DENVER – It’s going to be different for Green Bay Packers rookie Chris McClellan when the regular season starts.
His situation will change when veterans Devonte Wyatt and Javon Hargrave return to being full-time players and trusted linemen Warren Brinson and Karl Brooks take a good share of the remaining snaps along the defensive line.
Most rookie defensive linemen – even first-rounders – find the transition to the NFL difficult and spend most of their rookie seasons realizing they are ill-equipped to deal with the advanced techniques NFL offensive linemen use to stymie them.
But McClellan has said phooey to all that adjustment period stuff by continually playing above his third-round grade and making it difficult for the coaches to apply normal standards to his progress.
“I mean, he shows it every day in practice, and I think has shown up in these games as well,” coach Matt LaFleur said after the Packers beat the Denver Broncos 31-13 at Empower Field at Mile High in their second exhibition game Aug. 21. “I mean, that’s one of the best teams in the National Football League, and they got a ton of players and really in every phase. So, I thought, all in all, was a pretty good thing.”
In other words, LaFleur was not downplaying the fact McClellan led the team with six tackles, including one for loss, and put such a wicked pass rush move on veteran guard Ben Powers that Powers fell to his knees, leaving McClellan a clear path to flush quarterback Bo Nix out of the pocket.
(Nix had to dump the ball off and cornerback Kamal Hadden was there to dump running back Tyler Badie for a 2-yard loss, so give him an assist on another tackle for loss.)
“I had way more production this week, so that’s good,” said McClellan, the 77th pick in the draft from Missouri. “I just feel like every week the game is slowing down for me. I definitely felt like the process I took into this game was to kind of keep growing. It felt good to make a couple plays and help the team.”
The 6-foot-3, 313-pound McClellan is an unusual player because he’s broad like a nose tackle, but he has long arms and huge hands and played like an interior pass rusher at Missouri. His six sacks last year ranked him among the top defensive tackles in the SEC and validated his potential after two unproductive years at Florida (started only one game) and just a solid first year at Missouri.
McClellan benefited from the fact Wyatt was being brought along slowly after undergoing ankle surgery in December and Hargrave, who was signed in March, developed knee tenderness in offseason workouts and started training camp on the physically unable to perform list.
The coaches saw enough in McClellan in the offseason that they elevated him to first team heading into training camp. He hasn’t missed a day of practice and played 36 snaps against Pittsburgh and likely more than that (when the official numbers come out) against the Broncos.
He has taken advantage of every snap he’s been given.
“He came in with the right attitude,” said veteran defensive tackle Jonathan Ford. “He’s doing the work. He’s put that work in every day. He asks questions. He goes hard every day and applies what he learns. It matters to him. It’s been amazing how hard he’s worked.
“We’re deep (at the position), but I think all of us can help during the regular season.”
McClellan got to play against the Steelers’ starting offensive line and was in off the bench quickly against the Broncos, so he was able to get some snaps against a physical unit that includes Powers, highly rated left tackle Garrett Bolles and two-time All-Pro Quinn Meinerz, the UW-Whitewater product considered one of the best guards in the game.
McClellan did his homework and knew about Meinerz and was fired up to go against him.
“He’s a great, great player,” McClellan said. “I was very excited to face him because they were telling us a couple days before that he’s a Pro Bowler guy. So, the way I see it, if you can go out there and play against one of the best in the game, you can play with anybody.
“I feel like we got some good reps against each other.”
Though McClellan has declared his readiness for the NFL with his training camp play, there’s still that regular-season hump he has to get over if he’s going to have a productive rookie year.
All he has to do is ask Wyatt about how tough the first year is. Wyatt didn’t start a game and had only 1½ sacks despite being a first-round pick. Or Kenny Clark, a first-round pick who started only two games and had no sacks and one tackle for loss his rookie season. Or Mike Daniels, who didn’t start a game and had just two sacks his rookie year.
All became pillars of the defense, but it took time for them to adjust to the NFL. McClellan’s challenge will be making the most of a limited number of snaps he’s probably going to receive early in the season.
Wyatt will play a lot, Hargrave will play as much as his 33-year-old body will allow, Brooks will get a heavy dose of pass rush snaps and Brinson will be a major player after starting to show up late in his rookie year and proving in camp he deserves to be one of the three starters in the base 3-4 defense.
McClellan is even competing against Ford and Nazir Stackhouse for nose tackle snaps and with end Lukas Van Ness for an inside pass-rush spot in the third-down defense. Though the regular season is creeping up on everyone, McClellan tries not to think about what his role will be.
“I just try to go out there and play my game,” McClellan said. “I’m not trying to rush anything or play outside my wheelhouse. Just go out there and do your job.
“I hope I’ve just shown that I can go out there and be a reliable piece for the team, go out there and play hard, do my job, and do everything that they need me to do, for however long they need me.”
This article originally appeared on Packers News: Packers rookie D-lineman Chris McClellan takes big step against Broncos
Reporting by Tom Silverstein, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Packers News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Tom Silverstein, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
