Receiver
Receivers! Injuries! Context!
Basically, if you’re looking at the pecking order at outside receiver right now, Romeo Doubs and Christian Watson are by far the team’s favorite options when split out. Then, it’s basically a tie between Dontayvion Wicks and Matthew Golden, when everyone is healthy. But everyone hasn’t been healthy this season, so that might not be clear by looking at the tables.
In the slot, it’s Jayden Reed as the team’s number one option, followed by Golden and Wicks. That’s really what matters…until injuries come up.
With Reed and Golden out, the Packers planned on using Bo Melton in the slot more this week — he co-led snaps there with Wicks. When Doubs dropped out with his chest injury, though, Melton ended up getting kicked outside, which opened up opportunities for Savion Williams to play the slot in this game.
Williams was Golden’s sub last week against the Panthers, which is interesting. What this might mean is that Melton is the next man up, but only if the Packers are prepared to make that next man up decision with a week of practice preparation. If there are injuries in-game, Williams is probably going to have to jump in to play slot looks.
I guess that’s just life when your backup receiver is also your CB3 on defense. For what it’s worth, 22 of Melton’s 25 snaps on offense this week came in the second half. Generally, I think half-time adjustments are very overrated, in terms of how frequently they actually happen, but that clearly occurred on Monday night.
Tight End
Without Tucker Kraft, Luke Musgrave took over as the Packers’ primary tight end, after trading off with John FitzPatrick as the TE2 behind Kraft earlier this year. As we already mentioned earlier in this article, Green Bay played a lot of 11 personnel looks where receivers and running backs ended up lining up in tight end spots.
Offensive tackle Darian Kinnard also played four snaps at tight end this week, the first time that the Packers have played a six-lineman look all year. Green Bay once had Anthony Belton play as an unbalanced tight end, but FitzPatrick played tackle on that play, so it was still a five-lineman look, just unbalanced to one side.
I don’t hate the six-lineman idea. It’s not like the Packers are consistently throwing the ball to any tight end who isn’t Kraft, now out for the season with an ACL tear, anyway.
Offensive Line
Most importantly, center Elgton Jenkins is on the injured reserve with a fractured leg. He was replaced by Sean Rhyan, who didn’t rotate in at right guard this week before Jenkins’ injury just prior to halftime. Moving forward, the Packers’ offensive line will be Rasheed Walker, Aaron Banks, Rhyan, Jordan Morgan and Zach Tom (left to right).
What happens if another interior offensive lineman gets hurt, though? We have no idea! It’s clear now that Anthony Belton is the backup left tackle and that Darian Kinnard is the backup right tackle. That was who was left available for the Packers on the bench by the end of the Eagles game, but neither has played guard or center this season — or in the preseason for Green Bay in Belton’s case.
Maybe it’s Kinnard, who previously played some guard for Philadelphia before his trade at the cutdown deadline. Maybe it’s Jacob Monk, who was a healthy scratch last week. We’re all going to find this out at the same time, though.
Defensive Personnel
Jeff Hafley earned every penny of his check this week. First of all, the Eagles played with really heavy personnel, forcing the Packers to play their 4-3 base 49 percent of the time. Their season high before this game was 38 percent, and their season average has been 29 percent.
Isaiah McDuffie survived as that third linebacker and wasn’t exposed through the air, which is really what you worry about in those situations.
Beyond that, the Packers debuted two new packages just for this game. The first was a prevent defense that featured seven defensive backs on the field at the same time. This was used at the end of the first half on the Hail Mary attempt. For what it’s worth, safety Kitan Oladapo was the second slot defender on the field for the play. Up until this point, we didn’t know who would sub in if both Javon Bullard and Nate Hobbs were both out. There’s your answer.
The second package was a 3-4 look with three defensive tackles on the field together. The Packers waited until the last drive of the game to show their hand on this one. They played it three snaps in a row, giving up just four yards on the ground when the Eagles were trying to ice the clock. This is what ended up forcing the weird fourth-and-long attempt by Philadelphia to give the Packers a short field on the last drive of the game.
Green Bay wasn’t able to get into their Cheetah packages often, just because of the down and distances they faced, but they were more than prepared for the Eagles’ run-heavy attack on Monday.
Defensive Tackle
The Packers carried five defensive tackles on the 48-man gameday roster going into the game for the first time this season. Like the previous two games that Warren Brinson and Nazir Stackhouse have been active for together, Brinson has out-snapped Stackhouse.
In total, Brinson has played 63 snaps of defense in those games compared to Stackhouse’s 24. For whatever reason, the Packers seem to believe that Stackhouse can only play a handful of snaps each game, even if he sees that action outside of short-yardage situations. For example, it was Devonte Wyatt, Colby Wooden and Brinson on the field in those 3-4 looks to ice the game, not Stackhouse.
It’s an odd situation, considering that Stackhouse gets nods over Brinson for gameday action regularly.
Defensive End
Kingsley Enagbare played almost as many snaps as Rashan Gary in this one. He also got one snap at defensive tackle in a Cheetah package and played 10 snaps of special teams (Gary played none).
Gary hasn’t been very impactful this year, and not making the most out of your snaps when you’re one of the few players on the entire roster who only contribute at one spot on the field…while being paid a lot…isn’t ideal.
Defensive tackle Colby Wooden also got a few snaps as a defensive end this week, even outside of Cheetah packages, which the team did in their win over the Arizona Cardinals, too. When the Packers usually play a defensive tackle at defensive end, it’s on drive starters or 1st and 10s.
Linebacker
Nothing has changed at linebacker. Quay Walker and Edgerrin Cooper are still the top two linebackers on the team, every-down players, while Isaiah McDuffie comes in for 4-3 looks.
Cornerback
No cornerback battle this week, since Nate Hobbs is out with an injury. The next man up right now is Bo Melton, who is also playing receiver right now on top of being a special teams ace.
Slot Defender
Kitan Oladapo is the next slot defender up behind Javon Bullard and the currently-injured Nate Hobbs. That’s as big of news as you’re going to get out of this position this week. Oladapo’s one snap came on a prevent defense look, where the team played double slots and three safeties.
Safety
Javon Bullard continues to receive a couple of drives where he plays as the 4-3 safety next to Xavier McKinney over Evan Williams. It’s not really a situational thing, as it’s usually done on a full drive-by-drive basis. Zayne Anderson’s one snap at safety came when he was asked to play a third safety role while both Bullard and Kitan Oladapo were in the slot.
This is your reminder that Anderson has been getting safety reps over Oladapo consistently over the last two seasons, including this preseason. If there’s ever an injury to McKinney or Williams, we’re likely to see Anderson get snaps at safety in nickel looks.
