Free-agent surprise
Packers’ surprise starting LB Krys Barnes is driven to make other teams feel “they missed on something great.”
GREEN BAY - Krys Barnes was supposed to be here. He was a top-10 linebacker nationally in high school. A threeyear starter at UCLA. When he closed his eyes, Barnes saw himself on an NFL field.
Dreams, of course, don’t always match reality. Barnes watched 255 picks come and go last spring in the NFL draft, not one of them calling his name. He signed as a free agent with the Green Bay Packers, a team known for keeping undrafted rookies on their 53-man roster. Barnes was intent on becoming the next, but then the coronavirus pandemic wiped out preseason games, limiting his opportunity to play himself onto the roster.
Barnes was cut eight days before the Packers’ opener at the Minnesota Vikings, but he was reassured. If he cleared waivers — a gamble mitigated by the lack of preseason film — he would be back on the practice squad. He might be among
the two practice squad members elevated to the active roster before game day.
Not what Barnes had in mind, not what he dreamed of all those childhood years, but the door to the league was cracked.
“You never want to get called up to the third floor,” Barnes said, “and hear you’re getting cut. But to hear that they were bringing me back on P-squad the next day kind of gave me some more motivation to keep going.”
Early last week, Barnes knew he wasn’t just any practice-squad player. Behind closed doors as the Packers prepared for the Vikings, Barnes got first-team reps with the defense. Nothing was guaranteed, certainly not before Barnes was formally promoted, but he knew there was an open spot on the 53-man roster. With a good week, he believed, that spot could be his.
Even still, it wasn’t until last Saturday the Packers officially elevated Barnes to their active roster, clearing the way for what came next. Barnes was a starting linebacker in the Packers’ base 3-4 defense, lining up alongside veteran Christian Kirksey. He played only 15 snaps, but he played well, finishing with six tackles and two tackles for loss.
If that’s where Barnes’ story ended, it would be remarkable enough. Undrafted rookies do not go from released to starting Week 1, not without an unforeseen injury to the roster. Kamal Martin, the fifth-round rookie linebacker, had knee surgery before cutdown weekend. The Packers kept Oren Burks and Ty Summers on their initial 53, then promoted Barnes ahead of both on the depth chart, but only after risking he would be claimed by another team.
“An emotional
Barnes called it.
But it’s possible, and maybe likely, Barnes’ story does not end here. He has an opportunity now, the shot that eluded him in the draft. With Martin out, the Packers badly need another inside linebacker to step up alongside Kirksey, lest they expose their run defense with too much undersized personnel.
After last week, Barnes (6-2, 229 pounds) figures to get a chance to fill
roller-coaster,” that role in the Packers’ defense.
“I thought Krys did an amazing job,” Kirksey said. “I thought he had a hell of a game. In the 15 plays that he was in, he made noise and he did a lot of damage.”
Barnes did a bit of everything against the Vikings. He lined up in the slot across receiver Adam Thielen in single coverage, making an open-field tackle to hold the Pro Bowler to a 7-yard gain. He stonewalled running back Dalvin Cook at the goal line, preventing a touchdown. Early in the third quarter, Barnes read a pitch to running back Alexander Mattison and, after Za’Darius Smith set an edge to turn the play inside, tackled Mattison for a 1-yard loss.
Then came the play that left teammates and coaches most impressed. The Vikings ran what appeared to be the perfect screen to Cook. One of the NFL’s top tailbacks, Cook had three offensive linemen to pave his way for a big play. Barnes was the only Packers defender within 20 yards of Cook downfield.
Barnes had expected a screen, seeing the offensive linemen disengage from their blocks early to join Cook on the perimeter. But they were a touch late to disengage, allowing Barnes a free path to Cook.
“Truly,” Barnes said, “I just wanted to get outside and force it back, but I felt like the way I was coming, my angle was good. Took a shot and ended up making the tackle.”
It was a breathtaking play for any player, let alone an undrafted rookie who was released one week earlier. Over on the sideline, coach Matt LaFleur was buried in his play sheet, preparing for the offense’s next possession.
LaFleur happened to look up at precisely the moment Barnes pursued Cook. He saw the rookie make the tackle, saving the Packers’ defense from allowing a big play.
“Krys did an unbelievable job,” LaFleur said, “diagnosing that play and making the tackle. That was a big play because there was a lot of green grass out there for Dalvin to go if he doesn’t secure that tackle.”
As quick as Barnes’ rise from undrafted to practice squad to starter was, it’s striking neither teammates nor coaches sound surprised. Kirksey hardly played with Barnes in camp, sharing his reps with Martin and Burks and Summers, but said he could tell quickly Barnes could hold his own. “You know a ballplayer when you see him,” Kirksey said.
Defensive coordinator Mike Pettine said he saw signs this spring, when the Packers’ offseason program rendered to administrating tests on Zoom meetings. Barnes often scored high on his tests, not only because he knew the right answers, but because he got extra points for quick responses.
“He was a guy,” Pettine said, “who we knew had a pretty good football aptitude.”
Still, linebacker is a position bred in physicality. For all the mental challenge of diagnosing plays, it doesn’t matter much if a linebacker can’t execute on the field. Entering Sunday, Pettine said, there was still the “threat of the unknown.”
Barnes diminished that threat Sunday. He’ll have to prove it each week now, but here is the chance he always wanted, the destination he always expected. Yes, Barnes was always supposed to be here.
Now he wants to show everyone who passed on him why they were wrong.
“That’s going to drive me forever,” Barnes said. “I feel like for me, being passed up on by 31 other teams is going to drive me to no end. I want to get better every day, continue to prove that I belong to be here, continue to make those teams feel like they missed on something great.”