The most complicated position, and why no one tests anymore
It is that time of year once again. With the combine and pro days now in the rearview mirror, the Green Bay Packers athletic thresholds big board can ride once again. This year, it will be broken down into individual articles with more explanations provided. The time period used to generate the thresholds begins when Ted Thompson took over for the Packers back in 2005 and runs through the entirety of Brian Gutekunst’s tenure. Despite being part of the same tree, Ron Wolf’s tenure is not included, as athletic testing data from the 1990s is much more sparse.
I miss 2015. Not just because I was in college and perhaps other reasons, but also because defensive linemen actually did all the testing drills. Alas.
Anyway, the defensive front is a particularly challenging position to do thresholds for because of the massive difference in body types, even within the same general position classifications. Because of that, we have to do more math. Using the Waldo formulas, which unfortunately the explainers for have been lost to the dustbin of the internet but they shall not perish from my spreadsheets, to calculate density-adjusted scores for speed, explosiveness, and agility is the best path forward, as these do a better job of properly adjusting for differences due to weight than something like RAS does, in my opinion.
EDGE/DE Criteria
The Packers have drafted many different body types over the past twenty years, from bigger-bodied players like Rashan Gary, Nick Perry and Lukas Van Ness to smaller and twitchier players like Clay Matthews and Vince Biegel. Given that, there is no particular size threshold of weight, but if you’re small, you better be extremely athletic after adjusting for how small you are. The only major outlier in the EDGE/DE category over the past fifteen years in Kyler Fackrell, who sticks out like a sore thumb across every metric. I am, to this day, still baffled by this pick. Here are the non-failers at DE/EDGE for 2025:
NOTE: Green highlighting means they met all criteria, yellow means they narrowly missed on one or were trending towards completion but did not complete all the necessary drills, white means they did not complete enough testing to indicate one way or another
Defensive ends used to run the three-cone. We used to be a proper country. Despite it being one of the most important indicators for the position, or perhaps because of that, only 15 of the 33 combine invitee defensive ends ran a three-cone during the process. Because of that, only two players on our board check all of the athletic boxes, and they are weird players. Both Ashton Gillotte and David Walker are little fire hydrants, particularly Walker who measured in at just under 6’1’’. Gillotte’s athleticism does not look this impressive on tape, but he is a goofy watch if you have some time before draft day.
Mike Green’s agility scores are phenomenal. Shemar Stewart’s speed and power scores nearly break the scale, but there are so few full workouts that we can’t get many greens at the position. The highest-ranked defensive end that did all of the testing drills was Ole Miss’ Princely Umanmielen, who is EDGE11 on the consensus board and the 55th overall player. After Unmanmielen, it’s Ashton Gillotte at EDGE18 and 96th overall. What a shame.
NOTE: Jalon Walker and Mykel Williams will hold a private workout on April 17th.
Notable Prospects Failing: Princely Umanmielen (agility score, speed score)
Defensive Tackle Criteria
Similar to defensive end, the Packers have drafted all sorts of defensive tackles, from BJ Raji to Mike Daniels. As the Packers have transitioned to a four-down front, that eliminates the type of 4i/5-tech player that they had dipped their toe in on during the past fifteen-or-so years, including players like Dean Lowry and Datone Jones. In the four-down front, you’re primarily looking at 3-techs (players similar to Devonte Wyatt) and usually 1-gap nose tackles (the idea of Kenny Clark, if not the execution last year for weird usage reasons).
Defensive tackle is a position RAS probably struggles with more than any other because of how wide the weight differences can be, and also how wide the height differences can be. A player like BJ Raji, for example, is incredibly dense, with a mass score of 55.02. The gap between him and the next ‘densest’ defensive tackle Green Bay has drafted in the sample, Kenny Clark, is nearly the same difference between Clark and Colby Wooden. So despite BJ Raji’s bad RAS score, he still scores out quite well in almost every metric in the Waldo formulas.
Similar to defensive end, there are a lot of incomplete datasets on here, but unlike defensive end, we do have some early-round green scores.
Despite only having an RAS in the low sevens, Kenneth Grant really pops in these metrics, with the second-best agility score in the class, the best 10-speed score, and the second-best power score. He is a freak athlete for 331 pounds. It’s a shame Derrick Harmon didn’t do anything but the forty, because his tape looks like someone who would have tested quite well. Tyleik Williams cramped up during his pro day run, but is another nose tackle that probably would have tested well. TJ Sanders has had a visit with the Packers, and both on tape and in his athletic profile, he looks like the prototypical penetrating three-technique, posting strong speed-10 and power scores.
Position designations are NT for nose tackles and 3 for three-technique DTs (primarily outside shoulder of the guard). Elijah Roberts might be a defensive end on some teams’ boards or a 4i/5 for an odd-front team. Given the fact that Kenny Clark is very unlikely to be on the team in 2026, given his contract situation, and Devonte Wyatt is currently slated to be a free agent (assuming Green Bay does not pick up his fifth-year option), expect this to be a position that is hit once if not more in the top 120.
Notable Prospects Failing: Omarr Norman-Lott (speed score), Deone Walker (speed score, power score)