When you think of “nose tackle,” you probably have an image of a big, burly man that, even by the standards of football players, is an intimidating force on the field. Think of Vince Wilfork, B.J. Raji, or even Linval Joseph as prime examples of what a nose tackle should look like. While they are clearly great athletes, you wouldn’t use the term “athletic” to describe a 300+ pound lineman barreling towards the end zone on interceptions and fumble recoveries.
Packers rookie 5th-round pick TJ Shelton is looking to change that narrative with his freakish athleticism despite his size at 6’4″ and 330 pounds. Slaton posted a video of him dunking the ball to his Instagram story.
While Slaton did talk about his dunking ability in his introductory press conference, he also boasted during his time in Gainesville with the University of Florida that he was able to dunk at a heavier weight.
While Slaton is currently labeled as the heaviest player on the Packers roster by the teams’ official website, he clearly adds some incredible bounce to his impressive size.
With the Packers’ current issues at the defensive line and their inability to get any pressure alongside Kenny Clark, the question that people might have is if Slaton could be the missing piece to help provide the team with an interior pass rusher. Since signing his extension in 2019, Dean Lowry has been somewhat of an under performer, and the team has relied too much on Za’darius Smith to provide pressure on the quarterback.
Despite his tremendous athleticism, Slaton figures to be much more of a run-stuffer in the NFL as he eats up blocks from opposing offensive linemen and makes life harder for the likes of Dalvin Cook and David Montgomery.
GM, Brian Gutekunst, said as much after the draft saying “If teams want to run it on us, I think specifically as we get later in the season, we have an ability to go in there and get big. And that was why we selected him.”
While Slaton only recorded 3.5 sacks in his time at Florida, the question that will be on Packer fans minds coming into the start of mandatory camp on July 28th will be if the Packers are somehow able to use his dynamic athletic ability as a pass rusher and wreak havoc from the interior.
