Green Bay Packers: Ricky Jean-Francois Adds Depth to Defensive Line
By Hunter Noll
The Green Bay Packers signed defensive lineman Ricky Jean-Francois to a one-year deal. He brings with him depth, size, and leadership to a weak Packers’ defense.
Ricky Jean-Francois signed a one-year, $3 million deal with the Green Bay Packers on Thursday. While the defensive lineman isn’t going to give the team Pro-Bowl numbers, he does bring a lot to the table.
The Packers defense was aggressively average in 2016. Jean-Francois isn’t going to be the piece that puts them over the top. He will bring solid depth, though. At 6-3 and 295 pounds, he brings plenty of size as well. Most importantly, he brings leadership.
Jean-Francois has played seven seasons in the NFL. During that time he’s recorded just 12 sacks. Despite that, he keeps finding work. It could be the fact that players seem to gravitate towards him. Francois isn’t afraid to speak his mind and stick up for the players. He’s a natural born leader, and gives the Packers a strong veteran presence on defense.
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Over his career, he’s spent seasons with the San Francisco 49ers, Indianapolis Colts, and Washington Redskins. His best season came in 2014, when he recorded career-bests in sacks (3), pass deflections (6), and fumble recoveries (1). His 28 tackles were the second most he ever collected in a season as well (32 last season).
Jean-Francois escaped the dysfunction of the Washington Redskins franchise this offseason. While that team could probably use his leadership, the Packers are much more poised to contend in 2017.
He joins a defensive line that already boasts Mike Daniels. After Daniels, though, it’s a bunch of supporting cast players. While they might not have best stats, they do have youth. Letroy Guion is the only non-Daniels defensive lineman over 22 years old. Brian Price and Dean Lowry are both 22, while Kenny Clark is 21.
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What’s the most important thing to have to help develop all that youth, you ask? Veteran leadership. Something that Francois has in spades. If nothing else, he should help bring the younger players along to make them more than just supporting players.