Elliott And Ryan Shine: Saturday Scoop
Jayrone Elliiott and Jake Ryan had the best nigths among Packers linebackers and showed promise for adding needed depth at the position
By jasonperone
At this time last year, we were just starting to hear Jayrone Elliott's name mentioned on a regular basis. The undrafted free agent linebacker was making play after play in practice and became the undrafted darling that the Green Bay Packers always seem to find every season. Elliott ultimately ended up making the final roster and contributed mildly on defense in 2014. Linebacker has produced a few players that have emerged in training camp and have stuck for the Packers. Vic So'oto, Dezman Moses, Andy Mulumba and Elliott. So'oto and Moses are gone and lasted a mere one season, but Mulumba and Elliott are still around and working to add valuable depth at the linebacker position.
The Packers played much of their second and third team this past Thursday night in their preseason opener against the New England Patriots. Elliott was credited with team-high eight total tackles, one-half sack, a tackle for a loss and a quarterback hit. Some of that production likely came as a result of the sheer number of snaps Elliott saw, but he made an impact nonetheless. What's more is that as I watched the game a second time, Elliott brought some extra energy to his game that I haven't seen from him before. Perhaps it's that the pressure is removed in an exhibition game and players aren't bogged down with all of the mental aspects that would be expected in the regular season? To me, it seemed more of a case of Elliott having a year in the Packers defense under his belt and being that much more comfortable. As far as his motor, the Packers need it.
With Clay Matthews still slated to spend a fair amount of time on the inside this season, the depth at outside linebacker becomes more important. We know Julius Peppers will get a fair amount of snaps. Nick Perry has a chance to step up now with Matthews out. Mike Neal, if he's ever healthy, would also provide some depth, but he hasn't come close to putting pads on yet. Mulumba played well on Thursday night as well, adding a half sack (albeit from the inside) and can help as well. But the Packers need a true impact guy on the outside who can get to the quarterback. Disrupt the pocket and make the passer uncomfortable often enough that it throws off the opposing offense. Of course, every team wants that and those types of players don't grow on trees. Still, I saw a guy in Elliott who looks to be able to make a jump in his second year and be what the Packers defense desperately needs if Matthews can't be doing it full time. We'll see as the preseason moves along if Elliott is consistently doing the same things.
Rookie Jake Ryan also saw a fair amount of time against the Patriots. He was credited with six tackles, one sack, two tackles for loss and a quarterback hit. He finished the night right behind Elliott in total tackles. Ryan's size stood out to me, as I haven't had a chance to see any of the practice coverage yet. I've talked about him on a few occasions before and how the Packers have to be crossing their fingers that a fourth-rounder can somehow play to the level of a first or second. Much like outside linebacker, the inside position has its own set of question marks and needs. Assuming Matthews and Sam Barrington would start in the base 3-4, that leaves Ryan, Nate Palmer, Carl Bradford and Joe Thomas on the inside behind them. Palmer and Bradford did next to nothing last season and Bradford may not even be on the final roster with Thomas coming on after missing last season. Thomas had two tackles against the Patriots. Still, as a fourth-rounder and with the investment the Packers made in him, Ryan's continued growth and development in the defense over the next month is a crucial element to the Packers defensive success this season.
That may sound like a bit of hyperbole, given that the team has most of the pieces in place and weren't awful last season. But if the Packers want to get back to a conference championship game and win a championship, the defense is going to have to improve. That improvement is going to fall on a lot of young players with very little experience. Ryan has been taking most of his practice reps with the second team, so he's not getting as many snaps in practice. He'll be on this year's roster, no question, but he's one player I'm watching closely. Best case scenario is that Ryan steps up and is ready to play full time, freeing up Matthews to get back outside more. Worst case is that he spends most of this season learning the game and honing his skills and Matthews stays in the middle to cover. If there's a guy to watch through the rest of preseason, in my opinion it's Ryan.
If week one was any indication, the Packers could be developing a new and improved defense to go along with its high-octane offense. Now it's a matter of building on that success.
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Jason is a freelance writer on staff since 2012 and also co-hosts Cheesehead TV Live, Pulse of the Pack and Pack A Day podcasts. You can follow him on Twitter here
Comments (43)
hybridauth_Facebook_100004084225446
August 15, 2015 at 01:37 pm
We need to see more before i can make bye in .
LeagueObsrvr
August 15, 2015 at 01:41 pm
I have to wonder if the recent discussion about cutting back on Peppers snap count may, at least partially, be the result of the coaching staff seeing marked improvement in Elliott's development, and therefore a desire to fit him into their defensive plans more prominently this season?
croatpackfan
August 15, 2015 at 01:50 pm
You might be right, but I think Elliot plays ROLB and Julius play LOLB... Elliot is replacement for Clay, not for Julius...
vj_ostrowski
August 15, 2015 at 01:42 pm
Ryan is going to be a good'n. And maybe it will stop all of the unearned and inexplicable praise that I hear for Nate Palmer, who couldn't have looked more overwhelmed on Thursdsy night.
