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- Mar 19, 2019
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“It’s a tremendous difference,” Lancaster said as the Packers’ offseason program wrapped up a week ago. “Last year, I was still figuring out the defense, still figuring out the differences between college and the NFL. This year, I feel like I’m on top of my stuff, especially with the defense. I know exactly what to do on any given call.”
That alone has allowed him to pay attention to so much more than he did as a rookie.
He noted defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery has stressed pre-snap reads, knowing what to expect based on the offensive formation and making anticipation its own form of athleticism.
As for the athletic traits, when Lancaster recorded 29 tackles over the final five games of 2018, he was using his brute strength to stuff the run, plain and simple. His next step is to get after the passer more and improve on the four QB pressures and two QB hits from a year ago.
So during workouts in the spring he focused on what he called “twitchiness off the ball,” to get a half-step quicker than the interior linemen across from him.
“Obviously pass rush is the one thing … not the only thing, but my main area of need,” said Lancaster, who had just 3½ sacks over his four-year college career in the Big Ten. “I know that and (the coaches) know that, so that’s really what I was working on the whole time, being able to flip my hips, getting looser and more flexible, rather than more powerful. And my power is still there. It’s not like my numbers have dropped.”
Montgomery wasn’t about to let that happen. He had a front-row seat to all of Lancaster’s progress in 2018, when the injury to Muhammad Wilkerson prompted his promotion to the active roster, and then injuries later to Daniels and Clark led to a starting job and significantly more playing time.