Rashan Gary makes bold claim on Packers defense for 2022

The Green Bay Packers Rashan Gary is pumped up for the start of the 2022 season after what he’s experienced from the defense this offseason. Gary believes his Packers defense is hungrier than ever and made a bold claim about the unit for the upcoming NFL season.

“We’re not even at regular training camp (and) our defense is flying around,” Gary said of the spring workouts. “We’re going to be scary. We could be as good as we want to be. We just have to push each other day-in and day-out.”

Gary started in all 16 games he played last year and was in on 68 percent of Green Bay’s defensive snaps. With the increase in playing time from the 2020 season, the former first-round pick of the 2019 NFL Draft was able to show why he was a top selection that year. Gary finished his third NFL season with 47 total tackles, 27 solo, eight tackles for loss, 9.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, and one fumble recovery. Gary’s 9.5 sacks on the season beat out defensive lineman Preston Smith (9) for best on the team.

This offseason, the Packers added an influx of youth and talent to the defense. Green Bay spent their two first-round picks of the 2022 NFL Draft on a pair of Georgia Bulldogs defensive standouts. Green Bay selected the Bulldogs massive six-foot-four linebacker Quay Walker with the number 22 pick. And followed that up by taking defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt just six selections later. With the amount of talent Green Bay has in their front seven and in their secondary, with All-Pro corner Jaire Alexander, Gary is right. The Packers defense can be scary good in 2022.

Packers wide receiver Rico Gafford makes position change

The Green Bay Packers have moved lightning-quick wide receiver Rico Gafford to defense where he’ll play cornerback for the upcoming season. The move came as a surprise to Gafford, but after the team selected three wideouts in this year’s NFL Draft and signed Sammy Watkins – the crowded receivers’ room had to be thinned out.

“No, I didn’t know I was going to corner,” Gafford told Bill Huber of SI.com. “We showed up for offseason workouts, and I was with the receivers, with the offense. I was learning the playbook, doing routes on air and going over certain plays and all that stuff.”

Gafford said he was a defensive back at heart, which makes sense as he was a cornerback at Wyoming. During his tenure, he intercepted two passes as a junior in 2016 and four as a senior the following season. After running a 4.22 in the 40-yard dash, the Tennessee Titans signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2018.