Nice write-up on two exciting young players.
croatpackfan
August 15, 2015 at 01:55 pm
I know we did not heard much about Tavarius Dantzler and very few remarks about Josh Francis, but all of you already cut those guys off... Not nice...
Thegreatreynoldo
August 16, 2015 at 12:44 am
Croat, I raved about Dantzler's tape. Even though I read the beat writers' twitter comments every day after practice, I have not so much as heard Dantzler's name mentioned, not even once.
I have not written Dantzler off, though, which was your main point. First, he still has 9 practices and 3 preseason games in which to impress. 2nd, I am not surprised that a guy from a division 2 college team needs some time to adjust to the speed and size of the NFL. I think he would be doing fine to make the PS. Time will tell.
NewNikeShoes
August 16, 2015 at 04:33 pm
He's an athletic freak, but like you said, isn't mentally there.
He played FSU, and upon checking the tape, was unable to be seen.
He had one assist, and seemed lost several times.
The one time he played against a professional team, he was kinda gone, which makes sense cause, like you said, he comes from a D2 college.
I'll pass judgement after next year.
jasonperone
August 15, 2015 at 01:56 pm
Author's note that Mike Neal has been back at practice. Started today's session with the 1's. My mistake!
packerfan9507
August 15, 2015 at 03:11 pm
I watched a lot of Jake Ryan at Michigan and he definitely has the football IQ, sound fundamentals, and is always around the ball. That being said I've always thought he was a bit slow. I think his upside is a superior version of AJ Hawk.
ben
August 15, 2015 at 07:05 pm
2015 53-man Roster
QB: Rodgers, Tolzien, Hundley
RB: Lacey, Starks, Neal
FB: Kuhn
WR: Jordy, Cobb, Janis, Adams, Montgomery, White
TE: Quarless, Rogers, Perillo, Backman
OL: Bakhtiari, Sitton, Linsley, Lang, Bulaga, Barclay, Vujnovich, Tretter
NT: Pennel, Raji
DE: Daniels, Boyd, Datone, Ringo, Guien
ILB: Matthews, Perry, Barrington, Ryan
RLB: Peppers, Elliot
LLB: Neal, Hubbard
CB: Shields, Rollins, Hayward, Gunter, Randall, Goodson
S: Burnett, Hyde, Richardson, Banjo, Dix
ST: Crosby, Masthay, (LS: Tretter)
EdsLaces
August 15, 2015 at 08:55 pm
Perry plays outside not inside . And your hate for HHCD is funny. Being a rookie safety is insane. He played very well for a rookie. By the end of this year he will be top 2 dbs on this team.
ben
August 15, 2015 at 11:14 pm
I think Clay played outside not inside right? until MM FINALLY came around to my persistent posts why Clay needed to be moved inside.
Dix missed a lot of open field tackles, was late in coverage over the top, and took a lot of costly angles in run-support last year. He was in the wrong place at the right time, and the ball did find him a couple times. Like AJ Hawk.
Don't confuse getting an interception with making an interception. Book it, "Dix won't be on the field by the end of this season"
Dix's performance against the patriots was freaking poetic. 3 plays: 1 missed tackle, 1 time late in coverage over the top, and 1 terrible angle giving up a huge run.
Play by play would have read word for word from my Dix posts the last 15 months.
Stay informed and up to date with my "Weekly Dix Report!"
NewNikeShoes
August 16, 2015 at 12:13 am
You do realize a safety is the 2nd hardest position in football right?
It's practically a QB for the D. Learning struggles are expected.
I'd love to see you do better.
I'm willing to forgive him cause he did more good than bad last year.
Plus, this is preseason, aka the only place its ok if Tom Brady goes 1/4 and ARod can go 11/19, but you don't see anyone hating on them.
Plus, the Jonas Gray run wasn't his fault, as Dix was rushing from the other side and contain let Gray run thru.
Plus, please screw off, no one likes you.
TKWorldWide
August 16, 2015 at 10:40 am
So it was your persistent posts that prompted MM to move Clay inside?
Wow.
TKWorldWide
August 17, 2015 at 07:00 am
The dreaded double post. I hereby refund the time yall wasted reading it.
ray nichkee
August 16, 2015 at 12:47 pm
Ballsack ben will be gone midseason when he cant shit talk anymore.
NickPerry
August 17, 2015 at 06:02 am
LOL.... No Ray, he keeps coming back. He's been doing it for years and because the NFL goes in cycles he figures one year his Queens will be worth talking about. At the end though, they'll still be 0-4 in SB. Vikings still suck!!!
