One day after looking at the offense and special teams, today focuses on every defensive position, as well as the job that the Packers' coaching staff did during the 2014 season.
Defensive line: C
Mike Daniels continued his ascension to NFL stardom. He went from playing 48.6 percent of snaps in 2013 up to 63.9 percent of defensive snaps this season. Unlike a year earlier, when more than two-thirds of Daniels' snaps were on passing downs, he was close to a 50-50 split of run and pass in 2014. Daniels had 5.5 sacks, 26 quarterback hurries and three tackles for loss, but his missed tackles rose from two last season up to eight this season. He was the eighth-highest rated defensive end in a 3-4 system based on ProFootballFocus' grading system.
The season-ending biceps injury to B.J. Raji in the preseason could have really derailed the Packers at the line of scrimmage, but Letroy Guion emerged after a slow start to fill in quite well. Guion came to Green Bay eager to prove himself on a one-year contract and delivered better-than-expected results. Defensive coordinator Dom Capers likely summed up best what Guion meant to the Packers' defense by saying, "Thank goodness we had Letroy." Green Bay now has to decide whether to re-sign Guion or Raji, both of whom are unrestricted free agents.
Datone Jones didn't take the big Year 2 jump that Mike McCarthy always looks for. As a former first-round pick now two years into his career, Jones played a total of only 385 snaps, with two-thirds of those being passing situations. His athleticism is best displayed when rushing quarterbacks, but it remains to be seen if Jones ever develops into an every-down player like Daniels did. Jones had 1.5 sacks, two tackles for loss and one interception. His ratio of tackles to missed tackles (22:6) needs to improve.
Josh Boyd remained the same player in Year 2 that he was as a rookie: serviceable, but replaceable. Two undrafted rookies, Mike Pennel and Luther Robinson, were both part of the active roster. Pennel played just 36 snaps in the final two months of the season after an up-and-down beginning to his NFL career, while Robinson's season ended after a total of 66 snaps with a calf injury. Bruce Gaston was signed in December but never played. Rookie third-round pick Khyri Thornton is on the verge of being a bust. He did nothing to earn a spot on the 53-man roster and spent the year on injured reserve.
Linebackers: B-minus
The addition of Julius Peppers at outside linebacker worked out better than the Packers could have ever hoped. Not only did Peppers still have plenty left in the tank physically, but the leadership he added was a huge benefit to the entire defense. It was assumed that younger players would look up to Peppers, but it was surprising to see how much of a vocal leader he became. The defense proved how much Peppers' leadership meant by voting him a playoff captain. It's very possible that Green Bay never would have even advanced to play Seattle in the NFC championship game if not for Peppers' forced fumble on DeMarco Murray that otherwise would have likely been a long touchdown run. Peppers had several game-changing plays like that throughout the year, including two interceptions returned for touchdowns. He led the team in forced fumbles with four and was second in sacks with 7.0.
Clay Matthews did not have a strong start to the season, but he showed every bit of why he's so valuable in the second half of the year. By being able to seamlessly shift to a position previously unknown to him at inside linebacker, Matthews covered up the biggest hole in the Packers' defense. Without Matthews successfully making that move, Green Bay would have likely continued its defensive struggles, especially against the run. It helped get the Packers' best 11 players on the field more often, because they were certainly better off with an outside linebacker like Mike Neal or Nick Perry on the field rather than an inside linebacker like A.J. Hawk or Brad Jones. Matthews led the team with 11 sacks and seven tackles for loss, while only being charged with four missed tackles.
Neal stayed healthy and proved to be Green Bay's preference over Perry, getting nearly twice as many snaps as the 2012 first-round pick. Neal had 4.5 sacks and four tackles for loss, while Perry had 3.0 sacks and one tackle for loss. They each had two missed tackles.
Sam Barrington was a big, unexpected help for the Packers at inside linebacker in the second half of the season. Barrington's role increased dramatically from Week 13 on, and, along with Matthews, helped make inside linebacker less of a weakness on the field. He had one sack, three tackles for loss and three missed tackles. All of the work Barrington got should greatly help the 2013 seventh-round pick as he gets ready for his third season.
Hawk and Jones both likely played themselves out of jobs on Green Bay's roster for next season. Hawk denied that he was injured, but his speed had dropped considerably and he couldn't keep up anymore. Jones went from being an every-down player in Week 1 to being out of the lineup entirely for seven games, including the NFC championship game.
Undrafted rookie and preseason superstar Jayrone Elliott only played 54 snaps, but his performance on special teams and overall talent should keep him around for many years. Andy Mulumba and Nate Palmer didn't make it out of preseason, both landing on injured reserve. Fourth-round pick Carl Bradford, like Thornton, needs to have a great training camp in 2015 to make it to his second year with the Packers.
Cornerbacks: B
Green Bay doesn't have a player that many in the NFL would classify as a lockdown cornerback. But the starting duo of Sam Shields and Tramon Williams provided a steady, mostly consistent season once again. Williams started every game, while Shields missed two games due to injury directly before the Week 9 bye.
