Earlier this offseason, the Green Bay Packers announced they were moving second-year player Tariq Carpenter from safety to inside linebacker. When training camp starts, the second-year man out of Georgia Tech will have the chance to prove that his new home is his best position in the NFL.
Unsure Where Carpenter Should Play
When the Green Bay Packers selected Tariq Carpenter in the seventh round of the 2022 NFL Draft, they weren’t exactly sure what his best position would be. Scouts viewed as a hybrid safety/linebacker. In college, he played all over the field lining up in the box on some plays, in the secondary on others and even covered receivers in the slot.
At 6’3” and 230 pounds, Carpenter was big for a safety but a little light for an off-ball linebacker. His status as a “tweener,” a player without a clear-cut position, was one reason he fell to the seventh round after a successful career at Georgia Tech.
Last year, the Packers started him out as a safety. Carpenter made the team but saw almost all his action on special teams. He played only 16 snaps on defense all season with 13 of them coming late in the Packers 41-13 blowout win over the Vikings in Week 17.
Carpenter Makes the Switch
In the offseason, however, the coaching staff determined that Carpenter should move to inside linebacker. They made that announcement at OTAs.
“Tariq’s been there [linebacker] predominantly the entire offseason,” head coach Matt LaFleur said. “It’s a move that we felt could be in the best interest for him. We’ve all seen his value on [special] teams and just the impact he can make. So, it’s another way to see where he best fits.”
For Carpenter, the move was not a big surprise. “I kind of already seen it coming,” he said at OTAs. “They were just talking about their plans, putting me in packages, because they like the way that I blitz and punt-blocker stuff. I love playing the game. I know I can be very good at it. You’re not going to see too many skillsets like mine.”
Carpenter’s size does compare favorably with the starters at ILB. De’Vondre Campbell is 6’4” and 232 pounds while Quay Walker stands 6’4” and 241. Carpenter is right in the ballpark as far as size goes.
But learning a new position is not easy as Carpenter admits. “I’m still growing. I still got a lot more work to do,” Carpenter said. “Just my work ethic now, I’m always working hard. When I’m on the field, just sprinting to the ball. I’m in great shape. That’s just Rich checking on me all season, telling me to run. I just want to be able to run all day because I feel like I can be pretty good if I can just run all day.”
The Challenge Ahead
Carpenter will have a fight on his hands to make the roster this year. Isaiah McDuffie is the third ILB on the depth chart and that leaves one roster spot open at the position. Carpenter could also make the roster on the strength of his special teams play and he was a core special teams player as a rookie.
The challenge awaits Carpenter in his second NFL training camp. But don’t bet against this smart and determined second-year man. The tools are there and if he can make the switch, he can continue to develop into someone who can contribute on both defense and special teams.
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