It’s been no secret that over the past decade, the blueprint for the Green Bay Packers in the draft was to select young, high-motor, high-ceiling players, and to do it in the first round. Lukas Van Ness, Quay Walker, and Rashan Gary all fit that mold over the past few seasons, but Kenny Clark, 27, is the old man of that group. Not only is Clark the anchor of the defense in the interior of the defensive line, his ability will unlock the remainder of those young pieces and help determine how good the Green Bay defense can be in 2023.
The Packers enter the upcoming season with some questions about their most recent first-round specimens. Will Quay Walker put it together between the ears this year? Will Rashan Gary come back healthy from his ACL tear? What will the impact of Lukas Van Ness look like as a rookie? However, Clark is the player that Green Bay needn’t have any doubt about. After leading the league in nose tackle pass-rush grade in the 2019 season according to PFF, Clark’s individual production has slid, largely because of the outsized role he took on along an inexperienced and otherwise ineffective defensive line. Not that sacks are the only metric for determining the success of a defense, but Green Bay slid from 10th in the league with 41 sacks in 2020 all the way to 28th this past season with 34.
“It was up and down,” Clark said immediately following the 2022 season. “I wasn’t too happy about how I performed in the run game for the most part all year. Pass rush, I think I started off fast, ended up doing a pretty good job, but just from what I’m accustomed to, probably just too much inconsistency.”
While Dean Lowry was a nice player when asked to be a rotational pass rusher, the Green Bay defense relied on him a substantial amount in 2022. Devonte Wyatt showed strides in his rookie campaign, but especially as an older second-year player at age 25, he will be looked to continue to elevate that Georgia Bulldogs caliber of play into a bigger role in the NFL.
His college teammate and fellow first-rounder, Quay Walker, has all the ability in the world. But as exemplified by his ejection in the all-important Week 18 game against the Detroit Lions last season, he still needs to match up his physical gifts with his overall aptitude for the game. Add in the wild card that is Lukas Van Ness, who profiles to be a longer, stronger version of what Lowry should have been, and the defensive front has all the pieces they need to find success.
Of course, it’s not all about the pieces but more so about how they come together. In an ESPN survey released this past week of executives, coaches, scouts, and players, Clark was noted in the “honorable mention” group of the best defensive tackles in the league. The compliments were mostly to his “relentless motor” and ability to play both the run and the pass equally well, which is exactly what the Packers will be hoping for out of the eighth-year pro. One of the perk of drafting a player at age 20 is that they can be hypothetically entering their prime at age 27 with seven years of experience under their belt.
Clark is at his best when he’s occupying space, drawing double teams, and allowing the edge rushers to take advantage of his gravity. It’s no coincidence that Za’Darius Smith’s best two seasons, when he tallied 26 total sacks between 2019 and 2020, came when Clark was performing at a level on par with the best in the league.
In a perfect scenario for the 2023 Green Bay Packers defense, it isn’t Clark putting up gaudy numbers from the nose tackle position. It’s Clark continuing to do what’s he’s been so consistently reliable at, and allowing Preston Smith and Quay Walker to flirt with double-digit sack totals. It’s playing off of Devonte Wyatt, allowing him to show the flashes of his own pass-rush win rate. And it’s allowing Lukas Van Ness to come in as a bonus, cleaning up some counting stats and putting his name into the mix for Defensive Rookie of the Year.
The success of the 2023 Green Bay Packers defense starts with Kenny Clark. The trickle-down effect then moves to the likes of Wyatt, Walker, Gary, Smith, and Van Ness. But a strong pass-rush also helps provide a foundation of success for a young secondary, which is likely one of Green Bay’s greatest weaknesses. Defensive coordinator Joe Barry drew plenty of criticism this past season, but a bounce-back season from Kenny Clark can help lay the foundation for a considerable amount of success for the Packers defensive unit in 2023.
