Former Mizzou defensive tackles coach Al Davis talked to Packers On SI about how he helped develop McClellan into the versatile player that Green Bay selected in the third round.
As Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst watched Round 3 of the NFL draft unfold, he saw one player that was “sticking out there like a sore thumb.
” He decided to trade up seven spots to pick No. 77 to select that player, Chris McClellan, who could tackle one of the team’s biggest needs right on the nose. A 6-foot-3, 313-pound defensive tackle, McClellan spent the first two years of his career playing at Florida before spending the last two as a starter at Missouri. The 22-year-old is the youngest player at the position for Green Bay and is full of potential.
“Chris still got some room in his ceiling to continue to grow,” Al Davis, McClellan’s position coach at Missouri in 2024, said to Packers On SI. “He's not a done product, by far. ” Part of the rawness for McClellan comes from the fact the position is still somewhat new to him. In high school, he played almost exclusively as a defensive end.
Green Bay liked the production McClellan put together in all four seasons of his college career, and also feels optimistic about what some more years of development could do for McClellan’s skill-set.
“He’s just one of those guys that I think, even though he’s four years in college, he’s still scratching the surface a little bit,” Packers director of football operations Milt Hendrickson said. Davis, now the defensive tackles coach at Missouri State, played a vital role in developing McClellan into a third-round selection. Davis and Missouri initially tried recruiting McClellan out of high school in 2021. Instead, the Oklahoma product chose the Gators.
At Florida, McClellan made the transition from playing defensive end to defensive tackle. He played at 295 pounds in high school but bulked up to 325 pounds by his sophomore season. He instantly worked his way into the rotation, recording 46 tackles and two sacks across the two seasons. When he transferred to Missouri, the Tigers explored McClellan’s versatility.
He’d be switching from a three-man front at Florida to a four-man one at Missouri. Missouri Tigers quarterback Brady Cook scrambles from then-Florida Gators defensive lineman Chris McClellan. | Denny Medley-Imagn Images “Their defense was completely different from what we did,” Davis said.
“The kid, athletically, went from being a D-end, he gained a lot of weight to fit what they did down there. ” Missouri mainly played McClellan in the 3-technique, lining up in the B-gap, but utilized him all across the defensive line.
“Being able to play from the zero all the way out to the 4i, the kid can play in a three-down, or a four-down front,” Davis said. “And that versatility allows coordinators to be creative with how they’re going to use him. ” With the flexibility McClellan showed in his transition from defensive end to lineman, then with the adjustment from Florida to Missouri’s multiple schemes, Green Bay has faith he’ll be able to provide valuable versatility.
“The thing I like most about Chris is the versatility,” Hendrickson said. “He can play the nose, he can play the 3, in some of our base some of our big-end stuff, he can do that, as well. ” That versatility could be especially helpful for the Packers as they make the switch back to a three-man front under new defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon. The versatility in alignment also comes with diversity in skill-set.
In the five selections after McClellan, two more defensive tackles were selected. His wide toolkit is what set him apart in Green Bay’s eyes.
“The combination of being able to play the nose, the three and actually rush the passer, there’s a lot of these guys that don’t do that,” Gutekunst said. “He can. That was I think what set him apart a little bit for us. ” Two physical traits that also set McClellan apart are his hand size, 11 inches, and arm length, 34 inches.
“Those traits alone, you need them because the O-linemen that they play against are so long,” Davis said. “The O-linemen are getting more long, and, I would say, lean. You don't have a whole bunch of big pot-belly guys there. But their arms are super-, super-long.
And these dudes are 6-5 to 6-8, 6-9.
“So, the D-tackles are normally going to be shorter than those guys. But when you have those long extremities, like long arms, or you have those big old hands, that allows you to be able to play against those dudes who are taller than you in height. ” McClellan’s pass rushing ability took a clear jump in 2025, as he recorded six sacks, the second most among all defensive tackles in the country.
His closing speed in the backfield is impressive for a player of his size. Improving his agility was a part of the body recomposition he attacked head on once arriving to Missouri.
“Now, one, he ain't playing as tired. Because when you’re heavy, it's going to be harder to run around and play the way you want to play. At the same time, once you do lose the weight, now you can go out there and play more, which allows him to be able to play more positions.
” In Green Bay, McClellan will have the chance to learn from another one of Davis’ former players, Devonte Wyatt, who spent one year under Davis’ mentorship at Hutchinson Community College in 2017. When Davis was recruiting McClellan to Missouri, he showed him practice clips and game type of the work he did with Wyatt. Davis believes McClellan’s ability to learn from older players like Wyatt will be key to finding success in the NFL.
“His development is continuing, and he's going to continue to get better, long as he keeps being a sponge, which I think he will,” Davis said. Davis also believes McClellan will find success in the NFL because of the level of competition in the Southeastern Conference, where McClellan played through all of his collegiate career.
That required him to go up against some of the best offensive lineman in the country, and compete with some of the best defensive linemen for playing time.
“I think he got his mind in the right place,” Davis said. “He just came from a highly competitive program. One of the core values is ‘always compete,’” Davis said.
“... I think it's instilled in him to go be a competitor. Joey Van Zummeren, who has created online Packers content since 2020, is an intern of Packer Central, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: vanzummerenjoseph@gmail.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoeyVZ_ Background: Van Zummeren is a student at the University of Missouri-Columbia studying journalism.
In Columbia, he covers Mizzou football and basketball. Packers Draft Chris McClellan: Reach or Steal? Packers vs. Bears Final Score Prediction for NFL Week 16
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