In this series, we preview the draft from the eyes of the people who make football decisions for the Packers. In 2016 and 2017, we saw the view from Ted Thompson's suite. This year, we switch perspectives to the coaches—the commanders on the ground.

Football has a military tradition, and football strategies are rooted in military history. We'll discuss the Packers coaches' strategies in that context. Today's Part 1 looks at the Packer offense through Mike McCarthy's eyes, discussing the equipment he needs for his guerilla forces and the 2018 draft prospects who are fit for service. In Part 2 today, we turn to Mike Pettine's defensive strategy: a plan that calls for frying modern quarterbacks' circuitry, then laying siege with a Mongol horde.

The Birth of Mike Pettine's "Modern Mongol Horde" Strategy

In the 1990s, NFL defenses were in retreat. Most defenses were built to stop conventional offensive attacks like the Dallas Cowboys, who relied on overwhelming ground assaults coupled with long-range bombing campaigns. To stop them, conventional defenses had slow, rugged linebackers good for battle against conventional offenses' slow, rugged fullbacks and tight ends. But as the 1990s progressed, more offenses abandoned conventional warfare in favor of the guerrilla tactics Bill Walsh perfected in Cincinnati and San Francisco. Rather than "shock and awe" campaigns with deep strikes and bulky ground forces, guerrilla offenses pummeled opponents with a barrage of short-range passes to shifty, durable receivers. The conventional defenses' slow linebackers weren't built to win a guerrilla war.

Defensive commandeers looked for new ways to wipe out the guerrillas. In Pittsburgh, Dick LeBeau's armies napalmed the battlefield by using short zones to flood the guerillas' favorite target area: the short middle of the field. LeBeau's former apprentice, Dom Capers, used the same strategy in Carolina.

The Ravens' defensive coordinator, Marvin Lewis, had a different war plan. Lewis knew guerrilla offenses' vulnerabilities; he'd served as an assistant to Paul Hacket, a Bill Walsh discipline, at the University of Pittsburgh. Lewis would not fight the guerillas with conventional weapons or modern-age specialties like speed rushers or coverage linebackers. Instead, Lewis wanted to build an army fit to route the guerrillas: a bloodthirsty Mongol horde.

Siege weapons like Tony Siragusa, the Ravens big defensive tackle, would ram the guerrilla offenses' smaller blockers from the interior. The Ravens forced opponents to brace the gates and use four blockers against three defensive linemen. Next, Lewis sent heavy explosives like Rob Burnett and Peter Boulware around opponent's flanks, blowing up other blockers. With the guerrillas' small blockers all fighting for their lives, war horse linebackers like Ray Lewis were free to stalk the battlefield, hunting for ball carriers. To prevent receivers from sneaking deep amidst the onslaught at the line of scrimmage, Lewis used tracking hounds like Duane Starks and Chris McAllister as cornerbacks. Lewis' horde routed guerrilla armies and conventional ones too. His 2000 defense surrendered only 10 points a game, and the Ravens won the Super Bowl.

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But the guerillas had already perfected a new technology to defeat the hordes, and everyone else. In Kansas City, Hackett and assistant Mike McCarthy had achieved breakthroughs with artificial intelligence for quarterbacks. They developed a system that would automatically tell quarterbacks where to attack before the ball was even snapped, based on nothing more than the pre-snap positioning of the enemy forces. One the software was successfully installed in a normal quarterback, he became a Robo QB. McCarthy's first test subject in Kansas City, Rich Gannon, transformed into a league MVP.

Other QB programmers copied the algorithm, ushering in the Age of the Robo QBs. Quarterbacks broke the long-held touchdown pass records, and the Ravens could no longer stop them. In 2002, McCarthy and Robo QB Aaron Brooks scored 37 points against Baltimore. The next year, Mike Holmgren and Robo QB Matt Hasselbeck scored 41. The Ravens' medieval horde was no match for modern cyborg quarterbacks.

In 2005, new Ravens defensive coordinator Rex Ryan and assistant Mike Pettine came up with a plan to stop the rise of the Robo QBs. They would fry the quarterbacks' circuitry, by feeding them bad data in pre-snap reads. The Robo QBs would see an attack coming from an overloaded field on one side, and their pre-snap algorithm would tell them a safe location where they could go with the ball. But after the snap, Ryan and Pettine wouldn't bring the attack from the overloaded side. Instead, they'd attack the very location of the Robo QBs' algorithm told them to go. The Robo QBs couldn't trust their programming against the Ravens' defense, and it caused a system meltdown.

