Second- and third-year NFL players ready to break out in 2021: Defense edition

Rashan Gary

EDGE – Rashan Gary

Back in 2019, his was somewhat of a controversial name, because Gary was labelled by many as an overrated prospect. I was totally fine with his selection back then, if they just had a clear plan for him.

I would have agreed that he wasn’t a really dominant college player, since defensive tackle Maurice Hurst was always the table-setter for that Michigan defense, but Gary offered a very intriguing skill-set with elite athletic tools and the improvement we had already seen from him during his career with the Wolverines.

However, when the Packers selected him with the 12th overall pick that year, I thought then-defensive coordinator Mike Pettine looked at Gary as a versatile piece up front, with the kind of moldable body to play anywhere from a five- to a three-technique on base downs and then move around in passing situations, since they had just signed Za’Darius and Preston Smith as their true edge rushers.

Yet, they labelled Gary as an outside linebacker right away and he became a true backup, playing just 24 percent of defensive snaps as a rookie.

This past season, he doubled his workload and started making actual impact plays for this squad, while Preston Smith looked a little overweight and just didn’t produce until late in the season. That’s why I expected the veteran to be a prime cut candidate, but instead they managed to restructure his contract to massively reduce the cap hit and keep him around in Green Bay.

Regardless, you saw the development of Gary, and Smith will have to re-establish himself to continue having a significant role. Gary improved from two to five sacks, five to 19 pressures, and three to five tackles for loss, while only missing on one attempt on twice as high a percentage of snaps (48%). I definitely expect the third-year man to come closer to splitting snaps at least with Smith, but he has all the tools to become a dominant player.

As you go through the tape, you will see that he is already a much better player than a casual fan would believe, while having the potential to continue growing.

Gary is a big dude, at 6’5”, 277 pounds. He's as physical a run defender as there is on the edge, re-setting the point of attack routinely. He lands those heavy hands, to where you actually see the heads of offensive tackles snap backwards, and he absolutely man-handles tight-ends, just like he did in this clip above to Jonnu Smith, grabbing cloth and pulling guys to the side when the ball-carrier is in range.

Coming from the backside, he may not have that crazy burst to make it impossible to leave him unblocked, but he does chase with good effort and you see his force when he pushes guys into that direction and negates any cutback opportunities, as blockers show up in the offensive backside and running backs see those guys in their peripheral vision.

I’d like to see more Rashan Gary at 3-tech... pic.twitter.com/4Bl7jzgiAw

— Ben Fennell (@BenFennell_NFL) December 20, 2020

I would still think you’d rather run away from him, because he has that sturdy frame to not get out of position, even if he gets knocked around a little as somebody catches him from the side or there’s a pulling lineman trying to kick him out, but Gary is an all-around asset on run downs.

To go along with that, Gary offers a complete skill-set as a pass-rusher – he has incredible burst for a guy his size and is devastating on speed to power, where he can take offensive tackles for a ride with that nasty long-arm move.

He is also tough to slow down on inside moves, like up-and-unders, because of his impressive short-area agility and the way he can power through the blocker’s reach. I believe he has definitely improved with his ability to rush with a plan, understand angles and the depth of the pocket, as well as coordinating his strides.

His sack production might still be limited, but he directly forced an interception in the Week 16 Titans game and there’s a few drag-down tackles on the quarterback on his tape that were a yard away from a sack.

In terms of his versatility on passing downs, Za’Darius Smith has taken on most of the duties of rushing from different alignments and angles. The fact that Gary’s snap count doubled in year two was not only because they just rotated their guys more, and the “Smith Brothers” both played a full 16-game schedule, but also because of Smith’s ability to move around and the Packers coaching staff wanting to get their second-year player more on the field.

While I believe his development isn’t given the credit it deserves, Gary still has room to improve with his ability to shed blockers and make plays in the run game, while his biggest area to work on in the passing game will be to understand his opponents and how to set them up throughout games, stressing them one way and then taking advantage of those guys overreacting to it.

As I mentioned, Preston Smith was brought back on a much more team-friendly deal, but he has to really crank things up this offseason, because the Packers now have a guy coming into year three who has shown all the signs of being ready to be a play-maker for this group. While I don’t see the two swapping roles, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if both were in the 60-70 percent range.

Gary is a supreme edge-setter in the run game, he can win in a lot of different ways as a pass-rusher and as time goes along, I expect his usage to diversify. He can set up his teammates by banging into offensive linemen on twists, but also has the burst to take advantage of when he is given a nice lane, and you can legitimately have all three so-called “outside linebackers” on the field for a full series, because Gary won’t be taken advantage of as a three-technique for example.