The Green Bay Packers didn’t upgrade their pass rush in free agency. Therefore, it’s fair to expect them to aggressively target defensive tackles and edge defenders early in the draft.
Still, one player inside the building may be capable of sparking some life into the edge group.
Brooks was mainly a defensive end at Bowling Green. Over his last two college seasons, he played 1,115 snaps outside or over the tackle, compared to 101 on the interior. In 2022, Brooks was the highest-graded defensive lineman in the country, regardless of position. He posted a 90.3 run defense grade, a 92.0 pass rush grade, and 69 QB pressures – just one off the national lead.
Brooks has spent his first two seasons with the Packers primarily as a rotational piece on the interior. However, he has also seen time on the edge. According to PFF charting, Brooks played defensive end on 159 of his 459 snaps.
Last year, Jeff Hafley found a creative way to compensate for the lack of pressure from Green Bay’s edge rushers.
He started moving Brooks around the defensive line.
Over the first two months of the season, Brooks lined up outside or over the tackle on 80 snaps while logging 128 in the B-gap and seven in the A-gap. For instance, he shifted out to the edge in a third-and-8 against the Jacksonville Jaguars while Rashan Gary slid inside, giving the defense a more unconventional front.
Before the season, Brooks spoke with SI.com’s Joey Van Zummeren about why he feels well-suited for Jeff Hafley’s system.
I’m growing, reacting, and loving, especially this new defense, kind of gives me this opportunity to show my skill case and what I could do, playing inside and outside, going rushing. I just feel like this defense suits a lot of players on our team, just with athleticism first of all, you can play fast, and it’s easy to run. So, I love it.
Locked On Packers host Peter Bukowski noted that Green Bay has sometimes experimented with Colby Wooden as a base-down defensive end. Wooden played that role at Auburn. Given Brooks’ success as a true edge defender at Bowling Green, it might be worth increasing his snap count in a similar capacity.
On the other hand, Green Bay is just as thin on the interior as they are on the edge. Kenny Clark, who will turn 30 in October, is coming off a season with just one sack. With only 10 sacks in three seasons, Devonte Wyatt is also entering the final year of his rookie deal.
While Brooks can potentially impact the edge, the Packers can’t afford to weaken their depth further. They’ve already made significant investments in Rashan Gary and Lukas Van Ness to be their primary pass rushers and likely want both players to get as many snaps as possible moving forward.
Green Bay needs to take action to improve their defensive line. They’ve addressed three of their four major needs in free agency – cornerback, wide receiver, and offensive line – leaving the defensive line as the only exception. That could indicate they’ll prioritize the D-line early in the draft.
However, that shouldn’t stop them from being creative with the players already on the roster. In particular, Brooks could take on more snaps at edge, adding versatility to a defensive front that finished 2024 as a top-10 unit in sacks despite not having a dominant performer.
