Green Bay Packers: Five positions to target in free agency
By Kenn Korb
Inside Linebacker
Current Players On Roster
- Jake Ryan (49.4 Overall; 64.1 Run Defense, 40.7 Coverage, 39.5 Pass Rush)
- Joe Thomas (61.5 Overall; 46.0 Run Defense, 71.8 Coverage, 55.3 Pass Rush)
- Sam Barrington (47.3 Overall; 45.0 Run Defense, 50.2 Coverage, 60.0 Pass Rush)
Upcoming Free Agents (GB)
- None
If there is any one spot that NEEDS fortification, the inside linebacker spot here has to be it.
For years now, the spot has been an abhorrent weakness, and it has cost the team in many games in that time.
Green Bay has tried every other conceivable avenue so far to fix things. They let go of aging/ineffective players such as A.J. Hawk and Brad Jones. They spent draft picks on players like Ryan and Barrington.
They’ve attempted moving players from other positions, including Matthews and Carl Bradford.
Nothing has really worked.
Matthews did alright in his time at ILB, but his best attributes (i.e. his pass-rushing abilities) were put on the backburner, nullifying his effectiveness. Barrington and Ryan have done okay at times in their time beside Matthews, but noticeably get picked on too often; should Matthews actually return to full-time duty as a pass-rusher, the combination of Ryan and Barrington doesn’t inspire much hope for the kind of desired (and needed) improvement at that spot based on what we’ve seen.
As of now, there is a strong group of inside linebackers set for free agency.
Pick any one of them, and you have someone likely much better suited to handle the duties of the position with much more effectiveness than we have seen there in years.
Even if a draft pick is eventually added to the spot this year, having someone there with better odds of being a true positive contributor in the middle of the defense would seem to be the more sound course of action.
We’ll just have to wait and see if Thompson will come out of his shell and take the chance.