The Green Bay Packers "final" 53-man roster solidifies big changes to the defensive front seven

The offseason can tell us a lot about where a team wants to go, but so can the shape of the final roster. Jeff Hafley looks poised to fundamentally change the way this defense looks.

This started early in camp. Reports of Jeff Hafley asking defensive ends standing up more like traditional 3-4 outside linebackers signaled the tweak. The subtle difference blossomed into something larger as training camp and the preseason moved forward. The Green Bay Packers defense started showing more true three-man fronts with their defensive line, like an odd front team would. Why would Hafley do this?

The reasons are likely myriad, but the simplest explanation is Green Bay wants to be even more disguised in who they’re bringing and from where. Lukas Van Ness dropped into coverage on one of the first plays of the game against the Indianapolis Colts for crying out loud. In the preseason!

Hafley clearly understands the limitations of this defense as a 4-3 group, where, at least when it comes to the down linemen, offenses generally know who rushing: the four guys with their hands in the dirt. Standing edge rushers up makes it easier to drop them with the vast increase in simulated and creeper pressures the Packers used last year.

In other words, the change isn’t just practical; it’s tactical.

On the very first play of the preseason game, the Packers opened in base 4-3 personnel, but Rashan Gary and Van Ness are each standing up on the outside.

When it comes to personnel, though, that requires more big bodies than a traditional even front team. If only two defensive tackles are on the field at once, even in base formations, then any more than five might be overkill. Needing more than one guy able to play the nose like Kenny Clark, could be considered a luxury.