"But it is more likely he will be on the PUP list and won't play till about midseason."

Whenever Gary returns, he's likely to be on a pitch count for awhile. He'll need to play himself into shape and learn to trust that knee whenever he returns...that's an opportunity for the depth chart.

Gary's timeline will dictate how many OLB they keep (or maybe DE), which will have a trickle-down effect on other roster positions with regard to who wins a job and who is on the outside looking in.

It has been a defensive weakness and wears down our D. We drafted a few DE type of players that could help, but Wyatt, Slaton, Slayton & Ford must improve from last season.

OK Guam, I'll play.

I think that it's hard to just put one measure on defense and say "that's what we are", but if we're going to use one measure, points, then we were 17th last year with 371 points.

If you take away the 14 points that Minnesota scored in garbage time when we were blowing them out, that would move the bar to 357 points, which would have us at #13. Two fewer TDs, at any point in the season, would have put us at 343 points, which would have us tied with the Commies for #7, one behind #6 Dallas.

So I don't think we were light years away from being one of the best scoring defenses in the league last season, and I think just a little bit of improvement could make the difference between being #17 and being #7.

I hate to say this but Gary’s injury isn’t going to allow him to be the player he was before the injury. It will take some time and unless he has some Adrian Peterson in him…we might not see until the last few games of the season.
Just MHO

"Gary must cause problems for opposing offenses. He must understand that his role isn’t to rack up statistics like hurries or sacks, but his role is to play within a unit that has a chance to be top five in the league. There are no heroes if the team doesn’t win."

Here we go again... "A Top 5" defense in the NFL. While I believe this SHOULD be the case, they still have to go out and do it, and definitely do it much better than last season. The two biggest problems with this is Joe Barry, and Rashon Gary's injury. Do we even know if he'll be available week one?

This team is paying A LOT of money to several players on defense so it's not on just one player. They have potential All-Pros at every level but Safety. Kenny Clark should have the best D-Line mates he's had in a long time with Wyatt and Slaton. Youth, size, the beef to actually help Kenny stop the run is there.

Vann Ness is going to surprise people. He'll be in the DROY talk at the end of the season. If Gary can come back close to 100% EARLY, Smith continues to be steady, and Enagbare takes some kind of jump, this IS the best Edge group they've had since 2019 when the Smiths hit the field together.

Douglas and Alexander got the outside, hopefully Nixon can man the slot and Stokes comes back sooner than later AND is 100%.

But for this Defense to take a jump into the Top 5, it's going to be Campbell being closer to 2021 than 2022 Campbell, and Quay Walker. Walker could be the key to this whole damn thing blowing up offenses on a weekly basis. HE'S the dude I'm looking forward to watching this year. USE him all over this Defense Barry. You cut your teeth being a ILB Coach in this league. It's time to teach & unleash Walker and make him that beast!

"Rashan Gary Has The Most Pressure"

Its crazy how different our pass rush looked last year after Gary got hurt. I really like Enagbare, and I like what Hollins brought late in the year. But, without Gary they really suffered. It also hurt that there really wasn't much of a pass rush from the interior.

Fast forward to now, when they drafted 3 guys who should help the pass rush. I am looking forward to seeing how the rookies look. Also looking forward to seeing Wyatt in year 2.

But this defensive front will be at its best when Gary can come back and be back to his pre injury level of play. That may or may not happen this year. So in that sense the pressure is on Gary. But I would say more pressure is on the coaches to get the rookies ready to play asap incase Gary can't come back right away.

I will be happy if Gary is able to be helpful later this year. Sorry, but that’s the reality of ACL recovery. We Packer fans should be well aware that there is a significant lag between being deemed fit to play and being back to pre injury performance. So this article is just not grounded in reality.

Change “Most” in the Headline to “Least.”

Now, Gary is in a contract year. I’m surprised this wasn’t touched on. Coming back from an ACL in a contract year is its own level of pressure for Rashan Gary personally.

From a team standpoint, there’s no rush, no pressure. I think the Packers can take their time with him, allowing him more healing time. Pass rush should be well fortified with Gutekunst’s recent additions.

Gary was injured Week 9… in October. If the Packers bring him back before Week 9 this season I’ll be shocked. For a player whose game relies 100% on speed & torque?

What effects does Gary’s injury have on a contract extension in an EDGE rusher’s world of $112,000,000 contracts, $27-28M per year?

Top 5? That’s a dream world. Great goal, should always be the goal. But… all I can say on that is it would funny if GB wound up with the Top 5 Defense instead of the Jets.

The Packers seem to be prioritizing pass rush. The recent draft confirms it. I love what Gary brings to the pass rush but defense is more than that. What I would like to see is the defense stopping the run and that includes setting the edge. Like many, I hated to see the DB’s ten yards back when defending third and short. A quick pass or missed tackle killed us.

It's laughable that in this whole piece, there was absolutely NO reference to Gary's torn ACL or injury return timeline.

Cory, you can name any of the veteran crew on O, D or ST. I believe they are the players with the most pressure on them.

I agree with most of the posters today that it is little bit overstating to put mark on Rashan (Rush-on) Gary as the man with the most pressure on his back. Just look what happened with David Bakhtiari and his ACL tear problems. He basically did not play 2 full seasons. Rushing Rashan on the field can produce similar result as we see in Bakh case. And that would be huge, huge mistake.

