GREEN BAY -- Isaiah McDuffie isn't a former first-round draft pick, like Quay Walker is.
He isn't the rookie who burst onto the Green Bay Packers' defensive scene last season, like Edgerrin Cooper did.
But he is a smart, reliable, durable player who knows defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley's system inside and out, like no one else on the roster.
Which is why the team re-signed McDuffie on Monday, a week before the NFL's free-agent negotiation window was set to open.
ESPN reported that McDuffie's deal is for two years and worth $8 million, with a maximum value of $9.5 million. McDuffie, a sixth-round pick from Boston College in 2021, was set to become an unrestricted free agent and would have been able to talk with other teams starting next Monday.
While Walker, who could get an extension of his own if the team doesn't exercise the fifth-year option in the 2022 first-round pick's rookie contract, had what seemed to be a breakthrough season in Hafley's first year as coordinator, and while Cooper was an immediate impact player as a rookie second-round pick, McDuffie quietly and effectively played consistently and through injury throughout the 2024 season.
McDuffie started all 18 games (including playoffs) and finished with a career-high 100 tackles (45 solo), one sack, four quarterback hits, three tackles for loss three pass break-ups and one forced fumble.
He played 699 defensive snaps (64.2%) and 125 special-teams snaps (28.3%) during the regular season and played an additional 30 defensive snaps and team-high 21 special-teams snaps in the team's season-ending NFC wild card playoff loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
McDuffie played his final season at Boston College under Hafley, who was in his first year as the Eagles head coach, so the two already had a close connection when Hafley took over as the Packers' defensive coordinator.
And head coach Matt LaFleur had been around McDuffie for his first three NFL seasons before earned a spot in the starting lineup during training camp last summer.
But both men became even greater admirers of McDuffie's game -- and character -- following the Packers' 30-17 Thanksgiving night victory over the Miami Dolphins on Nov. 28.
In that game, McDuffie tied for the team lead in solo tackles (seven) and total tackles (10) while also registering a tackle for loss, a pass breakup and a forced fumble while playing 63 of the Packers' 71 snaps (89%).
And he did it despite suffering a serious ankle injury four days earlier in the team's win over the San Francisco 49ers -- an injury so gruesome that it had LaFleur and the rest of the coaching staff stunned that he suited up against the Dolphins.
"Yeah, after the game on Sunday, we didn't think he'd be able to play," LaFleur marveled after the Dolphins game. "I just think it speaks to the level of toughness that he has and his desire to be out there with his teammates.
"One thing you know that you're always going to get from Isaiah McDuffie is 100% max effort. And I think it's evident. It shows up on every snap; he is going to go full-speed and you're going to feel his presence out there.
"I'm really proud of him. He is a team-first guy, he is always going to do his job to the best of his ability and I think that's all you can ask of anybody."
Added Hafley at the time: "You want to talk about tough? That guy, you've got to give him so much credit for how much he cares about this team, for how badly he wants to play football.
"He played about as physical and aggressive as you can imagine, and he definitely wasn't 100%. And there's a lot of guys that might not even have played on a short week. You talk about what's right about the sport ... I love that guy."
When Walker sustained a significant ankle injury in the Packers' Dec. 15 win at Seattle, Hafley leaned on McDuffie to be the on-field defensive play-caller.
So even if the Packers trend even more toward their nickel defense with Walker and Cooper, a two-time NFC defensive player of the week in 2024, as the two linebackers, McDuffie will still be a critical piece.
"I think he's one of the toughest guys on our team. Another guy who gives everything he has every play. He studies it," Hafley said. "If you ever want to turn on one clip and look for a guy running to the ball, turn on any clip he's in and you'll find him when the whistles blown, trying to take the ball away."
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