A Look At Packer Linebackers for 2013

In any defense the linebacker position is crucial!  In the 3-4 defense the Packers run, the linebacker is even more critical!  First the linebackers that appeared on the Packer Roster this year.

Packer Linebackers & Years Experience
OLB - Clay Matthews - 5
OLB - Nick Perry - 2
OLB - Mike Neal - 4
OLB - Andy Mulumba - R
OLB - Nate Palmer - R
OLB - Victor Alyewa - 1
ILB - AJ Hawk - 8
ILB - Brad Jones - 5
ILB - Jamari Lattimore - 3
ILB - Robert Francois - 4
ILB - Sam Barrington - R
ILB - Cashe Thomas - 1

At the beginning of 2013, Matthews & Perry were starters.  For the second straight year, Matthews missed a lot of games!  This is not a good sign!  Matthews is still a difference maker, my question is, the way the Packers use Matthews, battling 320 pound line all day, will this now be the norm?  He is a great athlete and I would like to see him in pass coverage at times.  Problem is, no one else is a "sack" machine!  When healthy, he is an all-pro NFL linebacker!

Nick Perry did show some improvement, but he also was injured.  I think we still do not really know what we have in Perry.  Next year, his third, I think will show us what we really have at the opposite side of Matthews!

Mike Neal experiment, playing DE & OLB, ended up being almost all OLB because of the injuries.  I still think he looks more like a DE on the football field.  He did stay healthier this year.  At best, I still think he is an average NFL linebacker!

Andy Mulumba played a lot!  As an undrafted free agent, was adequate, but did not do anything special!  Victor Alyewa played some linebacker, but mostly special teams.  Again, nothing special.

At inside linebacker, the Packers started the year with Hawk & Jones.  He we go again, like a broken record, Brad Jones missed a lot & played hurt.  We let Desmond Bishop go, and signed Jones.  He is a better athlete than Hawk, but injured, Jones did not have a chance to prove himself!

Our main back-up Robert Francois went down for the year, injured(Are you getting a theme here?)  He is a good back-up when playing! Jamari Lattimore, Sam Barrington, & Cashe Thomas backed up at inside linebacker.  Lattimore played and looked like a quality back-up.  Barrington played a lot of special teams.

By the wild card game the Packers were down to the bottom of the barrel! (And not the BEER barrel!) At one point of the game, Mulumba went down and we had NO back-ups!  So, at the linebacker position - health was a BIG issue!  AJ Hawk had I thing his best year!!  Has lost a step, but makes it up with leadership!

It is obvious the Packers still need help at linebacker!

So, as a grade? My final grade - 3 - Needs Help!
My system is four levels 1 - Excellent, 2 - Strong, 3 - Needs Help, & 4 - Scary