Lukas

Van Ness

Also questionable for Week 3 are EDGE Lukas Van Ness and LT David Bakhtiari. Alexander did not appear on the injury report until Friday, indicating he suffered the injury during Green Bay’s final practice of the week. Should he be forced to sit versus the Saints, Chris Olave’s path to another 100-yard game would become even more clear.

Van Ness left in the second half of Green Bay’s Week 2 matchup against Atlanta with an elbow injury. The team announced him as questionable to return. The rookie is a key linebacker for the Packers’ defense and will try to return Week 3 against the Saints if he does not return against the Falcons.

The Packers still have work to do at the desk with both wide receiver Jayden Reed and tight end Luke Musgrave yet to sign their rookie contracts, but they finally have their first round selection under contract. The selection of the Iowa product in the middle of the first round turned heads, particularly considering he appears to be mostly blocked for snaps early in the season with the team returning Preston Smith, De’Vondre Campbell, Quay Walker, and Rashan Gary.

The Packers had the No. 13 pick following their No. 15 swap with the Jets as part of the Aaron Rodgers trade. Van Ness (6’5/272) is a chiseled war horse who attacks blockers with destructive force and has the size to kick inside or stay on the edge. He played almost exclusively three-tech in 2021 but moved along the formation this season (172 snaps Inside/59 OVT/227 OUT). This allowed Van Ness to be isolated against tackles as opposed to navigating the interior. He looked much more comfortable in that setting, unleashing a ferocious bull rush that is one of the best in this class but lacking nuance in his pass rush toolkit due to being a relatively raw third-year player who played limited snaps due to the hierarchical Iowa depth chart that can over-emphasize seniority. Against Ohio State’s two standout 2023 first-round caliber tackles, he bear-pawed the gargantuan 6’82/374-pound RT Dawand Jones and demonstrably got the best of Paris Johnson. On the other side, he could finish plays more efficiently, as is evidenced by his 16.7% missed tackle rate, and his 74.3 PFF pass rush grade was merely average. A Second Team All-Big Ten selection, Van Ness should be a plus edge-setter right out of the gate, but if he can fine-tune his hand-fighting and harness his physical gifts he can be a 10-year defensive anchor in a 4-3 alignment.