Green Bay Packers: Full Position Breakdown, Depth Chart Analysis at Nose Tackle

The nose tackle position went from being one of the Green Bay Packers' most glaring weaknesses at the onset of free agency to one of their biggest strengths after the team re-signed B.J. Raji and Letroy Guion to one-year deals. 

Behind Raji and Guion, the Packers also have second-year players Mike Pennel and Bruce Gaston, whom Green Bay signed from the Arizona Cardinals practice squad in December 2014. Defensive lineman Josh Boyd can also play nose tackle or defensive tackle, but he was listed as the primary backup to both Datone Jones and Mike Daniels on the team's last depth chart from January. 

Who will anchor the line for the Packers in 2015, and will they be able to keep all of that depth on the 53-man roster?

Player	Height	Weight	Age
B.J. Raji	6'2"	337 lbs	28
Letroy Guion	6'4"	315 lbs	28
Mike Pennel	6'4"	332 lbs	24
Bruce Gaston	6'2"	310 lbs	23
Josh Boyd	6'3"	310 lbs	25

Guion played better than expected last season when he stepped in for Raji after the latter tore his biceps in the preseason—a hard pill to swallow after Raji pushed himself in training camp to prove he could once again anchor the line for the Packers after playing at defensive end for the previous two seasons. 

"B.J. Raji, he was in the best shape and having the best camp of his career," head coach Mike McCarthy said after the injury, via the Associated Press' Todd McMahon. 

Guion played six seasons with the Minnesota Vikings but never put together the kind of year he had in Green Bay in 2014. He had the best season of his career, with 32 combined tackles, 22 total tackles, 3.5 sacks and a forced fumble in 18 starts at nose tackle. 

However, even if Guion were prepared to make a push to beat out Raji in training camp this summer for the starting job, the Packers at this point do not know if he'll be available for the season opener.

According to ESPN.com's Rob Demovsky, as of Thursday neither Guion nor the Packers had heard from the league regarding potential discipline for Guion's offseason drug and weapons-related arrest.

Per Demovsky, the league waits until the completion of the appeals process to hand down suspensions, but Guion does not plan to appeal. Therefore, the Packers remain in limbo about their options. 

Even if Guion manages to avoid any suspensions, however, Raji is still in position to win the starting job outright. 

After undergoing a six- to nine-month rehab process, Raji is ready to go and has already been impressing McCarthy in offseason practices. 

Raji earned a lot of criticism over his last few seasons for appearing to lack effort, which wasn't helped by his move from nose tackle to defensive end in 2012. As a nose tackle, Raji enjoyed more freedom to rush the passer, and he had immense success in 2010, racking up 6.5 sacks and anchoring a Super-Bowl caliber defense.

Defensive coordinator Dom Capers, however, prefers his defensive ends to keep the linebackers clean, so when Raji moved to end, his role became much more simple: be a two-gapper and eat blocks. 

Now, however, Raji is in potentially the best shape of his life after working with his trainer, Joe Carini, during rehab and taking up yoga this offseason. 

Carini told Tyler Dunne of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Raji's post-surgery strength is "phenomenal." 

"He’s actually better now than he’s ever been," Carini said. "He has to have a monster year. He knows it. And he’s just looking forward to the opportunity.”

Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

According to Pete Dougherty of the Green Bay Press-Gazette, concerning his physical changes, Raji said, "Three years ago, I was only able to do a certain amount of things as hard, but now I'm doing my lifting, cardio and yoga, reflexology—a lot of the things I didn't have the energy to do on a daily basis because my energy wasn't where it needed to be." 

We'll see if that conditioning translates when the players put on the pads in training camp.

Former undrafted free agent Pennel is the ideal size (6'4", 332 lbs) to play nose. Pennel did play 181 snaps at defensive end in 2014, per Pro Football Focus, but Guion had the nose tackle job locked down in Raji's absence. 

Both Raji and Guion are on one-year deals, and the future of the position will be uncertain come March. For that reason, expect Pennel to earn a spot among the defensive linemen on the final roster this summer as a developmental player. 

That would be no small achievement for Pennel; the Packers are expected to keep six defensive linemen on the 53-man roster, as they did in 2014. If Raji, Guion and Pennel all earn spots, that would leave Daniels, Jones, Boyd, Khyri Thornton, Gaston, sixth-round rookie Christian Ringo and undrafted rookie Lavon Hooks all looking for spots. 

For that reason, Gaston may not make the cut, even though he was on the active roster in 2014. There's a lot of depth at the nose tackle position already, and the Packers will want to keep their 2015 rookie Ringo. It also may be too early to give up on Thornton, who spent his rookie year on injured reserve. 

Expect Raji to win the starting job. However, his backup may not be simply waiting for snaps on the bench. Both Guion and Boyd can also play at end alongside Raji, but could step in at nose should anything happen to cause Raji to miss time.