Football
GREEN BAY – It’s an area the Packers’ defense shored up considerably in 2024, and it’s about to get a first major test of 2025.
For years before Jeff Hafley took over as defensive coordinator, running quarterbacks gave Green Bay fits. Whether it’s the nightmares of Colin Kaepernick from a dozen years ago or the more recent visions of Jalen Hurts running roughshod through the Packers’ defense just a few seasons back, examples abound.
But Hafley finally put a lid on it last year, and against a daunting gamut of mobile quarterbacks. Facing the likes of Hurts (twice), Anthony Richardson, Kyler Murray, C.J. Stroud, Caleb Williams and others, the Packers allowed only one QB to rush for more than 37 yards in a game.
That was Williams, who ran for 70 yards in Green Bay’s first meeting with the Bears last year, and then the Packers held him to just 10 in the rematch.
Enter Washington’s Jayden Daniels, the opposing QB Thursday night at Lambeau Field.
That somewhat random benchmark of 37 rushing yards – which was Richardson’s total against the Packers in Week 2, the highest by an opposing QB last year other than Williams – is a number Daniels repeatedly surpassed with ease on his way to NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year honors last season.
He topped 37 rushing yards 13 times, including playoffs, in 2024, and he did it again in Week 1 this season with 68 against the Giants last Sunday. With 959 rushing yards in regular-season action thus far in his young career, Daniels is on the verge of becoming the fastest quarterback ever to reach 1,000. He needs 41 more to do it in his 19th game (including his three playoff contests last year, he has 1,094 rushing yards in 21 career contests).
Clearly, Daniels is downright dangerous as a runner, and he requires a pass-rush plan to be taken seriously. He’s no slouch as a thrower either, needing just 199 passing yards for 4,000 career, and no QB in league history has reached 4,000/1,000 in his first 20 games.
“This guy, you’ve got to be super disciplined in your approach, because if you give him an edge or give him a gap up front he can take off,” Head Coach Matt LaFleur said. “There’s too much evidence over the course of all of last season and then obviously one game this year of just him beating people with his legs. And he’s a guy that’s not necessarily going to just go out and get what he can and get down and slide. He might continue on and go.”
Daniels even had a 100-yard rushing game last season, putting up 127 in an overtime victory over Atlanta, and he topped 80 rushing yards three other times.
He’s got the ability to get out of the pocket and buy time for his receivers to find openings downfield, too, gashing defenses with improvisational passing. As Hafley says, “He’ll run to run, and run to throw.”
One aspect of the Packers’ defense that helped in these situations last year, and is in even greater abundance this season, is speed. Linebackers Quay Walker and Edgerrin Cooper are as fast as any tandem in the league, and due to injuries they didn’t play together all that much in 2024.
Those two anchored the Packers’ strong defensive showing in Week 1 against the Lions, who of course did not have a mobile QB in Jared Goff. Green Bay also has the explosive Micah Parsons in the mix now, too.
Parsons certainly respects Daniels’ running game, but he’s dealt with it successfully before. He recorded 4½ sacks of Daniels in Dallas’ two games against Washington last year. Daniels rushed for 101 yards total in the two contests.
“He’s just one of them guys like no matter what, you just try to contain the whole time,” Parsons said. “He’ll go through the A gaps and B gaps, get outside of you. It’s hard, you know what I mean? I think you gotta limit the explosives, make ’em earn it.
“We’re gonna give up some 5-yard runs or he’s gonna get loose once or twice, but the thing is to make sure it’s not consecutive.”
From Hafley’s perspective, it’s about finding the right balance between attacking Daniels and containing him.
Last season, the Packers at times contained to a fault at the expense of an effective pass rush. By staying in their rush lanes, they had success preventing QBs from controlling games with their legs, but on occasion that kept the defense too much on its heels.
“I don’t think you can just do one,” Hafley said this week. “I think you have to be multiple and do both, and you’ve got to keep them guessing, right? There’s going to be times he might get out and break the pocket, and then there’s going to be times when hopefully he’ll be in the pocket, but everything can’t be designed one way.
“I think we’ve learned that over the course of however many games, that there’s times you’ve got to take your shot and be aggressive, and you just can’t be passive and sit there, so we’re definitely not going to do that.”
So what’s the right mixture? And with the Walker-Cooper tandem on the field together, plus the addition of Parsons to edge rushers Rashan Gary and Lukas Van Ness, do the Packers have the right combination of players to find the balance Hafley seeks?
They’ll find out Thursday night.
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