Once Ryan and Pettine figured out how to short Robo QBs' circuits, the Ravens' Mongol horde once again began laying waste to NFL offenses. In 2006, they gave up 12 points a game. Ryan and Pettine left Baltimore to build a "modern" Mongol horde for the Jets, and their first army there gave up only 14 a game. Pettine was hired to build his own army in Buffalo in 2013; the next year, he was hired as head coach in Cleveland. The first year, his defense was ninth in the league. The next year, his cornerbacks got hurt, his quarterback flamed out, and Pettine was fired. He went into exile for a year and spent the last season doing side projects for Pete Carroll in Seattle.

In January, Mike McCarthy hired Pettine to build a modern Mongol horde in Green Bay.

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DEFENSIVE TACKLES

"The Battering Ram" and "The War Elephant"

OVERVIEW: Modern-age NFL defenses use precision weapons along the defensive line. They employ quick players, like laser-cutting defensive tackle Aaron Donald, to shoot gaps off the snap. But a Mongol horde like Pettine's has no need for precision. Pettine uses blunt-force interior linemen who barrel into enemy blockers and force them to brace the gates.

At defensive tackle, Pettine uses two types of units. The standard-issue unit is a battering ram who can get low and grapple with hulking guards. Pettine's battering rams aren't trying to escape blocks and make a break for the backfield, at least on running downs. They are just trying to win the wrestling match with their blockers, and keep him from harassing anyone else. Pettine's past battering rams included Kelly Gregg in Baltimore, Mike DeVito with the Jets, and Kyle Williams in Buffalo.

The second unit, the war elephant, is harder to find. Pettine's war elephants have been giants like Haloti Ngata (6'4", 345), Kenrick Ellis (6'5", 346), and Danny Shelton (6'2", 335). Those monsters do not merely tie up one blocker, like the battering rams. They're large enough to demand the attention of two.

ROSTER OUTLOOK: Pettine has two first-class battering rams in Mike Daniels and Kenny Clark. Both were high school wrestling champs who can get low and grapple. The only other defensive tackle on the roster, Montravious Adams, isn't a battering ram or a war elephant. He's a modern-age gap-shooter left over from Dom Capers' defense. Pettine will have to decide whether to jettison Adams or teach him to wrestle in the trenches.

DRAFT OUTLOOK: This draft offers the rarest of species, a true war elephant. If the Packers miss out on him, then Pettine may want to take another battering ram later. Let's start with the war elephant, the Monster of Milpitas, California:

            VITA VEA, Washington. Vea frightened teens as a 260-pound running back in high school. Then, he hit his growth spurt. He's now 6'4", 350, and he can still move—Vea ran the 40-yard dash in 5.1 seconds, about as fast as linemen who are 50 pounds lighter. War elephants like Vea are rarely seen in the wild, and he'll likely be gone before the Packers' first choice at pick 14. But if he slides down the board, Pettine's eyes will light up at the prospect of starting his new medieval army with Vea on the front line.

            DEADRIN SENAT, South Florida. At 6'0", 314, Senat is the right size for service as a battering ram. He's strong, with 35 reps of 225 pounds on the bench press at the Combine (just six fewer than Vea). He missed a couple games with targeting ejections, which might bother some other teams. But Pettine is building a medieval horde in Green Bay, and he'll accept bloodthirsty recruits.

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DEFENSIVE END

"The Siege Tower"

OVERVIEW: In his base defense, Pettine uses one defensive end. That defensive end isn't an explosive pass rusher—we'll get to those in a moment—but rather a siege tower, used to tie up the offense's best tackle and move him out of the linebackers' way. Siege tower defensive ends are tall, long-armed Goliaths like Shaun Ellis, who was Pettine's first siege tower with the Jets.

ROSTER OUTLOOK: This offseason the Packers signed Muhammad Wilkerson, who replaced Ellis as Pettine’s siege tower in New York. Wilkerson fits the dimensions for the role: 6’4”, 315 pounds with arms that are 35 inches long, just the right length for grabbing and controlling offensive tackles. Dean Lowry’s arms are only 31 inches, so he’s not suited for the role. Lowry will have to fight for snaps as a rusher in nickel packages.

DRAFT OUTLOOK: Wilkerson’s only signed for a year, and good siege towers can be expensive. The Packers may want to use one of their late round picks on a project who fits the spec sheet for the job, but has some more learning to do. This draft has one of those:

            HASTON ADAMS, Mary Hardin-Baylor. Scouts turn over every rock looking for siege towers, and Adams has the tools for the job: 6’5”, 295 with 34-inch arms. Adams treated inferior competition the way a pro prospect should, with nearly 60 tackles for loss in college, and he’ll surely get bigger with a pro strength and conditioning program. He’ll need at least a year to lift and learn, so he’s unlikely to be drafted until the late rounds. If his development goes well, he may be ready to replace Wilkerson when his one-year contract expires.