Lphill
August 15, 2015 at 08:07 pm
If the play from the D line is improved ,and it should be, then it makes life easier for whoever the middle linebackers are, that goes without saying. If its Barrington and a rotation of Ryan and Thomas then that keeps Clay in the hunt at OLB, so thats even better. lets see how it plays out over the next couple of games.
Crackerpacker
August 16, 2015 at 05:19 am
I could easily be wrong but in my opinion the reason clay was moved inside was not because Jones and Hawk were rubbish which they definitely were but because the other teams had found a way to neutralise him. Rotating between inside and out made it much harder for the opponents to come up with a game plan,so i don't see him going back to playing just outside linebacker.
4thand1
August 16, 2015 at 10:49 am
Clay makes impact plays, you'll see teams worried when he lines up all over the place.
RCPackerFan
August 16, 2015 at 12:54 am
Elliott showed that he can be a disruptive pass rusher. He has shown he can do it against 2nd and 3rd string players. Now I want to see him do it against first string players.
At the very least I think he will find roles as a pass rusher in the dime and nickel.
His speed off the edge is 2nd to only Mathews on the team. He is very impressive and I can't wait to see his play continue to rise.
Thegreatreynoldo
August 16, 2015 at 03:38 am
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/sports/nfl/packers/dougherty/2...
I really liked this article linked above. Stock up includes Pennel, Gaston, OG Josh Walker. Stock down included Barclay, Bradford, Quarless (blocking, and by extension Richard Rodgers' blocking), and very lukewarm on Boyd and Thornton.
TKWorldWide
August 16, 2015 at 12:11 pm
Cool!
What is your position?
Or are you not at liberty to divulge?
Back when I worked for the CIA, it was awesome, except for all the secrecy.
TKWorldWide
August 16, 2015 at 01:10 pm
How dare you presume to know "all I want to do". I haven't even figured all of that out yet.
Also, your assertion to "just discuss football" is so hypocritical that I had to look that word up just to be sure that it means what I think it means.
Additionally, I trusted you with that CIA thing, but if you're going to throw it around so haphazardly, I will be forced to reconsider trusting you in the future with other tidbits of national security.
Finally, at the risk of being rude, I'm starting to entertain a shadow of a doubt that you truly are an NFL employee.
(Unless you're actually Roger Goodell, in which case I apologize profusely.)
ray nichkee
August 16, 2015 at 04:10 pm
Hey twins, it looks like you are making lots of friends here. (chuckle) anyways i posted earlier but it didnt show up.
My biggest concern is the DL because after daniels, guion, raji, and pennel who is there to rotate. The big guys need breaks and who will be ready to perform? I am not sold on datone jones and he is in a prove it year. Gaston is still a question mark for me. All we can do is wait and see.
As for tight end that doesnt bother me. The Coach loves tight ends but not as a true tight end. There FB, RB, WR that can be used in that role and may become an extra roster spot in place of TE. Examples, montgomery, kuhn, lacy, starks.
Just my thoughts, what do the rest of you think? We will find out soon. I cant remember being this confident in a team but a few injuries could change that in a hurry. Go pack.
NewNikeShoes
August 16, 2015 at 04:30 pm
Honestly, I think a pseudo-TE, like Montgomery or Janis, can be used to create much better matchup problems than a regular TE for now. I'd do the Patriots, and hope Ty bulks up a bit to become a Shane Vereen type player and set up advantageous matchups against the other team. We did that with Cobb, but I feel he isn't as much of a threat to run.
Hey guys, is this formation legal?(HAd to make it a G-Doc cause spacing doesn't work here.):
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tJ1ta8oIyF7QmQUVPoSdwZrPbckYOhvpYp4A...
This'd be scary AF.
Agreed on D-Line issues btw. Our roster has 3 established vets( 2 average-above average, and 1 star) and a bunch of unprovens. Only time will tell if they turn out great.
Thegreatreynoldo
August 17, 2015 at 01:14 am
Looks legal to me, NNS. Nelson and Adams would have to be on the LOS.
NFL Rules: Position of Players at Snap: "Offensive team must have at least seven players on line.... Offensive players, not on line, must be at least one yard back at snap.... All players of offensive team must be stationary at snap, except one back who may be in motion parallel to scrimmage line or backward (not forward)."
NickPerry
August 17, 2015 at 06:32 am
I've thought of the same thing Nike, lining Montgomery and Cobb in the backfield except having Q or Rodgers lined up as TE. Montgomery and Cobb both having 2-way breaks coming out of the backfield as quick as they are would be tough on ANY defense. I do like your twist with Lacy and believe it's legal. Like Reynaldo said, 7 on the line.
WKUPackFan
August 17, 2015 at 08:08 am
Hi Nike! Cobb is a serious running threat, if MM and AR decide to go that way. I wish you could have seen him play at UK, on a weak team against SEC defenses. Besides being the best QB on the team, Cobb also played RB, WR, slot, KR, PR, parked cars, and managed the concessions.