This season many expect almost nothing from Packers. Good. That removes pressure of the teams back. And that is the chance for Packers to play w/o high expectations they have year by year after they won SB.

That no pressure situation is by MHO the main reason why Packers will surprise many how good they will be.

So, no pressure on any Packers player, nor to the team. And that is, after all, one of the top positives for upcoming season.

Ok. So everyone has pressure and Gary is still in recovery. Actually, the only pressure Gary has is to stick to his rehab protocol. No one expects lights out play from him this year. There are so many NFL knee injuries that fans are just taking them for granted. Jordan Love has the most pressure. Let’s hope he doesn’t get a significant injury.

I also feel that Van Ness will surprise a lot of people, this year, and not just on defense, but on STs, as well. He can block punts/field goal attempts and I expect Bisaccia to use him on those downs, regularly. Rashan Gary won't be back until mid season, if his recovery goes well. People saying that his recovery is ahead of schedule, are just wishful thinkers, IMO. A torn ACL can take forever to heal and even longer before the player is in good enough shape, before he can play, again. If Gary's injury is not healing well, I suspect Gute and Co. will draft another Edge guy early, next draft. Maybe Enagbare can step in to cover Gary's snaps? He played well, last season and showed some promise, at Edge. I also feel Quay Walker will be the unsung hero, of harassing the passer, this season. Turn that guy loose, Barry! GO PACK, GO!!!

In the age of instant impact we need patience. Let the man heal from a significant injury, and hopefully regain his form.

I'm a bit sensitive to any talk of pressure after a long weekend of stuffing my pie hole. Pressure? I got yer pressure right here, Cory!

No one has mentioned the best friend of the defense and also the play with the most consistent yardage gained on offence. The punt. Special teams are the teams to hold this early season together. Punts, kickoffs will place this team in the best position to win this year.

How long has it been since a Packer team could look forward to that?

How much will that help the D's run stopping? I don't know. If you back a team up, it sort of dictates what they have to do and eliminates more of what they can do.

Special teams are the defenders with the most pressure.

Everybody acts like Preston Smith is dead; he’s he’s still a very good edge, and VanNess/Enagbare will be decent. I’m not worried about the pass rush; it just will be even better when Gary returns.
All three rookies are are pass rushers more than run stoppers, so I expect they will keep the pass rush fresh and aggressive this year.
Hopefully Clark, Campbell, and Walker can focus on limiting opponent’s running game.

the Pressure is not on Gary its on Joe Barry and how he uses his 8 first rounders.

Joe Barry has the most pressure on him...with a close second on MLF who retained him. Gary has the pressure? LOL!

Even if Gary's return to his former 5 star self is a delayed...the talent on the Packer Defense and the other 7 first rounders is sublime. How those men are deployed on the field has been an enigma, wrapped in a shroud, surrounded by a mystery.

I'd like an article about just what Barry is doing different this year compared to his previous 6 years of DC coaching futility.

This is his first opportunity as a 3rd year DC...the other two in Detroit and Washington were both failed two year stints. This may be his last chance. THAT is pressure.

More agree pressure falls squarely on the DC. There is enough talent on the defense where they should be top ten, but I have my doubts this will be anything but a mediocre unit. To me the biggest pressure is on Barry and the coach that decided to keep him around. We’ve seen this before with McCarthy and Capers.

I am excited to see how well the offense plays and these young players having their opportunity.

Any pressure that exists should be on the coaching staff to put our players, particularly the younger ones, to be in the best position to succeed. We want to see looseness, exuberance, and gradual development from a young team. Let's not burden them with playoff expectations until the appropriate time.

Even with a competent coordinator, this isn't a top-5 defense. The line is shaky, the nickel corner is Nixon, and there might not be a starting-caliber safety on the roster.

I don't see the pressure on Gary. He'll be allowed to heal at his body's pace and be brought back along as his knee allows. If there is any pressure on him; it is his internal pressure. He's a very motivated player, doesn't settle for okay, and will want to have a big impact. Also for his contract. And "racking up stats" like QB hurries and sacks are exactly what they need him to do. That will truly impact the passing game. And his run defense is improved already. Article from last year prior to the injury about the great game against the Pats. https://www.acmepackingcompany.com/2022/10/4/23386976/green-bay-packers-...

We gave up two more points than KC did last year, so by that standard, our defense was good enough to win with......if you have a really good offense, which KC did.

The best defense is an offense that keeps them on the sidelines and scores enough points that eventually the opponent has to start playing catch up and has to go away from what it wanted to do.

When the defense is on the field, the focus is on pass defense more than run defense, because passes go farther and end up in the endzone more often than runs do. And when teams are finally forced to throw because they have to, we bring really good pressure and we have good cover guys out there. That's why we have so many interceptions despite not defending as many passes thrown at us as most teams.

On average, a team gets 11 possessions in a game. If you score TDs on 4 of them you'll just about always win. If you get 3 TDs and a FG you'll win well over half. That's still failing on over half the drives.

Pressure on a guy that will play half the games this year….really…that’s your question? It’s a cherry on the pie if he plays some games this year and is somewhat what we remember, the coaches should be scheming pressure WITHOUT him in this equation.