Reading the New Defense: Green Bay Packers

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Footballguy Sigmund Bloom often opines that there is no longer an information advantage in fantasy football. Increased media coverage of the NFL scouting combine, breaking news on social media, and advanced analytics are all equalizers in fantasy football competition.

Coverage of skill-position players is a daily exercise. NFL defenses, however, do not enjoy the same limelight. Offense is to the big city what defense is to the small town. News of defenders travels more slowly and is less sensationalized. Complex data for analysis are harder to come by. IDP fantasy gamers find themselves unaware of important changes to player values hiding in plain sight.

Fantasy gamers drafted Texan Jalen Pitre as the second defensive back nearly by consensus last summer. Scoring 8 fantasy points per game, a 5.5-PPG drop from 2022, Pitre was a liability in IDP gamers’ line-ups throughout 2023.

Meanwhile, T.J. Edwards proved a value, finishing as an LB1 in the tackle-rich middle of Chicago’s zone coverages. Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores plugged Harrison Phillips into the interior defender role in 2023 that propelled Christian Wilkins to 84 combined tackles in 2021.

Clues foreshadowing these revelations exist. This series offers analysis of new defensive coordinators’ past schemes together with roster changes and player contracts. The goal is to read a new defense and inform fantasy expectations for 2024.

The Importance of Scheme and Deployment

2024 is the second season of the series. The first Reading the New Defense of 2023 provides additional background on the importance of changing defensive schemes, including the significance of true-position IDP. The series assumes true-position line-ups – two interior defenders, two edge rushers, two off-ball linebackers, two safeties, two cornerbacks, and a flex – mirroring nickel personnel, the NFL’s most common defensive grouping.

Pro Football Focus’s Jon Macri reports data analysis indicating a correlation between linebackers’ tackle rates and zone coverages. Linebackers who made tackles at a high rate per snap played on teams that more frequently played zone in 2023 and in each of the two preceding seasons.

#FFIDP - Most efficient coverage schemes for LB tackling in 2023:

Cover-2: 16.1%
Cover-6: 15.6%
Cover-3: 14.7%
Cover-4: 14.6%

AVERAGE LB TKL RATE: 13.4%

Cover-1: 10.2%
Cover-0: 9.0%
2-Man: 7.9%

Reminder: Zone-heavy defenses are a cheat code for IDP while man-heavy ones hurt… https://t.co/8DELTJojhx

— Jon Macri (@PFF_Macri) May 9, 2024

Macri also reports rates of tackles per snap by alignment for safeties. Known as the last line of defense, safeties are likelier to make tackles when they line up in “the box,” i.e., alongside a linebacker.

#FFIDP - Safety tackle efficiency by defensive alignment (2021-2023), per @PFF:

BOX: 11.1% ?
WIDE: 10.4% ?‍??
SLOT: 9.6% ?

-- Average: 9.1% --

DEEP: 8.5% ?
DL: 7.9% ?

— Jon Macri (@PFF_Macri) June 4, 2024

Changing Schemes

In Summer 2023, Vic Fangio was the talk of defensive pro football. The long-time coach who began his career with expansion teams of the 1990s returned to the league as Miami’s defensive coordinator. Coaches implementing versions of his scheme proliferated the league.

This summer, the Seattle Seahawks’ new head coach, Mike Macdonald, has succeeded Fangio as the media-proclaimed defensive genius of the NFL. His former assistants now lead defenses in Baltimore, where Macdonald coordinated for just two years, as well as Miami, Tennessee, and Los Angeles (Chargers).

Macdonald’s defensive system is not unique and bears similarities to Vic Fangio’s. Both use 3-4 bases, 4-man under fronts in nickel subpackages, and frequent pre-snap structures with two high safeties. The Athletic’s Ted Nguyen explains that Macdonald’s strongest traits are his teaching methods and play calling.

Under Macdonald’s guidance, Baltimore led the league in several defensive categories, including DVOA. The first edition in the second season of the series Reading the New Defense covered reasons for Macdonald’s success and how they might translate to Seattle, where Macdonald will take over as head coach.

Fangio will coordinate Philadelphia’s defense in 2024 after Miami fired him.

? Drew Rosenhaus, who represents multiple Miami Dolphins players, on Vic Fangio: “There were quite a few players that didn’t necessarily get along with Fangio. It wasn’t a great relationship with many of the players.” (@TheMozKnowz) #FinsUp pic.twitter.com/cFIiVNgX7j

— FinsXtra (@FinsXtra) January 24, 2024

The innovation Vic Fangio advanced that Mike Macdonald employs is to build out coverages first and allocate remaining resources to run defense. This results in the light box – a total of six players along the defensive line and behind it at linebacker depth. Frequently, then, both safeties align deep, more than ten yards from the line of scrimmage.

Dolphins defense baited the QB run from the Eagles on that last 3rd down.

Eagles motion to Empty, Dolphins show a Quarters shell. But watch the Dolphins Safeties signaling.

Hurts checks into a direct QB run - which makes sense against a light box. Dolphins instead bring Cover 0 pic.twitter.com/GOdb72V1LW

— Nate Tice (@Nate_Tice) October 23, 2023

Macdonald diverges from Fangio by deploying more press-man coverage. Like the Super Bowl champion Chiefs, the 2023 Ravens relied on penetrating interior pressure and physical cornerback play at the line of scrimmage to disrupt quick-hitting offenses. The approach compensated for pedestrian edge talent.

Fangio’s Dolphins planned a 2023 defense potent at cornerback and edge defender, but injuries prevented the unit from coming together. Joe Barry coordinated a defense similar to Vic Fangio’s in Green Bay last season. The Dolphins’ and Packers’ defenses each took conservative approaches to middling finishes that let down effective offenses late in the season. Barry, too, was relieved of his duties.

Erecting Defensive Fronts

The Packers hired Jeff Hafley away from Boston College, where he served as head coach for four years. The hire suggests a startling divergence in defensive philosophy for 2024. Hafley’s Eagles led the Atlantic Coast Conference in use of Cover-1, the most common man coverage; Cover-3, another single-high-safety coverage; and heavy boxes, personnel groupings with 8 defenders across from the offensive line.

Hafley’s more aggressive approach will have pass rushers getting upfield with reckless abandon. In contrast, Joe Barry’s more controlled pass rush required defenders to mind running lanes in a more controlled pursuit of the quarterback. While Barry’s defense sought to prevent chunk plays, Hafley’s unit is expected to force the action, pressure offenses into mistakes, and create turnovers.

Barry’s units finished outside the top 20 NFL defenses in tackles for loss in each of his three seasons in Green Bay. Hafley’s arrival should change that, even if his defense trades offensive losses for explosive plays.