The timing couldn’t be better — Green Bay’s defense just found its fire before Sunday’s high-stakes battle with Pittsburgh.QQ
Head coach Matt LaFleur shared an impactful injury update on defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt, who hasn’t played since Week 4 due to a knee injury.
The Green Bay Packers can get a transformative piece back to the field on Sunday. Defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt will return to practice on Wednesday, according to head coach Matt LaFleur, and the staff will monitor his progress to see if he will be available against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“We’ll just see how he progresses throughout the week,” LaFleur said. “He’s just got to prove it.”
Wyatt injured his knee in Week 4, during the tie against the Dallas Cowboys. While the team hasn’t specified which injury it is, LaFleur initially said Wyatt would be considered “week-to-week.” After the bye, the defensive tackle has already missed two games, wins over the Cincinnati Bengals and Arizona Cardinals.
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A real difference-maker
Even though the Packers did win their past two games, the defense hasn’t been the same without Devonte Wyatt on the field. The team had given up 44 points in their first three games plus the part of the Cowboys game that Wyatt played. Even excluding the 40 points the Packers gave up to the Cowboys after Wyatt left the game, the team suffered 41 points in the past two weeks.
In more advanced metrics, the difference is still evident. The defense’s success rate goes down from 59.1 percent to 55.3 percent when the defensive tackle isn’t on the field, and the opposing offense’s EPA/play goes slightly up from 0.001 to 0.007.
Big year
A first-round pick in 2022, Devonte Wyatt had quiet first three seasons for the Packers. He’s always been an efficient pass rusher, but his flawed run defense had kept him from having a bigger role — he was the third on the defensive line rotation behind Kenny Clark and TJ Slaton.
With both gone this year, Wyatt became a more important piece of the scheme, and Green Bay should be glad it picked up Wyatt’s $12.938 million fifth-year option for 2026.
The interior defensive lineman has been disruptive and viable against the run, while elevating his pass-rush ability to another level playing alongside Micah Parsons. In less than three full games, he’s generated 13 pressures. Extrapolating that to a full 17-game season, that would be 73 total pressures — Wyatt’s career high is 45 in 2023.
