The Green Bay Packers are off to a 2-1 start on the season. That record is even more impressive when you consider they won their last two games without their franchise quarterback. But despite the team’s impressive performance recently, there are players who are struggling early in the season and are not living up to expectations. Here is a look at five Packers players who need to play better this season after a disappointing start:

Five Packers Players That Are Struggling, Number Five: DL T.J. Slaton

T.J Slaton plays a particular role on the Packers defense and that’s stopping the run. Unfortunately, he’s not doing that job particularly well.

According to Pro Football Focus, Slaton is below average at stopping the run this season through three games and is ranked in the bottom 10 percent of the interior defensive linemen who qualified for grades.

Slaton is losing playing time to Devonte Wyatt who has been playing well and getting more pressure on the quarterback.

Slaton needs to improve his play, or he will see his role continue to shrink. The Packers will need him to step up to consistently stop the run going forward starting with this weekend’s game against Aaron Jones and the Vikings.

Number Four: C Josh Myers

This season, center Josh Myers is best remembered for throwing up on the ball before two plays against the Colts. But Myers continues to struggle on the field, especially when blocking on running plays.

As a team, the Packers have been effective running the football especially with Malik Willis in the game in place of the injured Jordan Love.

Myers ranks in the bottom five among qualified NFL center according to PFF. His pass protection has been good, but the run blocking is well below average.

This is the final year of Myers’ contract, so he is under pressure to perform to secure his next deal whether it’s with the Pack or another team.

Five Packers Players That Are Struggling, Number Three: Kenny Clark

Kenny Clark has been the Packers best interior defensive lineman for years now. The former first-round pick out of UCLA is a three-time Pro Bowler and a team leader. He just signed a three-year, $64 million contract extension over the offseason to keep him in Green Bay through the end of the 2027 campaign.

Through three games, however, Clark has been almost invisible. He’s only made six tackles total with no sacks and no tackles for loss.

His PFF grade against the run is poor and his overall grade places him near the bottom of qualified interior defensive linemen.

While it’s too soon to panic about Clark’s disappointing start, the Packers do need more from Clark for the rest of the season.

Number Two: LB Quay Walker

The linebackers have been the weakest part of the Packers defense through three games. While Quay Walker is leading the team in tackles with 23, he just isn’t making plays. He has one tackle for loss and half a quarterback sack but is also missing too many assignments.

Walker is not grading out well in any category according to PFF, but his coverage grade is especially low. Teams also have found it easy to run directly at Walker who does slightly better when chasing down plays on the other side of the field.

This is Walker’s third NFL season, and he doesn’t seem to be improving at reading plays and getting into the right spot to make an impact on the game.

Right now, Walker is very near the bottom of PFF’s rankings among linebackers through three games. The Packers have two young linebackers in Edgerrin Cooper and Ty’Ron Hopper who could challenge Walker for playing time. He could also be shifted from middle linebacker to weak side linebacker which may play more to his strengths.

Five Packers Players That Are Struggling, Number One: Rasheed Walker

Left tackle Rasheed Walker has struggled through the first three games of the season. The former Penn State star has struggled when run blocking but has fared better in pass protection. Thus far, he has allowed one sack and five pressures through three games.

But the big problem for Walker has been penalties. He’s been called for five penalties in just three games which ties him for the second most penalties among offensive tackles in the entire league. He continues to be called for holding. Now, the officials have their eye on him as he is getting a bad reputation for committing holding penalties.

Walker needs to improve his run blocking and severely cut down on the number of penalties he commits to take his game to the next level.

 

 

 

 

Follow Gil Martin on Twitter @GilPackers

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