The biggest takeaway from Tuesday’s OTA practice open to the media wasn’t about who was lined up where or what player made the big play. Instead, it was that Packers’ defensive end Kingsley Enagbare was even on the practice field–providing the depth of that unit with a needed boost.
Back in January, the thought was that Enagbare had suffered a torn ACL in the Packers’ playoff win over Dallas. However, following the NFL Draft, Matt LaFleur shared that this wasn’t the case:
“He’s still fighting his way back,” LaFleur said. “It was never confirmed it was an ACL. He did not have surgery. He’s still rehabbing through it, and we’re still optimistic about it.”
In the midst of that promising news from LaFleur, there still wasn’t a timeline given in regards to when Enagbare would be back on the field. So the fact that he was a “full go,” as LaFleur put it on Tuesday, still very much came as a surprise, and certainly a pleasant one.
“I think he’s doing great out there,” said LaFleur on Tuesday. “And he’s just been working his tail off.”
As the second half of last season progressed, Enagbare really began to pick up steam. Of his 27 total pressures on the year, 18 of them came from Week 12 and on. Out of 128 eligible edge rushers, Enarbare ranked 28th during that span in PFF’s pass-rush win rate metric. He was also a key member of the Packers’ special teams unit.
“I can’t say enough great things about him,” said LaFleur of Enagbare last season. “To see the growth from last year to this year. His contributions not only on defense but on teams as well, and I just love his play style. His relentless pursuit of the football. There’s a number of examples in that game of just the physicality that we preach. The hustle to the ball.”
Under the original presumption that Enagbare was going to miss some of the 2024 season, there were questions around the depth of this position group. Edge rusher – or now defensive end for the Packers – can be a heavily rotated position, with four or sometimes even five players seeing snaps each week.
If the Packers were without Enagbare, that would force them to rely on either Keshawn Banks, Brenton Cox, or Arron Mosby unless someone else emerged. Banks and Cox are both 2023 UDFAs with no defensive snaps in the NFL. Mosby, meanwhile, has played only two career defensive snaps.
Understandably so, a lot of attention will be on the Packers’ secondary under Jeff Hafley, but a big factor in how much this defense improves will be dependent upon greater consistency from the defensive front against both the run and the pass.
Last season, the Packers ranked 23rd in yards per carry allowed and surrendered four games of 200-plus rushing yards. This was also a very hot and cold pass-rush unit. There were seven games in which the Packers pressured the quarterback on greater than 45 percent of his dropbacks–which is fantastic. On the flip side, there were seven games where they pressured the quarterback on fewer than 30 percent of his dropbacks–which is the opposite of fantastic.
Contributing to what hopefully ends up being more consistent play from this unit will be a Year 2 leap from Lukas Van Ness, a one-gap system that results in a more attacking front, and of course, a healthy Enagbare who continues to ascend in this third NFL season.