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OUTSIDE LINEBACKERS

"The Heavy Explosives"

OVERVIEW: With the siege tower tying up the team’s best tackle, Pettine can attack around the offense’s flanks. To make those attacks, Pettine doesn’t want precision explosives like the Bears’ Leonard Floyd or T.J. Watt—both guys who knife through blockers with their tall, lanky frames. Pettine prefers old-fashioned barrels of dynamite, shorter and stockier pass rushers who can blast tight ends and weaker tackles and make a boom. Terrell Suggs and Adalius Thomas, the 2006 Ravens’ outside linebackers, are the prototypes.

ROSTER OUTLOOK: Nick Perry is about the same size as Suggs and Thomas (6’3”, 265) and he packs a punch. He’s an ideal heavy explosive. Clay Matthews is a half-size too small, and his playing style is closer to the smart-guided missiles that Pettine avoids. Kyler Fackrell was supposed to be a precision weapon like Floyd and Watt, not fit for regular duty in Pettine’s horde. Vince Biegel is an explosive, but not a heavy one. He’s 20 pounds lighter than Perry.

DRAFT OUTLOOK: This draft has the right kind of incendiary for a Dark Ages defense:

            HERCULES MATA’AFA, Washington State. Like Adalius Thomas, Mata’afa wreaked havoc as an undersized 255-pound defensive tackle in college. Last year, facing off against Pac-12 interior linemen who had 50 pounds on him, Mata’afa blasted into backfields for more than 20 tackles for loss. He’ll last until the middle rounds because he’s never played outside linebacker before. But Pettine was Thomas’s position coach with the Ravens, so he knows that a DT-to-OLB position switch can work. Just like Thomas, Mata’afa attacks blockers like his hair is on fire.

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INSIDE LINEBACKERS

"The War Horses"

OVERVIEW: With offenses’ blockers under siege up front, Pettine’s inside linebackers are free to attack. Pettine doesn’t use the big run-game Howitzers like Pepper Johnson of the ‘80s Giants, who remain out-of-style for most defenses. Nor does he use modern drones, zippy little guys like Deion Jones of the Falcons. Instead, he employs cavalry units—slower than the new-age linebackers, but better armored and heavier tacklers. Ray Lewis, Bart Scott, and David Harris all stalked battlefields as war horses for Ryan and Pettine’s modern Mongol hordes.

ROSTER OUTLOOK: With 94 tackles last year, Blake Martinez seems ready for duty as a war horse. Jake Ryan moves too stiffly in the open field, and too often gets tangled up in traffic.

DRAFT OUTLOOK: Pettine needs more war horses, and there are two for sale at different stages of the draft.

            DARIUS LEONARD, South Carolina State. Leonard had almost 400 career tackles at the FCS level, and he kept it up against bigger blockers. He had 19 tackles and a blocked field goal against Clemson, and another 14 tackles in the Senior Bowl. The guy likes to hunt. He’s also better-suited for passing-down duty in nickel packages than Martinez, who got picked on by opposing quarterbacks last year. Leonard may last until the third or fourth round, because he’s not one of the new, modern-age inside linebackers with wide-receiver speed, and because his armor is a little light (234 pounds). Leonard might add more in a pro-level strength program.

            JACK CICHY, Wisconsin. When healthy, Cichy set backfields ablaze. He had nine tackles and three sacks in a single half in the 2015 Holiday Bowl against USC, and 15 tackles the next fall against Ohio State. Cichy isn’t a sleek new breed of linebacker, and he’ll drop even further than Leonard due to injury concerns. After his big performances, Cichy tore his pectoral, then his knee, and hasn’t played since. But his athletic testing numbers at the Badgers’ pro day looked OK, and the Packers have extra late-round picks to spare.

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SAFETIES

"The Mounted Archers"

OVERVIEW: Sometimes, a receiver will catch a pass behind the scorched-earth destruction at the line of scrimmage. When that happens, Pettine needs his mounted archers at safety to swarm. Pettine doesn’t use hybrid cornerbacks or lurking ball-hawks. In his defense, corners cover and safeties tackle. Pettine’s safeties are just smaller versions of his war horses at inside linebacker: guys who can slice through traffic and bullseye their targets on the nose.

