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RJay715 wrote:I just want the better player to start. This is the year where you throw salaries, potential, anything else besides current on field talent out the window. If Chillar gives us a better chance to win starting than Jones does, then I'm all for it.

Newz wrote:Works for me.

I think Chillar has all the tools to be good at the ROLB. He seems like he is a pretty damn good passer rusher from the LB spots in general.

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Those who wanted to pooh-pooh Brandon Chillar’s switch to outside linebacker as just a stop-gap move while starter Brad Jones was out because of a back injury look a bit silly now.

Jones was full go for practice on Thursday after injuring his back in the first practice of camp, but he didn’t have his starting job back. He worked with the second group.

That’s because the Packers have liked what they’ve seen from the outside backer combination of Chillar on the right side and Clay Matthews on the left in both the base and nickel packages, and Chillar turned in a near dominant performance under the lights on Thursday evening.

It began during a blitz period in which Chillar recorded sacks (or near sacks because hitting the quarterback is not allowed) on three of the first six plays.

Chillar didn’t take any one-on-one pass rushing reps, but in a combination blocking drill, he smoked rookie left tackle Bryan Bulaga on a stunt that would have yielded a sack or a pressure.

Then, during another team period he showed off his coverage skills by dropping and preventing Aaron Rodgers from throwing a deep cross to a tight end. That forced Rodgers to scramble.

Finally, during one of the last team periods of the night, Chillar, who was moving around and rushing from different sides, beat right tackle Mark Tauscher for a pressure of Rodgers, who had to get rid of the ball prematurely.

“You’re putting your best athletes on the field. That’s what you want to do as a defense,” said Matthews, who played in the Pro Bowl after registering 10 sacks as a rookie last season. “And I think Chillar brings a different aspect. He’s not your prototype outside linebacker, but we’ve seen the guy hurdle a running back and sack the quarterback. I think that speaks volumes for his athleticism. That’s what we need out of an outside linebacker. It’s not just a big guy, it’s a guy who can do much more than just rush the passer, whether it be drop into coverage, hold the edge, blitz underneath, so on and so forth.

“He’s such a great athlete that we need to get him in there more than just playing nickel. We’ll see where it goes.”

The benefit for Matthews would be that opposing offenses won’t know where he might line up. The Cardinals, for example, made it a priority to keep Matthews from beating them, and while he did sack quarterback Kurt Warner in the playoff loss, it was the Packers’ only sack. That’s why the team is looking to generate more pressure from elsewhere so it isn’t as Matthews-dependent.

“Clay is a featured rusher in our defense and (the goal is to) create as many targeting problems or identifying issues for the offense as we can,” coach Mike McCarthy said. “Clay, he’s a premier player for us. Our linebacker group is talented, and we’re trying to find as many different ways to play those guys as we possibly can.”

Asked if he felt comfortable on the left side, Matthews replied, “I’d like to continue to keep doing both sides; it just makes me more versatile. It’s a little different, but it will come real fast. Obviously I’m used to this and that, but you just reverse it now. There’s going to be a couple hiccups here and there, but for the most part I felt comfortable and felt good.

“If I continue to move around, hopefully it presents some problems and we can capitalize on some mismatches or what-not."