With expectations heightening heading into 2024, one area where the Green Bay Packers defense must improve is in the secondary, specifically making plays on the ball.
Corey Ballentine — who played in 14 games — led the team in forced incompletions with seven, but that ranked 61st out of 132 eligible cornerbacks in the NFL, according to PFF. Jaire Alexander, Keisean Nixon, and Carrington Valentine all tied for 75th with six.
The safety position on the back end was one filled with inconsistency throughout the season, which included missed tackles and poor communication. In that same category, forced incompletions, no Packers safety ranked in the top half of their position group league-wide either.
Overall, the seven interceptions generated by the Packers’ defense were the second fewest in football.
Both cornerback and safety are going to be priorities for GM Brian Gutekunst heading into the 2024 offseason. Nixon and Ballentine are free agents, and no one really knows what to expect from Eric Stokes when he fully returns.
At safety, only Anthony Johnson, Benny Sapp, and Zayne Anderson are currently under contract for 2024.
To help bolster the Packers’ playmaking presence in the secondary, Gutekunst can search for cornerbacks or safeties who have shown a ball-hawking mentality on their college tape. But also a part of that equation is bringing in the right defensive coordinator.
The fact that the Packers’ cornerbacks and safeties all ranked in the bottom half of the NFL within their position groups at generating forced incompletions and turnovers isn’t solely on the players. If healthy, Alexander likely ranks pretty well overall.
However, a big factor in all of this is what the defensive backs are being asked to do by the coaches.
In Joe Barry’s scheme, the name of the game was limiting explosive pass plays, specifically not getting beat over the top. This resulted in a heavy dose of shell coverages where defenders are expected to keep everything in front of them and then rally to the football.
That style of defense, coupled with Barry’s passive approach, often didn’t have the cornerbacks or safeties in a position to make plays on the ball because of how much space there was between them and the pass-catchers.
There was also an overall lack of creativity by the Packers defense. Often, what you saw is what you get, and regardless of who the quarterback was, the game plan remained somewhat the same. Against Dallas, we saw the Packers mixing and disguising coverages at a much higher rate and they came away with two interceptions, along with Dak Prescott being uncomfortable for much of the first half.
So perhaps more so than the scheme – because coordinators can run the same system Barry did and not be so passive – Matt LaFleur needs to bring in the right person and mentality to be the defensive coordinator.
There needs to be a greater willingness to adjust on the fly and molding of the scheme to the players, rather than being so “rigid,” as LaFleur put it early on in the season.
Being more aggressive doesn’t mean pressing the receivers on every play and only lining up in man coverage, but this has been a Packers cornerback room that wants to challenge pass-catchers. The next defensive coordinator needs to give them the freedom to do so at times, and hopefully, an increase in plays on the ball – and therefore turnover opportunities- happen.
The pass rush can be a huge help for the secondary and their ability to generate turnovers. Pressure leads to the timing and rhythm of the play being disrupted. It also forces the quarterback off his spot and can lead to poor decisions.
From Week 17 through the NFC Divisional Round, the Packers created three interceptions and missed out on two others against San Francisco. Not coincidentally, that also happened to be when the consistency of the pressure generated by the pass rush really took off.
Most NFL offenses are just too good nowadays. Not being able to create turnovers, or at a minimum, have the opportunity to make plays on the ball is a tough way to live for a defense, and makes getting off the field all the more difficult.
