With B.J. Raji in the Middle, Letroy Guion is an End

Here’s an interesting development. Letroy Guion is a defensive end.

The Green Bay Packers have made it pretty clear that B.J. Raji is going to play nose tackle this season. Raji, who’s coming off a season lost to a bicep injury, has played the majority of his snaps at defensive end in the past few seasons. He’s also looked awful the past few seasons. That’s probably not a coincidence.

In training camp last season, the Packers put Raji back in the middle of the defensive line and he looked like a terror, until he got hurt.

So they got the message. Raji is a nose tackle, not a defensive end.

Now, when the Packers re-signed both Raji and Guion this offseason, we figured those guys would end up splitting time in the middle. Guion filled that role last season and, after a slow start, filled it pretty well. So well, in fact, that the Packers were trying to sign Guion to an extension during the season.

The dream of a long-term deal with the Packers crashed and burned when Guion got pinched for marijuana possession earlier this offseason, but that’s beside the point.

The Packers have two capable players to man the nose tackle position this season.

That is, unless one is manning the nose and one is manning one of the defensive end spots…

And that appears to be the plan.

We harped on it prior to the draft — the defensive line is the Packers weakest position. Primarily, the argument was that former first-round pick Datone Jones has done absolutely nothing of note in his two seasons.

Well, problem solved.

Move Guion to defensive end and send Jones’ ass to the bench, where he can be used as a situational pass rusher and think about what a wasted draft pick he was.

Now, there’s no telling how good Guion will be at defensive end, but we can tell you this.

Raji’s fat ass won’t give the Packers any production unless it’s in the middle and Jones won’t give them any production anywhere.

So, Guion, Raji, Daniels sure as hell sounds better than Jones, Guion, Daniels or Jones, Raji, Daniels.