The Green Bay Packers made a somewhat controversial move in the 2023 NFL draft when they decided to go with pass rusher Lukas Van Ness from Iowa. On the one hand, Packers fans wanted to add to the defense, especially in such a defense-heavy draft.
On the other hand, there were many wide receivers on the board, including young sensations Zay Flowers and Jordan Addison. Even with the receiving core doing as well as it did, those 2 guys playing sensationally have given multiple teams FOMO.
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If Van Ness was the impact player that many fans were hoping for then fans wouldn’t care. However, given how much people want instant success nowadays, the real reason Van Ness was picked by the Packers has been completely forgotten less than a year later. Does that mean he’s a bust?
Why Does Everyone Think Lukas Van Ness Is A Bust?
Coming out of college, Lukas had all the raw tools in the world for a pass rusher. 6’5″, 270 LBs, and running a 4.6 in the combine, there wasn’t much to not love about Van Ness from an intangible perspective. The pass rush moves weren’t quite there, which will be expanded on later in this article.
With the 2023 season in the books, Van Ness hasn’t had an impact good enough for the recency bias crowd. He only had 3 sacks, one of which was a coverage sack on one Justin Fields (you know, one of the most sack-prone QBs in the league). He had 22 combined tackles as well, and he did all of this in 14 games, albeit none of them as a starter.
Is Lukas Van Ness A Bust? Reasons He Is Not
The fanbase and national media needs to chill a little bit when it comes to Van Ness. The truth is that, despite picking him at spot 13, the team looked at him as a project player. At the time, they thought their championship window was shut and that it might take a few years before Jordan Love is ready. Not even a year later, and the time to win is now. However, while that means the team will want to accelerate Van Ness’s progression, he still was and is a long-term project pass rusher.
The best comparison for Lukas would be Rashan Gary. He wasn’t picked that high, but he was also an edge rusher with all the physical talent in the world. Both Van Ness and Gary lacked the necessary arsenal of pass-rushing moves needed at the pro level, and like Gary, it will probably take 2-3 years before Van Ness is fully ready to be the fully elite talent fans desire. Gary himself has come out and publicly stated that the entire defense is young and needs time to grow.
