Best Packer DT of the last 30 years

[RashanGary]

https://stathead.com/football/versus-finder.cgi?player_id2=DaniMi00&player_id1=ClarKe01&request=1&utm_campaign=2023_01_wdgt_player_comparison&utm_source=pfr&utm_medium=sr_xsite&utm_id=ClarKe01

https://stathead.com/football/versus-finder.cgi?player_id2=ClarKe01&player_id1=DotsSa20&request=1&utm_campaign=2023_01_wdgt_player_comparison&utm_source=pfr&utm_medium=sr_xsite&utm_id=DotsSa20

Am I forgetting someone? Dotson got to play with Reggie and Jones so he saw a lot of singles. He averaged 5 sacks per season with Green Bay.

Is Cletidus the best DT we’ve had in recent memory??

[RashanGary]

Another weird stat, Preston Smith is 8 sacks away from passing Clay Matthews career sacks number.

[Joemailman]

Clark has been the best individual. Dotson and Gilbert Brown were the best pair.

[Bretsky]

Clark is the best I have seen in GB as well at DT

[call_me_ishmael]

I ask again - if Kenny Clark is so good, we is the run D always so bad?

[Joemailman]

I ask again - if Kenny Clark is so good, we is the run D always so bad?

Because it takes more than one guy.

[texaspackerbacker]

I've always been a big Kenny Clark fan. It seemed yesterday, though, that the D and particular the D Line played better after he went out injured. Any word on how bad the injury is?

[bobblehead]

Another weird stat, Preston Smith is 8 sacks away from passing Clay Matthews career sacks number.

Because I'm not sure who the best DT has been, but I am sure that Clay was the most over rated packer in my lifetime.

[MadScientist]

Another weird stat, Preston Smith is 8 sacks away from passing Clay Matthews career sacks number.

According to Pro Football Reference, Clay is at 91.5 and Preston is at 62.0. That's 29.5 sacks away, but I did avoid new math and new new math, so maybe you have a different way of subtracting.
Clay Matthews III (https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/M/MattCl99.htm)
Preston Smith (https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/S/SmitPr00.htm)

[bobblehead]

According to Pro Football Reference, Clay is at 91.5 and Preston is at 62.0. That's 29.5 sacks away, but I did avoid new math and new new math, so maybe you have a different way of subtracting.
Clay Matthews III (https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/M/MattCl99.htm)
Preston Smith (https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/S/SmitPr00.htm)

Ha....I just looked that up as well cuz it didn't seem right. You beat me to it though. I still maintain clay was over rated though.

[Fritz]

Because I'm not sure who the best DT has been, but I am sure that Clay was the most over rated packer in my lifetime.

My poor memory is that he was a monster his first four or five years, then dropped off quickly and significantly, though his reputation did not fade as quickly as his playing did.

[Joemailman]

My poor memory is that he was a monster his first four or five years, then dropped off quickly and significantly, though his reputation did not fade as quickly as his playing did.

I think that's right. The injuries, especially hamstrings took their effect fairly quickly.

[red]

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/575dfef22eeb81ff5b6a0a54/575e0a76fe5f74a3be84ce1b/575e0af8fe5f74a3be84d5d5/1465780984853/gilbert-brown.jpg?format=original

[red]

greatest d line ever?

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CS7y_V6UAAAWOJV.jpg

[run pMc]

The last 30 years? Gilbert Brown, Santana Dotson, Grady Jackson, Ryan Pickett, Mike Daniels, BJ Raji and Kenny Clark would be the most likely contenders. Dotson was very good, Brown might be the best of the bunch. Doesn't hurt that he's a fan favorite.

Remember when Gute brought Snacks Harrison in for like 3 snaps?

[bobblehead]

https://stathead.com/football/versus-finder.cgi?player_id2=DaniMi00&player_id1=ClarKe01&request=1&utm_campaign=2023_01_wdgt_player_comparison&utm_source=pfr&utm_medium=sr_xsite&utm_id=ClarKe01

https://stathead.com/football/versus-finder.cgi?player_id2=ClarKe01&player_id1=DotsSa20&request=1&utm_campaign=2023_01_wdgt_player_comparison&utm_source=pfr&utm_medium=sr_xsite&utm_id=DotsSa20

Am I forgetting someone? Dotson got to play with Reggie and Jones so he saw a lot of singles. He averaged 5 sacks per season with Green Bay.

Is Cletidus the best DT we’ve had in recent memory??

How about Ryan Pickett? He was more of a run stuffer, but I would like 3 of him right about now.

[RashanGary]

Gilbert and Dotson

Or

Pickett and Clark


Would be the best combos. DTs are just rare. There are maybe, and that’s a big maybe, 10 good ones in the whole league at any given time.

[texaspackerbacker]

It's hard to compare 4-3 with 3-4. Did ya'all see a couple weeks ago Clark was called for holding - like an O Lineman, because his job on the play was to basically act like an O Lineman and clear out to benefit the ILBs. I see THAT as a large part of the overall problem. Joe Barry is basically an old LB coach. It seems like he sees his scheme too much from an ILB persepective, and the Packers' ILBs haven't been up to the task. I'd rather see the D Line make tackles and do some pass rush - like in a 4-3 - with one MLB rather than two ILBs.

[Sparkey]

Going back a bit farther in time, Mike McCoy was really good on some really crappy teams in the 70's.

[NewsBruin]

When I was starting to understand football, I read an SI article that the 3-4 was gaining popularity in the NFL again (I think it cited the Jets and brand-new Ravens). I couldn't understand why you'd want three jacked-up guys to absorb blocks and get no stat-line credit while sacrificing an undersized player to injury by running him into the offensive line on every snap. Even the hype article said that 3-4 teams are more worn down by the end of the regular season than their 4-3 counterparts.

I know there are some advantages, and you play to your roster's strengths, but being a 3-4 DLineman seems like a miserable way to spend a career.

[texaspackerbacker]

+1 to that, NewBruin.

[Patler]

You can only judge a player within the context of the game as it was played when he was playing. From that perspective, the best I have seen was Henry Jordan; but obviously that wasn't in the last 30 years. The best d line? Jordan, Willie Davis, Ron Kostelnik and Lionel Aldredge.

[texaspackerbacker]

I go back all the way to Henry Jordan too, and yeah, he was really good even though the game was different then - seemingly way better than those mentioned in the last 30 years. If we're gonna go beyond the 30 year mark, though, the obvious name that stands out is Reggie White.

[Patler]

If we're gonna go beyond the 30 year mark, though, the obvious name that stands out is Reggie White.

White's Packer career fits in the 30 year window ('93-'98), but he was a DE not a DT, so I didn't even consider him for this topic.

[sharpe1027]

Dotson was really good, but so we're others in different ways. I don't know how to compare them.