Cheesehead
Well-known member
- Mar 19, 2019
- 2,854
- 0
Coming off his first Pro Bowl and entering the fifth-year option on his rookie contract, Clark has developed into one of the best interior defensive linemen in the game. He's a top-notch run stopper who also has posted 16½ career sacks, including six this past season when he once again came on like gangbusters down the stretch.
Clark had 4½ sacks in December plus another in the playoffs as the Packers made their push to within a game of the Super Bowl. He had 4½ in December of 2017 as well.
Whether a draft pick possesses such a strong finishing kick or not, the Packers could use a high-level prospect to pair with Clark for the next several years, assuming that extension does get done.
Green Bay has just one other established veteran up front in Dean Lowry, who was signed to an extension a year ago as the 2016 fourth-round pick from Northwestern entered the final season of his rookie deal.
The Packers like the steady presence Lowry brings, but a sackless 2019 season was not what they envisioned after he had been trending upward in that category (two in each of his first two years, then three in 2018).
After that, it's three developmental players at different stages on this unit. Montravius Adams, a third-round pick from Auburn in 2017, had the best offseason of his career last year but it didn't translate to the on-field production the Packers hoped for.
Adams' playing time went from one or two dozen snaps per game through the first half of the season to half that as the year wound down. He's in a contract year.