Joe Barry's new defense has Kenny Clark, Packers front poised for a breakout

Joe Barry is a man after Mike Pettine’s heart. That may not be comforting for Packers fans whose stomachs collectively lurch thinking about the Packers playing Lilliputian fronts with every defensive back they can find on the field as teams like the San Francisco 49ers and Minnesota Vikings beat them simply by turning and handing the ball off. No one played more light boxes last season than the L.A. Rams with Joe Barry and defensive coordinator Brandon Staley. Second? Vic Fangio in Denver. But the way the Packers will do it this season not only gives them a chance to be much improved against the run, but unleash the full power of players like Kenny Clark, Za’Darius, and Preston Smith, along with the emerging Rashan Gary.

Clark’s trainer Eddy McGilvra worked this offseason on Clark’s technique, knowing he’d be getting more pass-rush opportunities against guards instead of only lining up as a nose tackle this season thanks to changes in the scheme. They worked on tackle-end stunts, bull rushes, and power pass rush moves. I suggested most tackles aren’t used to seeing guys with Clark’s strength and movement skills in those games.

“It’s the guards I’m scared for,” McGilvra tells The Leap. “He’s too fucking fast.”

Last season, Clark spent much of the year battling injury, but once he got healthy toward the end of the year, we once again saw what a force he can be. This defensive front caters to his strengths as a lineman big enough to control blockers at the line of scrimmage, but powerful and polished enough to stack those blocks and find the ball carriers.

This defense needs defenders like Clark to steal gaps, to play what they call “head in gap” or “peak” technique. Here’s a clip from McGilvra of Clark repping it this offseason that illustrates how they’ll approach run defense.

“Kenny peaks one side and gets to over-gap while staying square,” McGilvra explains. “That allows him to play both gaps without wasting motion.”

Watch Clark peak to his right, ‘see’ the running back, and shed the blocker to the left. If the back sees Clark’s head and eyes in the gap, it’s occupied, but if Clark can shed the block, he’s a threat to make the play on either side. He’s not trying to shoot the gap or take on half a man as he might in other defenses, but rather staying square so he can cover both sides. By essentially playing both gaps, the Packers can play smaller behind the front assuming Clark can handle that assignment.

Under Pettine and traditional 3-4 fronts, players like Clark at nose tackle usually found themselves buttressed by lanky a 5-technique defensive end and penetrating 3-technique tackle. Think Dean Lowry and Mike Daniels. This defense played more what is called 4i with Green Bay playing more Tite fronts, filling the B gaps.

(Image via SB Nation)

This calls for some bigger bodies, which is why Akiem Hicks thrived in this scheme for Chicago, and why T.J. Slaton and Jack Heflin’s early success shouldn’t come as a surprise for the Packers with their ability to control and shed blockers. Kingsley Keke’s versatility as someone who played tackle and edge in college also gives the Packers a movable piece.

But it starts with Clark who sets up the foundation. If he’s going to gamble, and he’s free to do that in this defense if he sees an opportunity, the players around him have to be smart enough to know where the defense is vulnerable and fill those gaps.

“The Rams killed in the system because (Aaron Donald) couldn’t be wrong,” McGilvra explains. “He would shoot gaps and then the other two guys just made him right. So if Kenny is shooting gaps, the other two better have their shit together.”

The linebackers play a pivotal role here as well, one reason why the Packers will play two traditional linebackers more often. De’Vondre Campbell and Krys Barnes will be asked to make their defensive linemen right by shedding blocks if offensive linemen can get to the second level and the safeties will have to be more than just last-line-of-defense defenders, especially against the run.

“The guys that are coming down from the secondary have to make the guys in front of them right,” former 49ers safety Donte Whitner told me on Locked on Packers.

“So if you have a stunt on or a guy goes into the wrong gap, you have to come down for a gap and use your eyes to be able to make somebody else right because you’re coming down from depth.”

The same is true on the edge, where McGilvra says he expects the Smith Bros and Gary to feast. When Gary met with the media earlier this summer, he was asked what he liked most about Barry’s system and that was precisely his answer:

“Freedom. You know, I can’t say too much, but just freedom; just letting us be us.”

But that freedom comes with caveats. Players have to know what one player’s freedom means for the guy next to them. So long as everyone knows what they’re trying to accomplish, where the defense is vulnerable, and how they want to attack, they can attack.

“We can’t go wrong if we’re all playing the same play or the same technique together,” Gary said. “If we play everything as one, we’re going to kick anybody (sic) butt.”

That’s the beauty of the technique. If Gary flies off the edge and gets ridden out of the play, the running back might have a chance to hit the C gap. But if the defensive end is playing properly, he can stay square to his man and cover a gap over if he needs to, or at least create enough hesitation his buddies behind him can come up to make a play.

“Those OLBs get a lot of freedom. They rush hard and the 3 techs help them be right,” McGilvra says.

That’s another place where we can expect to see significant changes this year. No one played more light boxes last year than the Rams and Vic Fangio’s Broncos came in second, yet they were terrific run defending teams because their safeties flew downhill in run support and their front controlled blockers at the line of scrimmage.

Instead of playing dime all the time like Pettine loved to do, Barry promises to play more traditional nickel with two bona fide linebackers rather than a safety masquerading as a linebacker. When they do that, expect them to kick Clark to one of the B-gap spots, play with four guys up front (2 DL and 2 OLBs) plus the linebackers behind.

Remember, the Rams led the league in defense last year playing guys like Micah Keyser, Kenny Young, and Troy Reeder at linebacker. It’s not a scheme that requires linebackers to be virtuosos, just the clean-up crew (a role Blake Martinez once lamented about his spot in Pettine defense).

We’ve already seen Oren Burks and Krys Barnes make plays knifing into the backfield this preseason on run blitzes to create additional layers of havoc. But they’re going to be asked to get off blocks in the run game when teams decide to pound the run against smaller fronts especially against heavier personnel

“Once you go double tight and (the defense) goes nickel, there’s an extra gap for both of them,” Whitner says. “So we expect (the linebackers) to beat the blocks of the offensive guard or the offensive center that is reaching up to them and be able to redirect and make the tackle to cancel another gap.”

And all of this comes before the creative things the Packers will do on the back end with coverage disguise, spinning their safeties at the snap to go from two-high to single high or vice versa to add confusion to the quarterback, giving the pass rush time to get home.

Given the shape of this defense, where they’re strong (safety and EDGE) and where they’re weak (off-ball LB), this defense can maximize the talent on the field. Whitner insists the tag line for this defense is to make everything look the same pre-snap with that Cover-2 shell. It’s essentially the defensive version of LaFleur’s “illusion of complexity” ideal. And while the backend engages with the disguise, the front gets to eat and guys like Kenny Clark have plenty big appetites.