Lukas Van Ness Biding His Time

Lukas Van Ness has high expectations placed on him.

That comes with being a first-round pick for any team.

That’s especially true when you’re a player picked inside the top-15 of the draft. 

It becomes even more pronounced when you come with a nickname of that of a Greek god. 

Those expectations heighten even more when that player was targeted by the team’s General Manager.

Part of the sweetener for the trade that sent Aaron Rodgers to the New York Jets was a pick swap in the first round.

With the trade, the Packers moved from 15 to 13. Those two spots might seem negligible, but Gutekunst didn’t think so.

Before the draft, the New England Patriots, set to pick 14^th, hosted Van Ness on a pre-draft visit.

Did Gutekunst want to move from 15 to 13 to give himself a better chance to land the Iowa pass rusher? 

We’ll never truly know the answer to that question, but Gutekunst told Green Bay media after the trade was finalized he would not have moved two spots if he didn’t think it was important.

“If I were to do that,” he said of moving from 15th to 13th, “I'd be doing it because I thought it were important." Gutekunst said shortly before the trade was completed

One thing is clear, the Packers clearly valued Van Ness. Gutekunst has placed a high value on rushing the passer since taking over as the General Manager.

The biggest free-agent contracts of his tenure to date were given to Za’Darius and Preston Smith in the spring of 2019.

He would triple down on that position by selecting Rashan Gary with the 12^th overall pick. That rotation never met its full potential. Gary’s development reached its apex in 2021, but Za’Darius Smith was sidelined with an injury that would keep him out for all but two games of the season.

Van Ness is now the player the Packers envision taking over as a long-term sidekick to Gary, whom they likely hope to sign to a long-term extension before his contract expires.

Early on, Van Ness has mostly run with the backups. His reps as a starter, have been rare. Van Ness isn't concerned yet. 

It’s just the rotation we have, throwing guys out there and giving them a chance to compete an opportunity,” Van Ness said. 

“So far, [position coach Jason] Rebrovich says stay at his hip and when a guy is ready to go out, make sure you’re ready. Every time you get that opportunity, make it a good one. To me, it doesn’t mean anything – first, second third-team reps – they’re all valuable opportunities to go out there and play.”

If Van Ness wants inspiration, he could look to his teammate. Rashan Gary was also a first-round pick that followed a similar trajectory.

Gary didn't start as a rookie. In fact, he wasn’t even the first guy off the bench that season. That honor went to Kyler Fackrell, who had a career-high 10 sacks the season prior to Gary’s rookie year.

Gary would play 248 snaps as a rookie. He never played more than 31 percent of the team’s defensive snaps.

Van Ness is in a slightly different situation. He’s clearly behind some of the players in front of him, but the 2019 team was looking to compete for a Super Bowl.

Za’Darius and Preston Smith played 934 and 932 snaps respectively. There wasn’t much room for a rotation.

That’ll be where things are different for Van Ness. The focus has mostly been on the youth movement taking place on offense. It's not as pronounced, but a youth movement is happening on defense as well. 

Gary may come off the PUP list before the end of training camp but is likely to be on a pitch count to start the season.

Preston Smith, Kingsley Enagbare, and Justin Hollins will get snaps as well. Van Ness, however, has the highest upside and most positional versatility of the outside linebackers. 

Van Ness can also kick inside and find snaps there when he’s not playing on the edge.

Prior to Saturday’s practice, LaFleur told reporters despite not Van Ness not having a lot of reps with the starters, he didn’t want anyone to worry about the depth chart. 

“The depth chart right now is not important,” LaFleur said.

“Focus on your job, effort, and knowing the details.”

The depth chart might not be important, but seeing reps against starters stand out more than reps against the third-string players.

On Saturday, Van Ness was the starter across from Preston Smith in the 2-minute drill.

He made his first big play of camp on Saturday as well. The Packers ran a zone-read with Jordan Love that Van Ness was able to disrupt.

Van Ness threw lead blocker Josiah Deguara into Love’s path, and the play was blown dead.

It was a glimpse of the power and athleticism that made him the 13^th overall pick.

The Packers hope it’s the first of many glimpses to come.

The team will practice in pads for the first time Monday. If Van Ness can make more plays in pads like the one he did on Saturday, more opportunities will come.