The four-year, $39 million contract Shields signed last offseason might have some think he should be the No. 1 cornerback, but he and Williams rarely matched on any wide receiver. Williams had three interceptions and 13 passes defensed, with Shields at two interceptions and nine passes defensed. Shields was picked as an alternate for the Pro Bowl.
The Packers almost had too much depth at cornerback in order to give enough snaps to every deserving player. Casey Hayward continued to be a ball hawk with three interceptions and seven passes defensed despite having only 32 targets sent his way. Yet, Hayward played only 435 snaps. Davon House came in and shut down Julio Jones when no one else could. But injuries for House stalled his momentum, as did having to compete every week with Shields, Williams and House. After two memorable plays against Jones at the end of the 259-yard receiving performance, House didn't play a single defensive snap the rest of the year, even after he recovered from a scapula injury.
Micah Hyde began the year as a safety but soon was back to the role he assumed as a rookie by playing in the slot. Hyde will never be NFL fast, but his instincts and knack for so often doing the right thing make him a player that the Packers always want on the field in some type of role. That Hyde can now play multiple spots helps his value to the defense tremendously.
Sixth-round pick rookie Demetri Goodson didn't play any snaps on defense, but he was a solid special-teams contributor. Veteran Jarrett Bush played only 42 defensive snaps.
Safeties: B-minus
Last year, Green Bay's safeties were assigned the lowest grade possible, an "F." The addition of Ha Ha Clinton-Dix in the first round, plus Hyde's ability to play the position early in the season and ease that transition for the rookie, changed everything for the Packers defense. Rather than a debilitating weakness, the safeties did an above average job overall.
The biggest difference was in the play of Morgan Burnett, who benefitted from being able to do what he does best by playing closer to the line of scrimmage. There's no question now how much Burnett's performance in 2013 was hindered by having players like M.D. Jennings and Jerron McMillian next to him. Burnett became an important leader in the secondary, and was somewhat surprisingly voted a playoff captain over more outspoken players like Matthews and Daniels.
Green Bay should be set with its duo of Burnett and Clinton-Dix for many years to come. Clinton-Dix needs to cut way down on the missed tackles (he had a team-high 15), but he just turned 22 years old and has the ability downfield in coverage to be a great player. Burnett can now settle into a role that suits him and doesn't have to worry that the other safety will mess up the play like what so often happened with Jennings and McMillian. Sean Richardson was valuable as a bigger body at safety in run-stopping packages.
After no interceptions or forced fumbles in 2013, the Packers' safeties had a total of four interceptions and one forced fumble. Clinton-Dix added two more of his own in the NFC championship game in Seattle.
Coaching
Mike McCarthy: B
The season ended about as badly as it could have for McCarthy, whose conservative approach throughout the NFC championship game played a role in Green Bay's collapse. That will likely be how many remember McCarthy's season as head coach in 2014. But there were several bright spots before that.
McCarthy's decision during the bye week to move Matthews to inside linebacker worked out incredibly well, he helped orchestrate an offense that led the league in scoring and he found ways in the second half of the season of making sure Eddie Lacy stayed very involved.
This grade would have certainly jumped considerably had the Packers not completely fallen apart in the final five minutes of regulation in Seattle.
Offensive coaching: B-minus
James Campen helped build the best offensive that Green Bay has seen in Aaron Rodgers' time at quarterback. Getting Corey Linsley ready as the starter with no training camp work next to Rodgers made a significant difference in the offense's ability to operate. Sam Gash worked with Lacy constantly on developing into a receiving threat out of the backfield, and it paid off. Alex Van Pelt transitioned from running backs to quarterbacks seamlessly. Van Pelt's work shouldn't be overlooked in the season that Rodgers had. Edgar Bennett couldn't get Jarrett Boykin ready for the No. 3 receiver role, and Davante Adams was too inconsistent to be dependable in that spot. But some credit goes to Bennett for having one of the league's top wide receiver duos with Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb. The tight end position wasn't good enough, but a lot of that came down to personnel. Richard Rodgers was pressed into a bigger role than the rookie might have been ready for, and nothing that Jerry Fontenot did was enough to get Brandon Bostick ready to play.
Defensive coaching: B-minus
Capers got just about everything he could have out of the personnel he had to work with. If the Packers had better options at inside linebacker, the drastic decision of moving Matthews never would've had to be made. Joe Whitt believed that he had four cornerbacks who were all very equal in skill. That made divvying up playing time difficult, as Hayward and House are better players than the snaps they were given. Whitt should move up in the coaching ranks in the NFL before long. Darren Perry helped get Clinton-Dix ready to play quickly and got Burnett back on track after a poor 2013. Winston Moss took over all of the linebacker coaching responsibilities, which likely made it easier on Matthews when playing two spots in the second half of the season.
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