Mike Daniels: 2015 Packers Player Report Card

Mike Daniels

  • Age: 26
  • Ht./Wt: 6'0", 310lbs
  • College: Iowa
  • NFL Experience: 4 years

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Expectations coming into the season:  Expectations were sky-high for Daniels, who came into the season looking for a contract extension.  Daniels was expected to take a big step from his third season to his fourth season and become a long-term cornerstone of the Packer defense.

Player’s highlights/low-lights: Daniels was a force all season long.  Although a sack total of four might not blow you away, Daniels was extremely effective against both the run and pass.  Daniels ended the season as Pro Football Focus's #9 overall interior defender (includes all 3-4 defensive linemen and 4-3 defensive tackles).  His finest performance came in the team's road win over Minnesota.  Daniels gave Vikings guard Brandon Fusco trouble all day, pressuring Teddy Bridgewater five times, sacking him once and helping limit Adrian Peterson to 45 yards rushing.  His interceptoin against Arizona was the team's lone bright spot in the Packers' 38-8 loss.  The only mark against Daniels is the low sack total, demonstrating an occasional lack of ability to finish plays.

Level of Expectations met:  The Iowa product was able to take the leap from "very good" to elite.  Daniels' contributions an an interior lineman show themselves much more on tape than they do in the box score.  Largely because Daniels did meet expectations, he was rewarded with a four year contract extension on December 14th.

Grade: A-

Player’s contributions to team success:  Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers are  at the Pro Bowl, but Mike Daniels was the Packers' best defensive player this season from start to finish.  Daniels has become basically unblockable by a single offensive lineman.  Because of this, the Packers are able to play their nickel and dime defenses a vast majority of the time.  Green Bay's ability to keep five or six defensive backs on the field helped them become Football Outsiders sixth best pass defense according to DVOA.  Make no mistake, Daniels consistent pressure up the middle is responsible for quite a few of the 39 team sacks credited to other Packers.  The Packers' run defense was greatly improved in 2016 as well, and Mike Daniel's PFF run grade was second in the NFL only to JJ Watt.

Grade: A-

Player’s contributions in the playoffs: As impressive as Mike Daniels was during the regular season, he was relatively nondescript in the postseason.  Over the course of two games Daniels registered just three total tackles and a sack.  Daniels certainly didn't play poorly, but I feel like the stars of the defense during the playoffs were the  Packers' secondary.  Daniels didn't make a huge impact.  The Packers did have the best run defense in the playoffs, according to average rushing yards allowed, and Daniels contributions to that, despite the low box-score numbers, cannot be dismissed.  

Grade: B-

Intangibles/misc: Because of the aforementioned contract extension, it's now clear that Mike Daniels is a long-term piece on defense for Ted Thompson's Packers.  Daniels is an emotional leader, and his fiery style contrasts well with Clay Matthews' southern California laid back attitude.  Daniels has never been an off-the-field problem and will be a part of the Green Bay Packers culture for a long time.

Grade: A

 

Overall Grade:  A-

 

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Ross Uglem is a staff writer for Cheesehead TV. He can be found on Twitter @RossUglem 

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Comments (13)

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Bearmeat's picture

February 02, 2016 at 09:29 am

I've given TT no free pass on his front 7 acquisitions over the years. Daniels is one exception. Helluva player.

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Since'61's picture

February 02, 2016 at 09:43 am

Daniels is becoming a force in the league. We need another player like him on the DL and/or Daniels needs to reach the point where he can dominate and wreck an opponent's offense. Agree with the grades for his performance. Thanks, Since '61

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RCPackerFan's picture

February 02, 2016 at 10:02 am

Simply put Packers best defensive lineman. And the fact that they signed him to a long term deal this season makes this season even more of a success.

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BradHTX's picture

February 02, 2016 at 05:12 pm

Cow, I've usually disagreed with you on most things, but I've never called you a troll or alleged that you weren't a true Packer fan. When you contribute thoughtful analysis, as you did on the CM3 write up, you often have insightful things to say.

Problem is, you just can't seem to resist the urge to make ridiculous pronouncements like this, or when you said the Packers' WRs were "the worst in the league." And that kills your credibility.

Daniels is a very good, possibly even excellent player with strong ability and a great motor. But he's not a dominant player, or at Rodgers' level of possibly historic greatness. A Packers Hall of Fame player, yes. Is he going to Canton? Doubtful.

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BradHTX's picture

February 03, 2016 at 10:11 am

God help me for trying to have a battle of wits with an unarmed man, but you need to just stop it. You can make these pronouncements, but words like "worst" actually mean things, and the problem is in this age of the Internet, people can actually check the facts.

Yes, the Packers WRs as a group performed subparly (is that a word? LOL) this season. Jordy Nelson was a critical loss, and Davante Adams' sophomore slump (which I believe was a slump he will rebound from; it's widely accepted that it generally takes all but the best WRs three years to mature) harmed his effectiveness, Randall Cobb has limitations as a #1 and James Jones was a stopgap. But the young guys Montgomery, Abbrederis and yes even Janis all showed promise.

