It will be more interesting to see if the team increases the snap count of their inside linebackers or continue to line up in a dime formation for more than half of the snaps.
This is another dead horse I'll beat today.
Burnett played ILB in the Capers defense for awhile, installed there to call the signals after Capers and/or McCarthy lost confidence in Martinez handling that job. After that we've seen several safeties playing ILB, Campbell and Greene and other guys whose names I've forgotten.
These guys were playing snaps at the ILB position in nickel and dime and were thereby ILBs, albeit small ones. That's a nickel defense when 5 other guys are playing the DB positions. Using that silly term "dime linebacker" is an oxymoron and confuses the matter.
If a guy is playing an ILB position 5-10 yards deep in the middle of the field and there are 6 other guys playing the DB positions, what you might see in long yardage or prevent, then that ILB is a "dime linebacker". That's the way the term "dime linebacker" has been used for as long as I can remember until the recent corruption.
One example I can think of off the top of my head is Joe Thomas playing that position in long yardage with 6 DBs on the field, something which he pretty much sucked at as receivers crossed his face for the first down. Need 10? They'd get 12. Need 12? They'd get 15. But I digress. I believe this distortion of the term is a media concoction and has confused a lot of people. That said, actual dime defense, typically 4 rush, an ILB in middle drop, and 6 DBs, is not very common. 10% is figure thrown around a lot. Some games it might be rarely seen.
That said, and to your point, the Packers have been on the hunt for a 3-down ILB with ILB dimensions, or close to it, to pair with Martinez and now Kirksey. They resorted to safeties at the position because they were not getting what they wanted from the designated ILB guys. I say this because they have drafted the following guys to play ILB with the following size/speed combinations:
Josh Jones, 6' 1", 220 lbs., 4.41 (a little light but close, bigger than a typical safety)
Burks, 6' 3", 233 lbs., 4.59
Summers, 6'1, 240 lbs., 4.51
Martin, 6'3", 240 - 245 lbs., ? (no runs at the Combine or Pro Day; 4.6?; lower?)
All these guys are/were fast enough to cover TEs and RBs with the size to take on runners. There's probably a 70% snap count, maybe more, for Burks to lose. That's not to say he won't lose them, that neither Martin nor Summers are up to the task, and they default back to Greene for those 75% nickel and dime snaps, assuming he's healthy. Then they will have to figure out which guy fits best for base defense. I don't know if anybody else is a viable candidate for base or 3-down.
But make no mistake. Greene was playing ILB on opening day last year before going to IR and he could be there again if the other guys don't step it up.
