FanHouse AaronKampman

Who moved to the head of the NFL class during the draft? Find out with FanHouse's team-by-team 2009 Draft Grades.

By dealing up into the last part of the first round for Clay Matthews, Ted Thompson may have forever changed his image in Green Bay. He went from being consistently ripped for his trade-downs and seemingly passive nature during the draft to being branded a genius. Of course, if either of his first-round selections fail, he'll be back to being an idiot again.

With the draft approaching, we ignore projections and identify the dream scenario for each team in a series we call The Perfect Draft.

I don't have to go out on a limb to say that 6-10 wasn't a goal for the Green Bay Packers in 2008. Yes, they lost Brett Favre to retirement/unretirement/trade. Yes, many thought the Packers would fall off from a 13-3 mark in 2007, even before Favre became a New York Jet. But last year was close to disastrous for the Packers, as a leaky defense blew numerous fourth-quarter leads, and the team slipped to third in the NFC North. Expectations are higher than that, and now there will be pressure on management, making its job even harder.

The Green Bay Packers' transition to a 3-4 defense is not likely to be complete in 2009. There are some personnel shifts that have to take place, and the change is an adjustment for most of the players who will return.

Sure, the Packers will play a base 3-4, but that won't be the only thing they do defensively. Head coach Mike McCarthy and general manager Ted Thompson discussed the team's plans over the weekend at the NFL combine, this time offering more depth and detail than they have in the past.

Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.

On its surface, the 2008 season appears to have been an unmitigated disaster for the Green Bay Packers. After the Packers made the NFC Championship Game the season before, fans painfully watched the Brett Favre retirement/unretirement/stick-it-to-Ted saga play out, and then got to see new starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers play well before the team fell apart around him.

It wasn't a terribly shocking day Tuesday in Green Bay. At last, head coach Mike McCarthy introduced his overhauled defensive coaching staff to the media. As expected, former Carolina defensive coordinator Mike Trgovac and former Pittsburgh defensive starters Kevin Greene and Darren Perry are key members of the group.

With the 3-4 defense coming under new coordinator Dom Capers, McCarthy also made official what we talked about here a couple weeks ago. Star defensive end Aaron Kampman is going to move to outside linebacker.

Earlier this week, the Green Bay Packers hired Dom Capers to run their defense. Capers replaces Bob Sanders, who ran the defense into the ground for three years, and he'll bring with him a new way of doing things. Part of the reason behind the coordinator change was a decision by head coach Mike McCarthy. Even though there are rumblings he may be sitting on an increasingly warmer seat, McCarthy is overseeing a changeover in defensive strategy. The Packers have been a 4-3 team for some time, but the head coach wants to make the switch to a 3-4. That's why he hired Capers, who is well-schooled in that scheme.

However, does Green Bay's best defensive player fit the scheme?

Perhaps it took longer than expected for Mike McCarthy, but the search is over. The Packers canned defensive coordinator Bob Sanders after a miserable season, and speculation on a replacement immediately began to center around former San Francisco head coach Mike Nolan.

When Nolan took the job in Denver, the talk turned to former Redskins and Jaguars coordinator Gregg Williams. He ended up going to New Orleans, leaving McCarthy to what was presumably his third choice for a coordinator.

The third choice for McCarthy is a veteran coach with a ton of credibility around the NFL. Former Carolina and Houston head coach Dom Capers, a very successful defensive coach, is going to take over the Packers' defense.

We told you earlier Monday of the firing of Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Bob Sanders. It was hardly a surprise, but the fact that head coach Mike McCarthy waited a full week after the end of the season made it possible that he had someone specific in mind to take over.

I mentioned then that former San Francisco head coach Mike Nolan was close to McCarthy, and there were already rumors that he was a candidate for the gig.

Now, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk is reporting that Nolan is rounding up defensive assistants, and he is preparing to become the Packers' new defensive coordinator.

While this is certainly good news for Packers fans, as Nolan is an accomplished defensive coach, things aren't all rosy. There are some serious questions that surround this potential move.

Namely, what scheme will the Packers play?

The Green Bay Packers defense suffered a monumental blow Tuesday, as it was announced that end Cullen Jenkins will miss the rest of the season.

Jenkins, a fifth-year pro, was really blossoming into a star end opposite All-Pro Aaron Kampman. He suffered a torn pectoral muscle during Sunday's 30-21 loss at Tampa Bay. The injury will require surgery and around three months of recovery time, making it pointless for Jenkins to remain on the active roster.

For Green Bay, this is a really bad break. Jenkins and Kampman were clearly the bright spots on a defensive line that has struggled to make plays. The trade of tackle Corey Williams to Cleveland before the NFL Draft, combined with the injury problems involving 2007 first-round pick Justin Harrell, really damaged the interior line.

The Packers have already slipped to 27th in the NFL in run defense (almost 160 yards per game, or more than 60 ahead of last year's total), and losing Jenkins isn't going to help.

It's expected that Mike Montgomery and rookie Jeremy Thompson will share time at Jenkins' end position. There will also be pressure on veteran Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila to provide pass pressure.

Of more concern for the Packers than the run support in that spot may be the pass rush Jenkins provides from the interior on passing downs. Montgomery and Thompson aren't likely to be very effective at all in that role, and the Packers don't have any tackles who are good at getting upfield.

Green Bay defensive end Aaron Kampman seems like a swell guy, unassuming off the field, but wreaking havoc from his defensive end position. The Packers host the Giants this weekend, and it will be the second time the teams will meet this season.

In Week 2, Green Bay travelled to New York to put a 35-13 whupping on the Giants, but Kampman remembers the game for a different reason: New York center Shaun O'Hara clocked him in the back of the head after the whistle. In the locker room afterwards, Kampman said "I had a player that did something real dirty to me ... This was stuff that he shouldn't be doing and he won't do it again."

Yeah, it sounds more like something you'd expect to hear on Montel, but I think the point is clear. Just in case you missed it, though, Rodney Harrison, known around the world as the NFL's dirtiest player, weighs in: