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Green Bay signed free agent Brandon Chillar from the Rams to set up a tryout for Poppinga’s starting slot alongside defensive leaders Nick Barnett and A.J. Hawk.
Competition? Perfect for Poppinga.
“I’m in a competition all the time. Everybody’s in a competition. Who here is not in a competition right now? If you’re denying, you’re lying,” Poppinga said.
Chillar, who signed a two-year deal worth as much as $5.4 million, said the organization let him know from the start it was Poppinga’s job to lose.
“They were straight up with me. Brady’s a good player, it’s his job. So I kind of thought this is where I’d be sitting,” Chillar said. “So, it’s just up to me to go out and make some plays, see what happens.”
But the position battle highlights something more for the Packers, they’re deep at linebacker after being thin there last season, but defensive line is a growing concern.
That’s a reversal from the 2007 team that won the NFC North and finished a game from the Super Bowl. Defensive tackle Corey Williams was traded to Cleveland. Injuries hampered defensive end Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila and starting tackles Justin Harrell and Ryan Pickett.
The problems led Packers coach Mike McCarthy to make an off-the-cuff remark about installing a new defense with three down linemen and four linebackers.
While he wasn’t serious, the Packers did flash an even more extreme package in the Monday night exhibition loss to Cincinnati with two linemen, four linebackers and five defensive backs by adding Chillar to the mix.
“I love it, obviously any time I can get a chance to get on the field, I was excited about it,” Chillar said. “I’d like to see more of it. It depends on how successful it is.”
Barnett was impressed by the scheme, too.
“It’s definitely something you might see more of,” Barnett said. “We brought out the four linebackers out there moving around, see the quarterback a little confused, pointing at this guy, that guy. If we continue to grow with that scheme, we’ll bring more of it and more of it.”
Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer threw an incomplete pass on the play, and Cincinnati’s first team offense was held in check by the Packers for the first quarter even though Green Bay didn’t play starting cornerbacks Charles Woodson and Al Harris.
Cincinnati gained only 19 yards of total offense in the first 15 minutes, including 6 yards on the final play of the quarter.
“We came out and set the tone early,” Hawk said.
It’s a tone that’s expected to get louder this season with Aaron Rodgers replacing Brett Favre at quarterback.
McCarthy has already said he expects the defense to lead, and there’s a quiet confidence building in the locker room that Green Bay will finish much higher than last season when the Packers were the 11th stingiest defense in the NFL, allowing 313.3 yards.
“Why not? The tools are in place, it’s a matter of going out there and doing it,” Poppinga said. “Right now, it’s a matter of training and getting ourselves honed in on being our best. Whether that means we’re No. 1 in the NFL, I don’t know. But the potential’s there. It can be something we can do.”
And it starts in the middle. Besides Chillar, the Packers are also hopeful of the return of Abdul Hodge, who sat out all of 2007 and had surgeries on both knees for chronic tendinitis.
“This is the best I’ve ever felt in my life,” Hodge said. “A year ago, both my knees, it was bad. Now that I had two surgeries, it was a gray area. But, I’m just glad I’m back right now.”
Forget bad knees, Hodge danced on the field late in the game during a timeout that even had Bengals’ flashy wide receiver Chad Johnson in stitches.
“It was fun. I saw them dancing,” Johnson said. “It must be something they do here. But it was cool.”
But the defense won’t be anything to laugh at when the season starts if the line returns from injury and Woodson and Harris put aside nagging injuries as expected.
“The guys who are hurting, just get in the training room and get back healthy, and there ain’t no telling what we’re going to be,” safety Tramon Williams said.
