GREEN BAY, Wis. – Julius Peppers turned 37 years old in the middle of last season's playoff run, and Datone Jones sacked exactly one quarterback all year.
How is it possible that the Green Bay Packers might actually miss both of them?
The evidence was on full display in Saturday’s preseason game at Denver, when Nick Perry left in the first quarter with a right ankle injury. Really, it’s been there ever since Peppers signed with the Carolina Panthers and Jones with Minnesota Vikings in free agent.
Behind Clay Matthews and Perry, the Packers don’t have another proven pass-rush threat at outside linebacker.
General manager Ted Thompson has essentially crossed his fingers that Matthews and Perry will not only stay healthy but return to form. It’s a big ask for a 30-year-old Matthews (who hasn't posted a double-digit sack season since 2014) and an oft-injured Perry (who has never played in all 16 games of a season), and they know it.
“The reality is that the pass rush this year, the majority of the impact that we anticipate, has got to come from me and Nick,” Matthews said.
Which could be why the Packers decided to take a look at veteran Ahmad Brooks, who was released on Friday by the San Francisco 49ers. The former Pro Bowler is 33 years old – the same age Peppers was when he signed a three-year deal with the Packers in 2014 – and the Packers believe he still has at least another good year (or more) left in him.
Brooks has posted between 6 and 8.5 sacks in each of the last six seasons and has played in all but five games dating to the start of the 2011 season.
The Packers’ sudden interest in a veteran could simply be about Brooks’ availability, but Thompson might have come to the conclusion that second-year pro Kyler Fackrell hasn’t developed like the Packers had hoped the former third-round pick would, or the GM might be worried about injuries not only to Perry but also to Jayrone Elliott. Elliott, the fourth-year pro, dropped out of Saturday’s game at Denver because recurring back spasms.
Then there’s the Vince Biegel situation. The rookie fourth-round pick remains on the physically unable to perform list because of foot surgery in May. It was the second surgery on Biegel’s right foot in less than a year and he’s running out of time to return for the season opener in less than two weeks.
This is the same position group that in the spring McCarthy described as having “probably as good a depth as we've had there in some time."
Perhaps Thompson was asking too much of the group behind Matthews and Perry, but he has big money invested in that pair. Matthews is entering year four of a five-year, $66 million contract, while Perry signed a five-year, $60 million in March.
“There was a four-man rotation last year with Datone and Julius,” Matthews said. “I don’t know if we’re asking anything more from them or if they need to do anything more. I think they just need to stay ready and make sure there’s not a lapse in play in that time that Nick and I aren’t on the field. I really like what I see from Jayrone so far this camp. I think he’s taken that step to become that first guy in, and Kyler as well as has shown a lot of promise in that he can really turn it on as far as the way he rushes the passer. It’s now in his second year it’s about taking those chances that maybe Jayrone is more comfortable with or that Nick and I can get away with as opposed to being a guy who just follows what the playbook says."