Have Green Bay Packers Struck Gold in Ha Ha Clinton-Dix?

The Green Bay Packers entered the 2014 NFL Draft looking to address the Safety and Middle Linebacker positions, among others. When C.J. Mosley went 17th to the Baltimore Ravens and Calvin Pryor to the New York Jets immediately after, the Packers waited at 21 where Ha Ha Clinton-Dix would fall to them. Following their Week 13 win over the New England Patriots, the Green Bay Packers should be confident that the chips fell in the perfect place on draft day.

Dom Capers and the Green Bay Packers’ coaching staff put a great deal of trust into their secondary on Sunday, rarely double-covering Rob Gronkowski. This didn’t always work, but it enabled the rest of the secondary to offer suitable coverage to any other receiving options, which played a pivotal role in the Green Bay Packers’ victory.

Rob Gronkowski caught 7 passes for 98 yards in the game, but when he lined up in one-on-one coverage against the Green Bay Packers’ rookie Safety with the game on the line, Ha Ha Clinton-Dix won the battle when it mattered most. When he saw the matchup, he knew that Tom Brady would be looking their way.

“I’m the rookie,” Clinton-Dix told Tyler Dunne of the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel. “I’m the youngest one of the pack. They’re going to challenge me, and I was up for it.”

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As Gronkowski caught the lofted pass from Brady, it appeared to be a sure touchdown, putting New England ahead with only minutes to play. While the two players fell to the ground, though, Ha Ha Clinton-Dix reached back with one arm and wrestled the ball away from the Patriots star, saving the score and ending the drive.

This is another encouraging showing from the Green Bay Packers’ first rounder, who has now started six games, recording 52 tackles, one sack and one INT. Like any rookie, though, it was not without flaw. Clinton-Dix learned the hard way (and I mean hard), that tackling high on Rob Gronkowski and LeGarrette Blount is not going to work. He’ll be hearing about that in the film room this week, and will need to adjust going forward.

In the bigger picture, though, the Green Bay Packers have gotten a surprising amount of production from HaHa Clinton-Dix this season, and more importantly, it has been consistent. Learning the Safety position in a Dom Capers defense is a huge task, and I was cautiously fearing that the Packers would be exploited deep on blown coverages with Clinton-Dix learning the position. The opposite has happened, and the newfound security on the back end allows for a more aggressive pass-rush by the Green Bay Packers’ front seven. Clinton-Dix has significant development ahead of him, but if he continues to grow as he has over the past two months, the Green Bay Packers could have a cornerstone of their defense.

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