Packers defensive rookie report: Warren Brinson takes on bigger role

The Green Bay Packers rookies have become an increasingly prominent part of Jeff Hafley’s defense in the last month or so, and figure to be central figures for the remainder of the season after injuries have chipped away at the Packers’ defensive depth.

Here’s how a trio of Green Bay rookies have been progressing in recent weeks:

DL Warren Brinson

Due to injuries to Karl Brooks and more recently Devonte Wyatt, Brinson has been thrust into a more prominent role in Green Bay’s defense in recent weeks, and as to be expected for a rookie sixth-round pick, his play has been up and down.

There have been positive signs in the run game where Brinson plays with sound technique and holds his own. As the Eagles tried to run out the clock late, the rookie fired his hands right into the center’s chest off the snap, jarring him back and making Saquon Barkley change course.

On a similar play against the Vikings, he did well to keep his eye on the ball while engaged with an opponent, before shedding to make a tackle on the running back. He also helped stuff TJ Hockenson’s TE sneak play.

Versus the Lions on Thursday, he effectively crashed down the line of scrimmage and muddied the picture for Jahmyr Gibbs, who could not find daylight on the run. There are also instances on tape of him holding his ground fairly well against a double team.

There are also some lowlights though. Brinson has reps where he is knocked way back off the line of scrimmage against the run, especially by double teams, and he also takes himself out of plays by rushing upfield too aggressively or playing over his toes and ending up on the ground.

On Jameson Williams’ touchdown in which Carrington Valentine failed to wrap up, Brinson could possibly have cleaned it up and got him to the ground, but took a bad angle to the ball and was not urgent enough, assuming Valentine would make the tackle.

As a pass rusher, Brinson has flashed some ability in recent weeks, including a five-pressure day against Minnesota, which also included his first NFL sack as he worked through traffic to get JJ McCarthy down.

At other times he got in the quarterback’s face after stunting around late and finding a gap, or with an effective arm over move, but could not finish on the quarterback on both occasions, slipping on the second one.

Brinson also beat a guard quickly across his face, but collided with Edgerrin Cooper who was blitzing on the play, sending both players to the ground.

In terms of a standard bull rush, Brinson has had a bit of success with a slow burn rush a couple of times, but is mostly not giving opponents too much trouble with his physical tools. His pressures have mostly come through technique or pure effort.

Replacing the impact of Wyatt will be a tall task, and although Brinson is not being charged with that task alone, he still has a ways to go to be a reliable player down to down.

DL Nazir Stackhouse

Stackhouse is still playing a handful of plays per game, averaging 6.5 snaps since Week 10. He is mostly being deployed in short yardage situations, and has been an asset in these situations, particularly in the last couple of weeks.

Versus Minnesota, he did a nice job of staying low and surging forward to help blow up the Vikings’ attempted TE sneak and was also on the field on the following play as the Packers’ thwarted a fourth down run to get the ball back to their offense.

He had an impressive play on Thanksgiving against the Lions with a textbook stack and shed, making a tackle on Gibbs. Stackhouse was credited a run stop (a tackle resulting in a failure for the offense) on the play, just his second of the year.

In general, he has been holding the point of attack well in the run game and looks to be settling into his role as a situational run stuffer. Whether his role significantly expands with Devonte Wyatt out for the year remains to be seen.

DE Barryn Sorrell

After seeing his workload increase earlier in the year, Sorrell has faded more into the background in the last month, playing just 26 snaps on defense in the past four games.

His play has been fairly nondescript, but an interesting change is that he has been playing more against the run. 17 of his 30 run defense snaps on the year have come since Week 10, perhaps speaking to the coaching staff’s increased confidence in his ability to hold up in that regard.

Sorrell has been solid in those opportunities, securing the edge effectively and shedding blocks to help limit runs, and holding the back side of run plays responsibly, mindful of any fakes or cutbacks.

Back in Week 10 he got in Jalen Hurts’ face late in a play through some pure hustle, but there has not been much of note from a pass rushing standpoint in terms of snaps played or highlights.

This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Packers defensive rookie report: Warren Brinson takes on bigger role