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The Green Bay Packers are moving into a new era where several young players — including 2022 first-round defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt — are going to be expected to take on significant roles during the 2023 season, but Wyatt’s inexperience could tempt them to hedge their bet and sign veteran defensive tackle Shelby Harris to their roster as insurance before the start of training camp.
Harris — who was born in Milwaukee — notched 44 total tackles, five tackles for loss, two sacks and four pass breakups over his 15 starts in 2022 and was one of Seattle’s only quality run defenders from last year’s porous unit, but the Seahawks opted to release him for about $8.9 million in cap spaces prior to the new league year.
The Seahawks’ loss, however, could become a quality depth gain for the Packers after they allowed both Jarran Reed and Dean Lowry to sign with other teams in free agency. While Wyatt is projected to pick up the slack on the interior alongside Kenny Clark, Bleacher Report’s Alex Ballentine believes Harris — who turns 32 in August — could be an affordable rotational option to help them avoid another disastrous year on defense.
“There are still more than 1,000 snaps that were vacated by Lowry and Reed with no external options being brought in,” Ballentine wrote. “That’s where a veteran like Shelby Harris would make sense. He has been a consistent starter for the last four years of his career. Not only can he defend the run, but he also offers a little pass rush too. He has 24.5 sacks in eight years of playing.”
Packers Signing Shelby Harris as Insurance Would Take Some of the Burden Off of Devonte Wyatt in 2023
The Packers are preparing to place quite a bit of trust in Wyatt heading into his sophomore season — and for good reason. The former Georgia Bulldogs star was considered one of the top interior defensive linemen in the 2022 draft class and showed flashes of his disruptive pass-rushing capabilities in his limited reps as a rookie behind Reed and Lowry, tallying two sacks and eight pressures on just 224 defensive snaps.
The approach is not unlike what the Packers did with Rashan Gary as a rookie, rotating him in behind Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith before moving him into a more prominent role in Year 2. There’s a reason why both Packers Wire and Pro Football Focus have Wyatt listed as one of their breakout players for the 2023 NFL season.
In the event that Wyatt doesn’t follow the ideal trajectory, though, the Packers would be wise to add a veteran like Harris into the mix to relieve some of the burden.
Harris is no longer in his prime and wouldn’t be considered a splashy addition if the Packers were looking to add another starter to their defensive line, but his proven experience throughout his career would make him an ideal rotational talent and would also act as a safeguard if an injury or poor performance impacted one of the youngsters.
The real concern with potentially adding Harris would be cost. The Packers are not in a position to spend big money on a rotational defensive tackle and, according to cap specialist Ken Ingalls, will have roughly $1.2 million in effective cap space once they sign their remaining draft picks (Luke Musgrave and Jayden Reed), field their practice squad and take care of other routine costs leading up to the season.
Harris is coming off a three-year, $27 million contract that he signed with the Denver Broncos before getting traded to Seattle as part of the Russell Wilson deal, but he didn’t even get to see the end of that deal before becoming a cap casualty. If Harris is now more willing to sign a cheap, one-year contract, the Packers have a few more moves that can help them free up more space, such as extending Gary.
Packers Might Prefer to Throw Young Blood Into the Fire for the 2023 Season for Long-Term Growth
Like it or not, the Packers are entering a rebuild heading into the 2023 season. Even if they have the talent to be more successful than many people believe, it is hard to classify their upcoming campaign as anything other than a rebuild after they moved on from a future Hall of Famer and four-time MVP at quarterback during the offseason.
In other words, there is no better time for the Packers to throw some of their promising young pieces into the fire and see which ones can thrive under the pressure.
Wyatt is just one example; although, he is one of the most prominent as a recent first-round pick. The Packers also drafted two other interior defensive linemen — fourth-round end Colby Wooden and sixth-round tackle Karl Brooks — this past spring who could each be asked to step into the rotation and help account for the departures of Reed and Lowry from last year’s squad. They also have first-round edge rusher Lukas Van Ness in position to bolster the rotation at the outside linebacker position.
Now, the Packers have sometimes been reluctant in the past to throw some of their younger players into the lineup right away (see: Gary and Jordan Love), but the situation in 2023 could call for a change in philosophy. While they can still maneuver themselves into a position to sign a veteran such as Harris if they prefer the old ways, it could serve them better, in the long run, to get their draft investments on the field right away.
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