Not bad for a 3 star recruit from Alcoa, TN that the then relevant Volunteers didn't want. And he was recruited by my high school friend Joker Phillips (now Cleveland's WR coach).
AZPack
August 17, 2015 at 11:36 pm
I wonder if a part of the reason for drafting Montgomery was due to his experience lining up in the backfield and being able to replace Cobb in that role. I don't think the Packers want to risk him and his 10 million salary on taking the beating in the backfield. Montgomery can be used in that role and he's much better able to take the beating, being 220 lbs. Obviously his return and WR skills had something to do w/ it too, but his ability out of the backfield might just replace Cobb in that role, not supplement him.
NickPerry
August 18, 2015 at 07:52 am
That's EXACTLY why Dan, totally agree with you. Plus he's a damn good football player.
NewNikeShoes
August 18, 2015 at 12:57 am
Sup bro
I agree with Don, but I kinda want to add my own points.
I feel like we got 3 swiss army knives on our team: Cobb, Ty(hopefully), and Clay. The thing that makes these knives special is the ability to do many things with them(no duh), and their potential WILL only be maximized upon using all of their features.
Take Clay for example. He wasn't doing well until we moved him around everywhere. Take his best season(IMO), 2010, where was moved everywhere, screwing with the minds of the O. We stopped doing that, and Clay got worse. We did that last year, and Clay got better. Coincidence?
I feel Cobb is underutilized in the offense. Like you said, he was Kentucky's O. He did everything. He threw, he ran, he caught. When we drafted him, we got an OW in our hands. However, we didn't use him to his full capacity. We never showed off his QB skills, and we basically stopped running with him(less attempts after 2012). However, unlike CM, Cobb did well without being moved around. But, we must make use of his talents. We could move him around everywhere, like the Pats game. We could set up trick plays, kinda like the Bengals.
Ty is kinda the same. He looks like an RB with the hands of a WR. Great skill set. Baller. Speedy. I suggest(and hope) that we use him as Cobb except more of a rushing threat. Like I said earlier, a Shane Vereen type of guy.
Some teams would love to have one guy that can be a swiss army knife. We have 3, and we must use all of their talents to get the potential out of them.
BTW, tell Coach Phillips I said hi.
Also, I made a run heavy version of the formation I made:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tJ1ta8oIyF7QmQUVPoSdwZrPbckYOhvpYp4A...
4thand1
August 16, 2015 at 05:28 pm
Guess I should stand up when I have my picture taken. I apologize for misleading everyone with my pic with Brees. I really didn't want to tower over drew.
ray nichkee
August 16, 2015 at 05:57 pm
Drew brees is listed at 6' but i think i heard 5' 11 1/2" when being compared to russell wilson. A great QB with a great heart. Hes up there with the best of them. Im a huge fan but im still glad #12 wears green and gold though.
EdsLaces
August 16, 2015 at 06:24 pm
After scrolling through all these comments I was kinda thinking you could change the site to ThompsonTwinstv.com? This is getting out of hand....not nearly as fun to talk football anymore.
TKWorldWide
August 16, 2015 at 06:32 pm
Is that your professional opinion?
(Chain:yanked)
EdsLaces
August 16, 2015 at 07:18 pm
Haha baaaazinnng
NickPerry
August 17, 2015 at 06:41 am
It's kind of sad isn't it, the merger started off so well and one person can just F it up beyond belief. I've been coming here and ALLGBP.com for years as have many of the people attacked by this guy. The topic always gets twisted, name calling and insults are the norm, and Football becomes secondary to this guys Vendettas.
My hope is Al and/or Aaron see this and band this guy once and for all so the people who want to discuss the Packers like adults can.
SpudRapids
August 17, 2015 at 09:52 am
He's approaching Stroh and Cow territory in terms of the level degradation to this blog.
lou
August 17, 2015 at 05:40 pm
Agreed, Stroh at times was a little thin skinned when others refuted his opinion but there was no denial of his knowledge of the game and team along with his effort to stay informed and if later you proved your point to him he would concede - don't see that happening with this guy.
EdsLaces
August 16, 2015 at 08:17 pm
Oh and I have 2 questions that are packers related. 1 is Ty a cowboy lol. Did you see that hat? 2 what is up with Palmers hand? Broken?
AZPack
August 16, 2015 at 10:59 pm
Ty is from Texas so he could very well be a bit of a cowboy.
As for Palmer, he does have a legit hand injury. Don't remember off the top of my head exactly what it is. That's your assignment I guess.
4thand1
August 17, 2015 at 03:14 pm
LMAO, TT must have paid a fortune for plastic surgery, he looks exactly like the Packers GM. Oh,and whah, whah whah, cry us a river, everyone's picking on me. What a wuss.