One of the biggest changes you’re going to notice about new defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon’s scheme is his Penny package, which is essentially a 3-4 defense on the line of scrimmage with one true off-ball linebacker, split safeties and another deeper safety in the middle of the field. Green Bay Packers fans are familiar with the 3-4 base defense, which was run by Dom Capers, Mike Pettine and Joe Barry in the past, along with the typical 4-2-4 Nickel defense that is played for the majority
of snaps league-wide.
This Penny wrinkle, though, is a little different than what you’re used to seeing from most NFL teams. That’s why we wrote about what it means for the secondary in an article two weeks ago.
Today, though, I want to focus on the line of scrimmage, particularly with how Gannon is deploying “off-ball” linebacker Edgerrin Cooper.
Edgerrin Cooper’s role in Penny
Generally, when 3-4 defenses play Penny, they take their Will linebacker off the field to add a slot defender. The Packers, as a baseline, don’t play a slot defender, but a third safety.
The other change-up Green Bay has is that they aren’t taking their Will linebacker (Cooper) off the field, at least with the first-team defense. Because Cooper is one of the team’s better defenders, Gannon has actually played Cooper on the edge, displacing the edge defender opposite Lukas Van Ness (generally Barryn Sorrell) this preseason.
So instead of taking off the Will to add a slot defender, the Packers’ first-team defense has taken off an edge defender to play a third safety and then slid Cooper to an on-the-ball position. I keep reiterating that this is only true of the first-team defense, because with the second- and third-team units, Green Bay has played true edge rushers in Cooper’s role and actually has taken the Will off the field. This seems to be a game plan that the team has to keep one of its best players on the field, while also still keeping three defensive tackles jammed up on the line of scrimmage to stop the run.
As you can see in the clip above, Cooper has been playing on the edge to the opposing offense’s passing strength (the side with the most receivers). Van Ness has been playing opposite the passing strength.
So far, we haven’t seen a clip of Cooper actually rushing the passer from this look, as on passing plays only three defensive tackles and Van Ness have been sent at the quarterback, but that will probably change once the regular season begins. As a reminder, teams play Penny to prevent shot plays down the field (with the three safeties) and to stop the run (with the five line of scrimmage players) when teams are playing three-receiver sets, as opposed to stopping the short passing game or middle-of-the-field passing concepts.
Having Cooper as the designated “dropper” out of an odd front look should help protect the Packers from one of the hiccups that they ran into when they’ve run a 3-4 defense in the past, which was that teams would simply spread them out and get Preston Smith into the slot.
At a minimum, Cooper should be able to help out in coverage a bit more than Smith, but the big question is whether or not Cooper will be able to set an edge against NFL tight ends and offensive tackles in the run game. So far, we’ve only seen him play that look against the run just once. The other question with the Penny package, overall, is whether Van Ness and three defensive tackles have enough juice in the pass-rushing department to actually generate pressure on opposing quarterbacks.
The Micah Parsons question
We’ve seen Van Ness kick inside in some looks under Gannon, but they’ve all been in the team’s Nickel sets, not their 3-4 defense or in Penny. One question I have down the line is what this Penny formation ends up looking like when Micah Parsons returns to the lineup, whenever he gets off the PUP list.
Does Van Ness just go to the bench, and the team keeps Cooper on the field? Does Cooper go to the bench, and the team keeps Van Ness on the field? Do all three stay on the field, with Cooper and Parsons on the edge and Van Ness kicked inside in place of a defensive tackle? It’s hard to make heads or tails of the situation right now, since Parsons wasn’t a factor in the Packers’ preseason, but I can say as a fact that Van Ness never kicked inside the offensive tackle this summer outside of Nickel personnel looks — which don’t include either the 3-4 defense or the Penny defense.
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Keep an eye out for the Packers’ Penny look throughout the regular season. You’re almost certainly going to get this look against the Minnesota Vikings in the regular-season opener. Green Bay ran it enough, be it on Family Night or in the preseason (with multiple units), that I’d be shocked if it’s a tool they don’t use regularly.
Whenever Parsons does come back, though, it will evolve in some way. What it will evolve into is sort of an open question right now.