Let's compare the stats for the Packers' top four WRs to those of just one other team, the Ravens. I chose them because Flacco is generally considered a pretty good QB and has won a Super Bowl. As opposed to the WRs from, say, San Fransisco trying to catch passes from allegedly position-revolutionizing (*rimshot*) Kaeperdink and whoever else they had.

PACKERS
Randall Cobb 79/829/6
James Jones 50/890/8
Davante Adams 50/490/1
Ty Montgomery 15/136/2 (6 games)
TOTAL 194/2,345/17

RAVENS
Kamar Aiken 75/944/5
Chris Givens 20/353/1
Chris Matthews 13/151/1
Steve Smith 46/670/3 (7 games)
TOTAL: 154/2,118/10

There are the facts. Statistically, the Packers' WRs were better than Baltimore's. You can say they should have been better than they were with Rodgers (even apparently playing the second half of the season injured) passing to them, but that's not what you said, is it?

Fact is, San Fransisco, St. Louis, Cleveland, Tennessee, and possibly Buffalo, Houston, Kansas City, San Diego, and even Chicago (especially if Jeffery leaves in FA) all have WR corps that are below average or worse. The Packers WR corps isn't as strong as, say, Arizona's. But they are at least middle of the road, and with Nelson, probably top ten in talent.

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BradHTX's picture

February 03, 2016 at 07:07 pm

No one in his right mind would claim the Packers WRs didn't have a problem with the dropsies this season. Blame it on Alex Van Pelt taking over both QBs and WRs, blame it on Rodgers' declining skills, blame it on dumb luck.

But only someone not in his right mind, but rather living in some kind of twisted bizarro-world, would say that a comparatively small number of missed opportunities trumps overall production in whether a group of players are better than another group. So the Baltimore WRs dropped fewer passes but still posted lower overall numbers, and somehow the Packers WRs are worse? That's akin to such Kafkaesque classics as "We had to destroy the village to save it" and "I voted for the war before I voted against it."

As usual, your problem is there is nothing but black and white, great and awful with you. No shades of gray, with some positives and negatives. But OK, fine, if drops are the measure of a bad receiver, then here are just seven WRs that you would no doubt claim are better than anyone on the Packers' roster...

Ted Ginn, Jr. 10.4%
Martavis Bryant 9.8%
Julian Edelman 9.1%
Amari Cooper 7.7%
Mike Evans 7.4%
Dez Bryant 6.9%
Rishard Matthews 6.6%

...all of whom (and there are many more) have a higher drop rate than the much-maligned...

Davante Adams 6.4%

*drops mic and walks off stage*

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Bearmeat's picture

February 02, 2016 at 06:03 pm

Dude... just STOP. Your schtick is beyond old. Until you get it through your brain that the only way to think about the team, the players, the management, the NFL in general, is yours, you are going to be beyond annoying to listen to.

Perhaps when 99% of people here (who are generally reasonable in their fandom I might add) consistently loathe you, you should get the picture.

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Thegreatreynoldo's picture

February 04, 2016 at 01:48 am

"it's widely accepted that it generally takes all but the best WRs three years to mature)...."

I completely disagree, but it is convenient. It might take until the WR's third year to develop if the guy came from smaller school that did not require the WR to run the whole route tree, didn't use timing routes, and if the WR relies on his talent rather than his route running to get open when he was in college. Those things generally apply to Janis and to a lesser degree to Adams, who came from Fresno State and its spread offense.

Sure, WRs get better generally in their 2nd and 3rd years, players at most positions do, but plenty of WRs come in and play well in their rookie and 2nd seasons. Jennings and Jones both did. The poster boy for your assertion, Jordy Nelson, caught over 70% of his targets in both his 2nd and 3rd seasons. Nelson was getting open: that is why TT gave him the contract. Cobb in his rookie season caught 80% of his targets - he too was getting open. javon Walker, as the 20th pick, had 319 then 716 yards with a 17.5 yd average/catch in his 2nd season. Robert Ferguson, a 2nd round pick, went from 293 yards to 520 receiving yards, then never did a whole lot. Derrick Mayes fits your assertion, but he only lasted 5 years in the league. Freeman, the 90th pick, had 106 receiving yards in his rookie season, then had 956 receiving yards in his 2nd season. Robert Brooks, a 3rd rounder, fits your assertion. He did little until his 3rd season. I just looked at GB's history of WR taken within the first 3 rounds. I don't think the stats agree with the notion that WRs don't do much until their 3rd season.

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zoellner25's picture

February 02, 2016 at 10:15 am

Daniels is our best D-lineman by far. He's awesome. Can't believe he wasn't selected as a Pro Bowler. I wished his attitude rubbed off more on guys like Raji

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Lphill's picture

February 02, 2016 at 02:48 pm

Smaller version of Cullen Jenkins .

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zoellner25's picture

February 02, 2016 at 03:21 pm

exactly who I thought of as well.

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Lphill's picture

February 02, 2016 at 06:10 pm

No Cow , Aaron Rodgers is the best player on the team and one of the best in the NFL . Nice try at spreading hate like a true Vikings fan .

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Thegreatreynoldo's picture

February 03, 2016 at 12:11 am

A thumbs up to you, Ross Uglem. Your analysis of Mike Daniels was very acute.

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