Brian Gutekunst has completely overhauled the Green Bay Packers defense, making it considerably younger and more athletic, and doing it in a very un-Packers fashion.
While some of the pieces brought in by Ted Thompson are still there and will presumably remain so, Gutekunst has spent the past two offseasons loading up on defenders in both free agency and the draft, and he even traded up a couple times to land his preferred player.
The 2017 Packers' defense core of 14 players had an average age of 25.1 years old. The 2019 team's core will have an average age of 23.6 years old. Mike Daniels, at 29, is now the unit's oldest player, while there are seven players aged 23 or younger compared to just three in 2017. While Dean Lowry, Kenny Clark and Mike Daniels are still in place up front and Blake Martinez still has a spot in the middle, the rest of the defense has been completely remade on the fly.
Preston Smith and Za'Darius Smith were signed this offseason to big-money deals that will pay them a combined $118 million over four years. Adrian Amos was signed away from the Bears on a four-year, $36 million deal. Last offseason, the Packers landed Jaire Alexander after making two trades in the first round, first moving down the board to pick up an extra first-rounder in this year's draft and then moving back up to get their man. He was fantastic as a rookie and should be locked in at one corner slot for years to come. Josh Jackson was taken in the second round and Oren Burks in the third, and they should each have sizable roles moving forward as well.
Rashan Gary was the first pick in this year's draft. The former No. 1 overall recruit is an athletic marvel who will have to put all the tools together to produce at a higher level than he did in college, but the tools are indeed there. Green Bay then used the Saints' pick acquired in last year's trade-down to move up the board once again, landing Darnell Savage to play alongside Amos on the back end.
The Packers should enter the 2019 season feeling significantly more confident about the direction of their defense than they had reason to be two years ago. Their secondary is youthful, athletic and versatile.
