Packers Season Snap Counts: Nothing goes according to plan

Things don’t always go according to plan in the NFL. Just ask the Green Bay Packers.

Among Green Bay’s intentions in 2017 was to have Aaron Rodgers at quarterback, have him protected on the right side by Bryan Bulaga, hand the ball off to Ty Montgomery and have Martellus Bennett be his new, high-producing target at tight end.

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Well, any Packers fan can tell you how that turned out.

Thanks to a broken collarbone suffered in Week 6, Rodgers (417, 39.8 percent) played fewer snaps than Brett Hundley (623, 59.5 percent).

Bulaga didn’t play until Week 3, played only parts of two other games and tore his ACL in a Monday night game vs. Detroit in Week 9. He ended up with just 232 offensive snaps (22.1 percent). His replacement, Jason Spriggs, would get only 278 snaps (26.6 percent) before he was lost for the season with a knee injury.

Montgomery played the majority of the Packers’ first three games before injuries curtailed his playing time and eventually found him out for the year, too. He finished with just 275 snaps (26.3 percent) and wasn’t all that productive rushing the ball when he did play (71 carries for 273 yards, a 3.8 average).

Bennett never did fit in with Green Bay’s offense and appeared in just seven games before his controversial exit, compiling just 24 receptions for 233 yards and no touchdowns in 387 snaps.

Other notes from the 2017 season’s snap counts:

— When Justin McCray made the 53-man roster out of training camp, he was probably an afterthought to most. But McCray, who had never played a down in the NFL, proved to be quite valuable, filling in at guard and tackle due to injuries and amassing 595 snaps (56.8 percent), fifth-most among Green Bay offensive linemen.

— Center Corey Linsley was the only Green Bay offensive player to be on the field for every offensive snap. No one else was above 89.7 percent. Last season, five Packers appeared in more than 90 percent of the team’s offensive plays (Lane Taylor, Rodgers, Bulaga, David Bakhtiari and Jordy Nelson). However, this year’s team and last year’s both had seven players on the field for more than 70 percent of the snaps.

— Green Bay drafted three running backs and their playing time ended up correlating to who was drafted higher, with fourth-rounder Jamaal Williams getting the most (442, 42.2 percent) then fifth-round Aaron Jones (236, 22.5 percent) with seventh-rounder Devante Mays barely seeing the field (14, 1.3 percent).

— Is the fullback really a big part of Green Bay’s offense? Aaron Ripkowski had 180 snaps (17.2 percent) and Joe Kerridge three.

— Second-round pick Josh Jones had the most snaps of any Packers rookie with 731 (69.5 percent), which was also the third-most snaps of any defensive player. Top pick Kevin King, who was waylaid with injuries, had just 381 snaps (36.2 percent). Fourth-rounder Vince Biegel, who spent the early part of the season on the PUP list, had 121 snaps (11.5 percent). Third-rounder Montravius Adams could only get n the field for 65 plays (6.2 percent).

— Safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix didn’t play in every defensive snap this year, but he came close (99.2 percent). Linebacker Blake Martinez was in for 978 snaps (93.0 percent). Then there’s a big dropoff to No. 3 (Josh Jones, see above).

— Linebacker Reggie Gilbert, who was on Green Bay’s practice squad for nearly two full seasons, was signed late in the year and played in two games — and managed to get in on 8.2 percent of the entire season’s defensive snaps.

— Yes, as you look at the numbers below you’ll see that offensive lineman Lucas Patrick played one defensive snap. This is not a mistake. It happened in Week 12 vs. Baltimore.

OFFENSE

PLAYER	Plays (1047)	%
Linsley	1047	100.0%
Taylor	939	89.7%
Evans	912	87.1%
Nelson	805	78.9%
Adams	777	74.2%
Bakhtiari	754	72.0%
Cobb	743	71.0%
Hundley	623	59.5%
McCray	595	56.8%
Kendricks	468	44.7%
Williams	442	42.2%
A. Rodgers	417	39.8%
Bennett	387	37.0%
Allison	343	32.8%
R. Rodgers	305	29.1%
Jason Spriggs	278	26.6%
Montgomery	275	26.3%
A. Jones	236	22.5%
Bulaga	232	22.1%
Murphy	228	21.8%
Patrick	227	21.7%
Ripkowski	180	17.2%
Davis	103	9.8%
M. Clark	75	7.2%
Janis	50	4.8%
John	40	3.8%
Mays	14	1.3%
Byrd	11	1.1%
Callahan	7	0.7%
Kerridge	3	0.3%

DEFENSE

PLAYER	Plays (1052)	%
Clinton-Dix	1044	99.2%
Martinez	978	93.0%
J. Jones	731	69.5%
Burnett	725	68.9%
Randall	717	68.2%
K. Clark	683	64.9%
House	659	62.6%
Matthews	656	62.4%
Daniels	629	59.8%
Perry	542	51.5%
Ryan	507	48.2%
Lowry	494	47.0%
Fackrell	447	42.5%
Hawkins	403	38.3%
King	381	36.2%
Brooks	346	32.9%
Dial	310	29.5%
Brice	289	27.5%
Evans	147	14.0%
Rollins	139	13.2%
Pipkins	122	11.6%
Biegel	121	11.5%
Whitehead	121	11.5%
Thomas	104	9.9%
Gilbert	86	8.2%
Adams	65	6.2%
Jean-Francois	60	5.7%
Odom	59	5.6%
Gunter	2	0.2%
Brown	1	0.1%
Patrick	1	0.1%