A to Z Sports Film Room offers valid criticism of Lukas Van Ness after rookie season for the Packers
In 2023, the Green Bay Packers had the 15th overall pick, but they moved up to 13 with the Aaron Rodgers' trade to the New York Jets, which allowed them to select Iowa edge defender Lukas Van Ness. In terms of process, the decision was pretty much aligned with what the Packers had done four […]
In 2023, the Green Bay Packers had the 15th overall pick, but they moved up to 13 with the Aaron Rodgers' trade to the New York Jets, which allowed them to select Iowa edge defender Lukas Van Ness.
In terms of process, the decision was pretty much aligned with what the Packers had done four years earlier, selecting a raw prospect, but with a high ceiling in Rashan Gary. As a rookie, Van Ness was slightly more productive than Gary, but he was still the fourth player in the edge rotation behind Gary himself, Preston Smith, and Kingsley Enagbare.
In a recent episode of The Football Room Podcast, A to Z Sports' draft analysts Destin Adams and James Foster talked about Van Ness with valid criticism about his game. Overall, the Packers' rookie received a C and a C- grade. They talked about some flaws in terms of technique and how his profile is more of a rotational or complementary edge rusher, which isn’t necessarily what teams are looking for in the first half of the first round in the draft.
Recently, Lukas Van Ness himself talked about his development and how he's getting acclimated to the NFL game.
"It just shows what the rookie season is," Van Ness during the playoffs. "Coming from Iowa and playing interior D-line and a lot of different techniques, to come into Green Bay and change up my technique and learning a different defense, I had a lot of hurdles to get over. I felt like, especially the last month or two, I've been able to put together and play a lot more free."
As a guy who went through a similar process as a developmental player, Rashan Gary said he expects a lot of growth from Van Ness in year 2.
"He's not even scratching the surface. He's just starting," Gary said. "The player he was coming in, from rookie minicamp to the guy he's leaving now to have an offseason to work on his game, is completely different. I know it's going to be a big jump next year, because he has the same type of work ethic as me and he's hungry for everything he has in front of him. He understands what he needs to work on, and I know he's going to get better at it."
Lukas Van Ness finished his rookie season with an average 64.0 PFF grade, including an unimpressive 59.0 pass rush grade. He had four sacks and 18 total pressures in the regular season, besides 20 stops.
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