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A multiple defensive tackle would change Green Bay’s defense. There isn’t one in this free agent class
Now that we’ve addressed free-agent cornerbacks and defensive ends in our advanced analytics section, let’s dive into the defensive tackle position. Even with a five-man rotation, the Green Bay Packers are hoping to add a little more stability at the position this offseason.
To paint the picture of the position, I turn your attention to T.J. Slaton, who has started all 34 regular season games for Green Bay over the last two years. Slaton, who only played 39 percent of the team’s total defensive snaps last year, is a run-first defensive tackle. Whether he was on the field or not dictated which type of defense the Packers would be in 2025.
When he was on the field, Green Bay allowed just 3.4 yards per carry and a 33.8 percent rushing success rate allowed in the ground game. When Slaton was off, though, those numbers jumped to 4.4 yards per carry and 59.8 percent.
In the passing game, the Packers allowed just 5.8 net yards per attempt and a 40 percent dropback success rate in 2025. When Slaton was on the field, those numbers jumped up to 7.6 and 58.1 percent.
In short, Green Bay was very successful at stopping the run when Slaton was on the field, but not when he was off, and were poor in the passing game, but good when he was off, last year. That’s the story of the Packers’ defensive tackle room: A group of one-dimensional players who struggled to find success across the various situations that football games present. Essentially, Green Bay was breaking the huddle and declaring with their personnel whether or not they were better suited to stop the run or pass.
Unfortunately, there aren’t many good running game numbers for interior defensive linemen, so we’re going to have to focus on pass-rushing metrics in this article. Using a two-year outlook, 68 interior defensive linemen have played as many snaps as T.J. Slaton, the Packers’ fourth-most-played defensive tackle, in the NFL. We’re going to label the players who match or exceed Slaton’s snap count as “qualifiers” for this exercise.
Among qualifiers, NFL Pro has the average pressure rate for interior defensive linemen at 8.6 percent over the last two years. Now that we know the league-average rate, at least among qualifiers, we can compare and rank how well defensive tackles have performed compared to their peers over the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
I can hear the comment section starting up already. The numbers must be bunk if Devonte Wyatt is this high on the list. Here’s what I’ll say; these are the players who rank above Wyatt in pressures versus average: Quinnen Williams, Zach Allen, Osa Odighizuwa, DeForest Buckner, Ed Oliver, Chris Jones, Javon Hargrave,...