ROSTER OUTLOOK: The 220-pound Josh Jones is bloodthirsty enough to serve in Pettine’s horde. He was too unreliable for action last year, but Pettine’s coaches will work hard to ensure he doesn’t go to waste. Ha Ha Clinton-Dix mentally checked-out last year, but he’ll find service as a mounted archer for Pettine far more fun than his responsibilities in Capers’ complex schemes. Marwin Evans has the right size and temperament. He’s not athletic enough for starting duty, but he has depth value. Kentrell Brice and Jermaine Whitehead are too small for regular duty in Pettine’s horde.

DRAFT OUTLOOK: Pettine could use another safety, because Jones is uncertain and Clinton-Dix is a free agent after the season. There is a suitable mounted archer waiting for Pettine in the middle rounds:

            DANE CRUIKSHANK, Arizona. If Pettine’s position coaches are going to be starting from scratch with Jones, they may as well pull up a chair for Cruikshank. He’s a one-size smaller version of Jones, with all the same athleticism and hard hitting, and all the same breakdowns in coverage. But if Pettine can re-program them on the basics of his defense, then his 2019 horde could include the fastest and most vicious pair of starting safeties in the league. If not, then Cruikshank will have value smacking returners on special teams.

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CORNERBACKS

"The Wolves" and "The Hounds"

OVERVIEW: Pettine’s marauding horde of destruction has but one weakness: its focus on attack weapons leaves it vulnerable to intermediate and deep passes. If quarterbacks manage to find time in the pocket—and there will always be plays when they do—then Pettine must rely on his cornerbacks to protect the homeland. Weak cornerbacks destroy his battle plans. In 2007, both the Ravens’ starting cornerbacks missed significant time with injury. Their ferocious defense, which held teams to an NFL-best 12 points a game the year before, fell to 22nd in the league.

To minimize the risks of disaster, Pettine relies on first-class man-cover cornerbacks, in two sizes: the wolves and the hounds. The larger wolves handle opponents’ big bomb-threat receivers on the outside, the Julio Joneses and A.J. Greens of the league. The smaller hounds handle the zippier prey who zigzag across the middle of the field, guys like Brandin Cooks. All of Pettine’s canines must be superb athletes who can stay on receivers’ tails, and catch up if they are fooled. Slower zone corners need not apply.

ROSTER OUTLOOK: Kevin King is an aspiring wolf, with 6’3” size and excellent speed—everything he needs to stick with the best and biggest outside receivers, or the big slot targets like the Vikings’ Adam Thielen. Davon House is an aging wolf who can’t track and recover like King, but he can handle lower-caliber deep threats outside. Among the hounds, the Packers signed veteran tracker Tramon Williams to a two-year deal, joining unproven holdovers Josh Hawkins and Herb Waters. Williams is savvy, but at his age he may not be able to keep up with the most explosive target he’ll face in the NFC North, the Vikings’ Stefon Diggs.

DRAFT OUTLOOK: Pettine could use a top-rate tracking hound and a developmental wolf to replace House after his one-year deal expires. This draft has both:

            JAIRE ALEXANDER, Louisville. Alexander was made for hounding Stefon Diggs. He is 5’10”, 196—around the same size as Diggs—but Alexander is one speed faster and just as shifty and aggressive. He was slowed last year with a sprained knee, but unlike Damarious Randall in Green Bay, Alexander fought through injury to help the team. He’s clearly healthy now: Alexander ran a 4.38 40-yard dash at the scouting combine, and had some of the best agility drill times of any similarly sized corner. He’s a first-round talent, and should still be available for the Packers at 14.

But if 345-pound war elephant Vita Vea falls into the Packers’ lap at 14 (ouch!), then Alexander will be gone by the time the Packers pick again in the second round. They’ll still have their choice of a couple acceptable hounds. LSU’s Donte Jackson and Alabama’s Anthony Averett are both are as fast as Alexander, but they’ll go later in the draft because they’re 15 pounds lighter and more susceptible to being knocked around.

            MICHAEL JOSEPH, Dubuque. Yes, Dubuque. Joseph didn’t face elite receivers when lining up against the likes of Luther College, Nebraska Wesleyan, or crosstown rival Loras. But Joseph has the 6’1” height and athleticism needed for deflecting deep bombs as an outside corner in the NFL, and he grabbed eight interceptions last year. Cornerbacks coach Joe Whitt will have a lot of work ahead of him with Joseph, who never needed proper technique to make plays in the Iowa Conference. But Whitt has had success with blank canvasses like college receiver Sam Shields. With House back for another year, Whitt will have time to train an aspiring wolf in Joseph.

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            Enjoy the draft, everyone. Hope to see you again next year.

You can view Part 1 of Matt's "Guerrilla Warfare" series on Mike McCarthy's offensive foundations here.