PACKERS TO MOVE TO A 3-4

With defensive coordinator Dom Capers joining the Green Bay Packers, coach Mike McCarthy says that the team will be making the potentially radical change from a 4-3 alignment to the 3-4. “It gives you the ability to utilize your personnel, the flexibility,” McCarthy said, per the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal. "[It] doesn’t mean we won’t line up in a four-man front. We’ll move in and out of both four-man and three-man fronts.” But that’s what most 3-4 teams do. On running downs, the defense uses three linemen and four linebackers. On passing downs, one of the linebackers lines up as a defensive end in a four-man front. And so for the current defensive ends -- Cullen Jenkins and Aaron Kampman -- the question will be whether they become one of the “3", or one of the “4". Since Kampman weighs considerably less then Jenkins, Kampman is more likely to become a linebacker. Typically, defensive ends in a 3-4 set become anonymous, since the primary job is to tie up offensive linemen so that the linebackers can get to the ball. But for Richard Seymour of the Patriots, few traditional defensive ends have become stars in a 3-4 front. As to players who are in a two-point stance for traditional rushing downs and a three-point starting position on passing downs, the possibility of praise and Pro Bowls and big money awaits. The other thing that the Packers will need right away is a big, fat nose tackle who can clog the middle of the line. Whether one of their current 4-3 tackles can make the same kind of transition that Shaun Rogers and Kris Jenkins successfully accomplished for the Browns and Jets, respectively, in 2008 remains to be seen. From the standpoint of the Packers’ competition, a 3-4 alignment could give the other NFC North teams fits since they all use, and are accustomed to seeing, 4-3 formations. That said, the Packers will also have to develop a solid scout team defense or their offense will soon have trouble preparing to face their 4-3 foes.