The Green Bay Packers stuck with their usual tendency and drafted Lukas Van Ness, a defensive edge rusher, in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft. Van Ness is the prototypical Packers defensive player and becomes the eighth first round pick on Green Bay’s current defensive unit. Despite his obvious talent, however, there are still those that are already calling him a bust.
Calling Green Bay Packers Rookie Lukas Van Ness a “Bust” Is Questionable
Bleacher Report‘s Alex Ballentine recently wrote an article identifying one player on each team that will be a bust in 2023. His choice for Green Bay was Van Ness:
“It’s easy to get a little overzealous with expectations for a first-round pick. Ideally, someone worthy of getting taken that early in the draft is also capable of being an impact player right away.
“But it’s important to keep a long-term projection in mind when talking about rookies. The Packers learned that last season with Devonte Wyatt. The former Georgia defensive lineman was one of two first-round picks last season.
“While Wyatt was expected to be an impact player in Year 1 he never quite got there. He had just 15 tackles, 1.5 sacks and played 23 percent of the defensive snaps. Those numbers should all go up this season but the rookie season was definitely under expectations.
“There’s a lot of reason to believe Van Ness could follow a similar arc. The 6’5”, 272-pounder was not a starter for the Iowa defense and has a lot of refinement he needs to do to build his pass-rushing repertoire. In college, he got away with dominating because of his length and strength.
“Those won’t be enough to find success early in the NFL. Van Ness will have a rotational role but the bulk of the Packers pass rush is going to come from Rashan Gary and Preston Smith.”
The comparison to Devonte Wyatt is fair. For whatever reason, Joe Barry and the Packers’ coaching staff did not give Wyatt suitable playing time until later in the season when Dean Lowry got hurt. The decision to limit his snaps was questionable because he was, by not a small margin, the Packers’ highest-graded defender on the defensive line.
That being said, analysts who point to Van Ness not starting any games at Iowa as a reason why he will struggle or why taking him was a bad pick fail to do their due diligence when researching that football program. Everyone familiar with Iowa football knows that they start seniors.
Just a glance at the percentage of snaps played, however, would show that Van Ness played more defensive snaps than any of the seniors at his position. Just because he did not start does not mean he was not ready to or that he was not the best player on his team. That is just the way Iowa does things.
Now, it is entirely possible that Van Ness follows the Rashan Gary approach and is used sparingly in his rookie season. However, as Gary proved, that would not make him a bust. That being said, with Gary’s availability for Week One in question, and with no timetable for his return, it is more than likely that Van Ness will see the field early and often.
If his play is not up to par, revisiting the “bust” label would be prudent. But to label him as one now is questionable at best.
Explore the debate around Green Bay Packers’ rookie Lukas Van Ness in our latest piece. For more insights, check out the latest Green Bay Packers Rumors.
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