Packers Defensive End Lukas Van Ness (90) looks to make the third-year jump like teammate Rashan Gary (52) did in 2021.
When the Green Bay Packers selected Lukas Van Ness with the 13th pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, they planned on drafting one of their starting defensive ends for years to come. The easy comparison was with another Packer who was drafted almost in the exact same spot, four years earlier.
That player is Rashan Gary, who was drafted 12th overall in 2019, but it wasn’t 2021, his third season where he solidified himself as a starting edge rusher, with a career-high 9.5 sacks.
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As Van Ness enters his third season, there have been signs in training camp that maybe he’s finally able to contribute as a starting defensive end for the Packers defense.
Van Ness enters his 3rd season at age 24 and has seven career sacks (4 in 2023, 3 in 2024), which is identical to Gary as he entered his third season at the same age and had the same amount of sacks after two seasons (2 in 2019, 5 in 2020).
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When Brian Gutekunst drafted both Gary and Van Ness, he drafted for the long-term payoff in two young, but talented pass rushers. Gary played three seasons at Michigan, totaling just 10.5 sacks over three seasons. Van Ness played just two seasons at Iowa, never starting a game, finishing with 13 sacks.
So far in training camp, there are positive signs that Van Ness could be trending upward as a player who could be finally reaching his potential.
Dating back to when Ron Wolf became the Packers General Manager in 1992, Van Ness was the 11th first round pick who was an edge rusher, defensive end or defensive tackle.
Based on the previous 11 players, there are several groups of players. Vonnie Holliday, B.J. Raji and Clay Matthews all showed promise right away. Holliday started from the get-go forming a terrific foursome in 1998 with Reggie White, Santana Dotson and Gilbert Brown.
The two 2009 first round picks, Matthews and Raji were both pro bowlers by the end of their 3rd seasons. Matthews was the defensive player of the year runner-up in his second season with his career high of 13.5 sacks. They were two of the key pieces to the Super-Bowl winning defense in 2010.
The next group is where the hope Van Ness falls into. He’s in a spot where he could blossom in his third year like teammates Gary and Kenny Clark both did.
The hope if you’re a Packers fan is he does not fall into a group which is a player who never became a full-time player and/or was just a flat-out first round bust like Jamal Reynolds, Justin Harrell and Datone Jones.
The next month will likely be very important for seeing the progress of Van Ness. Will he continue to have a good training camp and secure a starting defensive end position for Week 1 against the Detroit Lions?
Or will he continue to have his struggles and allow Kingsley Enagbare or Brenton Cox, Jr. to take that starting spot opposite Rashan Gary?
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