GREEN BAY, Wis. – Last season, Green Bay Packers right tackle Bryan Bulaga faced a gauntlet of elite pass rushers to start the year. In the first five weeks, he had individual battles against Chicago’s Khalil Mack, Minnesota’s Danielle Hunter, Denver’s Von Miller, Philadelphia’s Brandon Graham and Dallas’ DeMarcus Lawrence.
Bulaga responded with perhaps his best season. His excellence played a major role in Green Bay going 13-3 and reaching the NFC Championship Game.
With Bulaga departing in free agency, the pressure will be on his replacement, veteran Rick Wagner, to keep the pressure away from Aaron Rodgers.
Gone are the days when it was the left tackle who faced the opponent’s top pass rusher. Last season, 17 edge rushers collected at least 10 sacks. Of that group, six rushed from the defense’s left (or against the right tackle) at least two-thirds of the time and three others rushed from the left at least half the time. That’s nine of 17 – or more than half. In all, 12 of the 17 rushed from the defense’s left at least 40 percent of the time.
Sacks aren’t everything, of course. Green Bay’s schedule features 13 edge defenders who ranked in the top 30 in ProFootballFocus.com’s pass-rushing productivity, a metric that measures sacks, quarterback hits and hurries per pass-rushing snap. Of that group, six rushed at least 60 percent of the time from the left side of the defense (or the right side of the offense) and another three were essentially a 50/50 split.
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