The NFL may be leaning harder into extra defensive backs, but the Packers look ready to attack that problem from a different angle.
Around the league, the trend has been clear enough. The best defenses last season found ways to get smaller without really giving up size, and the L.A.
Rams and Seattle Seahawks were prime examples. Both handled the run well from nickel, even as offenses kept drifting back toward heavier personnel.
The Rams leaned on dime as much as anyone in the league, and despite the offense carrying them to the NFC Championship, the defense still finished fourth in DVOA.
Jonathan Gannon’s Arizona Cardinals, even though he was not coordinating that unit, went even further in 2025. They were the league’s most diverse defense, using three and even four safeties at a time. The Buffalo Bills under Bobby Babich, now the Green Bay Packers defensive passing game coordinator, were also among the teams that played dime at one of the highest rates last season.
So yes, the coaching additions in Green Bay point in that direction on paper. The Packers brought in two coaches who like putting more defensive backs on the field. Easy conclusion, right?
Not quite.
If the first looks at Green Bay’s defense mean anything, the answer may be tied less to the league’s broader direction and more to the Packers’ own personnel. Playing an extra defensive back would pull Edgerrin Cooper or Zaire Franklin off the field, and for this team, that doesn’t make much sense.
Instead, Green Bay has already shown a willingness to slide bigger edge players such as Lukas Van Ness and rookie Dani Dennis-Sutton inside to create better pass-rush matchups while keeping its dynamic linebackers on the field.
That puts the Packers in the same business as dime defenses: trying to match up better against the pass. The difference is in how they’re getting there. Rather than flooding the field with defensive backs, they appear set to lean into NASCAR packages and use defensive linemen to create the pressure looks they want.
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