Packers: CB Rasul Douglas has been opportunistic on defense

The Green Bay Packers are now sitting pretty at the top of the NFC thanks to their huge upset victory over the then-undefeated Arizona Cardinals on the road on a short week while severely undermanned, having lost eight of their top players (11 overall), to injury heading into it.

The game came down to the final seconds, leading to the final play: A game-sealing interception made by cornerback Rasul Douglas, who previously had spent time on Arizona’s practice squad prior to Green Bay signing him in early October.

What makes Douglas such an intriguing player is that he has been very opportunistic with his on-field play while with the Packers. In just three games with the team officially (at Chicago, vs. Washington and at Arizona), he’s tallied 18 tackles, three pass deflections, one forced fumble, and one interception. On a defense missing their two top corners in Jaire Alexander and Kevin King, the playmaking abilities of Douglas shouldn’t and haven’t gone unnoticed.

Douglas adds an element of swagger and intelligence to the backend of the defense for Green Bay with the way he plays and the on-field intangibles he possesses.

General manager Brian Gutekunst struck gold by nabbing him off of the Cardinals’ practice squad, especially at the price point they did sign him for (one-year, $990,000 with a base salary of $770,000). Furthermore, Douglas has solidified himself as a very solid defensive player with his vast production in such a short amount of time.

Right now, Green Bay’s defense ranks in the top-10 league-wide in total turnovers (14, fourth), points per game (20.9, ninth), and sacks (20, T-fifth). If anything, the opportunistic nature of this defense has helped Douglas become a multifaceted player for the Packers and thus far through the last three games, it’s paid huge dividends for him.

Green Bay will travel to Kansas City on Sunday afternoon to take on the .500 Chiefs, of whom are coming off of a gritty three-point home win against the New York Giants on Monday Night Football.

If the defense continues to stay hot and capitalizes on turnovers (Patrick Mahomes leads the league in total turnovers with 12, which is more than 24 TEAMS have), and the offense relies on the two-headed monster run game of Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon, I see no reason why the Packers, even down their reigning MVP quarterback, couldn’t come out with a win.