The Packers have lined up Clark at nose tackle during training camp so far though. FWIW Baranczyk doesn't share your concern about the rookie.
First-round pick Kenny Clark is looking like he’ll help the Packers immediately.
The nose tackle does two things that stand out: He keeps his pads low, and he uses his hands well.
A lot of talented defensive linemen get away with sloppy technique in college because they’re bigger and stronger than everyone they face. But the NFL exposes warts.
Jerel Worthy, a Packers second-round pick in 2012, is a perfect example. His main talent was getting a quick jump off the snap, and in college he was quicker and stronger and faster than almost all the offensive linemen he faced. But in the NFL, quarterbacks’ cadences kept him from anticipating the count, and he couldn’t physically dominate the blockers like he did in college. He’s now out of the NFL.
Clark, on the other hand, is good fundamentally along with being talented enough to be a first-round pick. He keeps his pads low, so in half-line run drills and team drills on Family Night you didn’t see him once get pushed out of position. He also kept his hands in tight, so a few times he was able to drive back the blocker two or three yards.
We’ll see as camp goes on and he gets work as a nickel pass rusher how he is getting off blocks and getting up field. But as a nose tackle against the run, he holds his gap well and sometimes gets some push.
It’s rare to see a guy that young (he turns 21 in October) who plays with good technique. And the Packers are going to need him after B.J. Raji’s surprise retirement in the offseason and Mike Pennel’s four-game suspension to start the season.
First, this is the evaluation period. Guys are put in various positions to see what they can do. Picking a player is a speculation. There is an ascending progression of evaluation: position room, practice, padded practice, preseason against the opponent's second and third team, preseason against the opponent's first team and then, one would hope, regular season. In most cases you won't know what you've got, for this season anyway, until you get 3 or 4 games into the regular season. Sometimes a guy is surprisingly good or surprisingly bad for an earlier assessment, but not often.
If nothing else, the Packers need to come up with a backup NT for the first 4 games, which may partially account for this early work at the position.
We're only 3 or 4 padded practices into this thing, while veterans with known abilities are put to the side. Does anybody think Peppers not working with the first team in initial practices means he won't be starting? I don't think Guion needs any special work at NT; the job is not rocket science, he's a known quantity, and it saves on veteran wear and tear. If that tape is indicative of where Clark will be handling double teams by week 1, he should not being playing NT; Guion can be moved in with little or no prep. Clark is a bit undersized for the position to start with.
Second, I go by the evidence available to me not what somebody tells me I should see. This is the "Lake Wobegon" part of the year where "all men are strong and all children are above average". If Baranczyk did not see him get "pushed out of position" in "half-line run drills and team drills on Family Night
" as his sole observation, then perhaps he should review those clips as a counterpoint.
Clark would not be the first D-Lineman with outstanding technique and strength that simply does not translate to NT. I look forward to seeing him in preseason. As it stands, those clips should temper one's early enthusiasm for Clark as a NT.
