(Photo: 247Sports)
Packers defensive end Lukas Van Ness has been labeled a one-trick pony pass rusher since the day he entered the league. "Bull-rush merchant," "raw tools," "no plan" — the kind of phrases that stick when you're big, explosive, and haven't quite figured it out.
It's an easy critique for any so-called analyst to make. But is that just a lazy evaluation or does the film back it up? I went back through the Packers' 2024 season to see whether or not Van Ness is truly lacking in pass rush nuance.
We must start by establishing the role of an edge rusher. As much as we'd love to watch these guys tee off on offensive tackles with a fancy array of pass rushing moves on every snap, stopping the run is fundamentally the most important part of the game, especially for a young player like Van Ness trying to find his footing in the league.
As primarily a C-gap defender, Van Ness's responsibility on the majority of snaps is to set the edge and not allow the run to bounce outside. Unless your name is TJ Watt or Myles Garrett, that's all there is to your "plan" on over half the downs a DE will play in their football career.
So let's focus on the other downs. The obvious passing situations. The snaps where your only goal is getting to the quarterback and only one other human is standing in your way. Those are the plays where true technicians separate themselves from the clueless lunks who just run forward as fast as possible.
Van Ness played 458 total snaps last season, but only 33 of them came in obvious passing situations (3rd/4th down with 5+ yards to go).
I dunno Jim, that sure looks like Green Bay's first problem. Kingsley Enagbare and Karl Brooks both out-snapped Van Ness in obvious passing situations. Van Ness had just 3 (three) more pass rushing reps in passing situations than both Edgerrin Cooper — y'know, a linebacker, and Preston Smith — y'know, who got TRADED IN WEEK 9.
Maybe Van Ness just didn't get any 3rd down reps until Preston Smith departed right? WRONG. In fact it's somehow the opposite! Following the trade deadline, Van Ness got only 10 pass rushing snaps in clear passing situations in his final 9 games. That's less than names like Arron Mosby & Brenton Cox Jr. — even Quay Walker had more!
So why did the Packers have such little faith in Van Ness, even after he was elevated to ED2 on the depth chart following Preston Smith's departure. One look at the numbers paints a clear picture — on his first 25 obvious pass rushing snaps, taking us right up to mid-December, Van Ness got pressure on the quarterback just one time — a pressure rate of 4%. For context, Rashan Gary in the same situation had a pressure rate of 16% in what was a widely considered a down year. Kingsley Enagbare was just as effective at 18%. Devonte Wyatt stood out at 24%.
When given the license to go after the quarterback, albeit rare, Van Ness simply wasn't close to good enough.
The elephant in the room
We can't go any further without addressing the thumb injury which hampered Van Ness for the entire season. The injury sustained in OTAs limited Lukas to only lining up on the right side of the line. He wore a full cast for two thirds of the regular season, and remained fairly limited in its movement after the fact.
This obviously plays a major part in what Van Ness could do from a pass rushing technique standpoint, so perhaps his 2024 pass rushing performance should be taken with a grain of salt.
When watching Van Ness's pass rushing snaps, the first thing that stood out to me was that he actually got chipped or double teamed way more than I was expecting. He looked at his best rushing around the edge, but many of his pass rushing snaps involved him lining up closer to the guard and crashing inside into a double team to free up a looping defensive tackle like Devonte Wyatt.
Perhaps this selfless role was assigned to Van Ness due to his injury limitations. His thumb injury was never going to prevent him from running as hard as he could into interior offensive linemen to create space for his teammates.
When Van Ness was given opportunities to rush off the edge (what he was drafted to do) he was again chipped by tight ends way more than I thought. Van Ness needs to show more awareness to at least try to evade these chip blocks going forward.
The pass rush plan
Later in the 2024 season, we got to see much more Van Ness reps one-on-one against an offensive tackle with no strings attached. What did he look like in these situations?
First and foremost, his get-off doesn't jump off the film. It's just average. I would've liked to see more explosion off the snap for an athlete of this calibre. As far as his hands are concerned, Van Ness is undoubtedly powerful — when he does use his arms correctly he is tossing offensive linemen off balance with one swipe.
But because of the thumb injury, he leaned heavily on that long straight-arm move with his uninjured hand. Without variation, tackles began to anticipate it. His lack of counter-moves became a glaring weakness.
Although Van Ness is a larger edge rusher, I would've liked to see a larger variation of elusive moves (ghost rushes, dip & rips etc.) to get to the quarterback. It felt like he didn't truly adapt to the injury circumstances. Instead of finding new and creative ways to beat the offensive tackle, he just kinda kept with his same strategy from college in a less effective manner.
Van Ness occasionally has a tendency to rush upright, short-arming on his approach. He needs to start putting his freakish length to good use more often.
The highlight flashes on Van Ness's film often involved a straight bull rush, using his leverage to angle around the offensive tackle, teeing him up for a violent rip around the outside, almost slingshotting himself into the pocket. But those moments were too few. I could count them on one hand. That level of violence needs to become the standard, not the exception.
Even his bread and butter bull rush needs refining. Particularly his footwork comes across clunky and unprepared. He often gets washed out of plays despite his superior upper-body strength. Compare his bull rush to someone like Khalil Mack, and it's night and day.
So, does Lukas Van Ness have any pass rush moves?
Yes, but not nearly enough. And the ones he does have aren't polished. The thumb injury clouded much of his 2024 evaluation, but even accounting for that, there's a long way to go. Whether it's lack of development, lack of opportunity, or both, Van Ness didn't look like a first-round pass rusher last year.
2025 will be a pivotal season. If the tools are real, it's time for Van Ness to turn flashes into full games, and raw power into refined production.
Because "bull-rush merchant" is fine for a rookie. By Year 3? It's a ceiling.