Karl Brooks emerging as running mate for Kenny Clark and Packers' D-line

Rookie defensive lineman Karl Brooks has popped in recent weeks, and his impact on Kenny Clark and the interior has to excite the Packers.

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When the Green Bay Packers have built their best defenses, they have done so by filling the trenches with multiple stalwarts. Their Super Bowl-winning front featured B.J. Raji and Ryan Pickett along the interior with Howard Green providing key contributions down the stretch, a group that quite literally weighed in at a half ton and performed like a stone wall. Almost half a decade later, Mike Daniels had established himself as the team's hellraiser along the interior with Letroy Guion filling the void left by Raji and his torn biceps.

These defenses didn't always shine in the brightest moments -- the unit famously imploded down the stretch of the NFC Championship Game following the 2014 season -- but those interiors gave Green Bay a chance to win in the trenches of any game.

Undoubtedly, Green Bay defenses of more recent vintage haven't featured the same degree of talent. While Kenny Clark has delivered field-tilting play on the defensive line throughout his run in Green Bay, he has essentially never had a high-quality running mate, at least not for any meaningful duration. By the time Clark established himself as a full-time starter in 2017, Daniels had already begun to decline. Dean Lowry provided only sporadic flashes while experiments like Muhammad Wilkerson and Montravius Adams never got off the ground.

Now in his eighth season, Clark still has never had a capable sidekick for more than a short stretch. Though not a football tragedy on par with Aaron Rodgers or Brett Favre not hoisting the Lombardi Trophy a second time, it remains one of the most glaring problems the Packers have left unresolved for nearly a decade.

That might finally change this year with the emergence of Karl Brooks.