Packers can utilize pass rushers to zig as the NFL zags on using extra defensive backs

New defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon's Cardinals used a multitude of defensive backs, but with the league shifting to these heavy DB looks, the Packers may use a different tact.

The best defenses in the NFL played small last year. Well, they played big while being small. The L.A. Rams and Seattle Seahawks effectively defended the run from nickel even as the league evolves (returns) to heavy offensive personnel. The Rams utilized dime defense as much as any team in the NFL last year, and while the offense carried them to the NFC Championship, the defense finished fourth in DVOA.

Jonathan Gannon’s Arizona Cardinals, though he didn’t coordinate the defense, played the most diverse defense in the league in 2025. They would play three and even four safeties at a time. The Buffalo Bills under Bobby Babich, now the Green Bay Packers defensive passing game coordinator, also played one of the highest rates of dime defense last season.

As the league wants to get more pass defenders on the field, the Packers brought in two coaches who love to play more defensive backs. Case closed, right?

Don’t be so sure, especially if the first few glimpses of the Green Bay defenses offer a barhinger of things to come. And it’s less about league-wide trends than about the Packers’ specific personnel. That’s because playing the extra defensive back would take Edgerrin Cooper or Zaire Franklin off the field, and for the Packers, that flatly doesn’t make a lick of sense.

Instead, the Packers have already shown a willingness to slide bigger edge players like Lukas Van Ness and rookie Dani Dennis-Sutton inside to create more advantageous pass rush options, while leaving their dynamic linebackers on the field.

They’re attempting to do the same thing teams who move to dime are, namely, find better ways to defend opposing passing attacks. But they’re moving to NASCAR packages rather than flooding the field with defensive backs. Dime puts smaller, quicker bodies on the field to defend the pass. It appears the Packers will do the same, only they’re doing it with defensive linemen.