GREEN BAY, Wis. – Joe Barry and De’Vondre Campbell have changed the Green Bay Packers’ defense.

In 2019 under former defensive coordinator Mike Pettine, the Packers played their dime defense – six defensive backs – on a league-high 49.8 percent of the defensive snaps. In 2020, Pettine trotted out his dime package on a league-high 48.8 percent of the defensive snaps.

After leading units that ranked ninth in scoring in 2019 and ninth in total defense in 2020 en route to back-to-back NFC Championship Game appearances, Pettine and coach Matt LaFleur went their separate ways. LaFleur hired Joe Barry as coordinator. One big change Barry instituted was how he has implemented his personnel. Heading into Monday night’s game, the Packers had cut back their dime usage to 20.2 percent, according to SportRadar. That’s still the seventh-highest rate in the NFL but much more in line with the league average of 12.3 percent.

Some of the change is philosophical. The biggest change is the addition of Campbell in June. With uncommon size and veteran savvy, the Packers have the all-around linebacker they’ve lacked for years and years.

Continue Reading @ Sports Illustrated 

Sports Illustrated wrote:

“Speed, leadership and confidence” is what Campbell, a sixth-year pro who’s up to 74 career starts, has brought to the defense, Rashan Gary said. “That’s a guy who walked in the building, studied his butt off, got the plays and started making the plays right away. Me coming into Year 3 and seeing a player that’s just able to do that, it was like a ‘Wow’ moment. Now, just me playing with him, it’s like, ‘Oh, we getting 15 tackles here? Oh, we filling up the gap?’ Oh, yeah, I love playing with this guy.’ He’s bringing the juice, flying around and making us a better defense.”

De’Vondre Campbell has been a pleasant surprises, no?

Originally Posted by: MintBaconDrivel