The Green Bay Packers’ linebacker spots have been lacking serious talent over the past few years, especially considering that A.J. Hawk and Brad Jones were holding down two of those jobs for almost half a decade. Finally, defensive coordinator Dom Capers has come to his senses and is using Clay Matthews as an inside linebacker on early downs, while still letting him rush the passer occasionally on third downs. Since the Packers still run a 3-4 base, however, they need another strong ‘backer to hold down the fort while Clay roams. That has been Nate Palmer, who is on pace for nearly 100 total tackles this year. He hasn’t been a big-play generator, but he is the solid centerpiece the Pack needed to anchor the middle of the unit.

He and Green Bay travel to Carolina this week to face the Panthers, who currently have a 0.98 pass-to-run play calling ratio –- the run-heaviest offense in the league. With the Panthers utilizing quarterback Cam Newton on a variety of designed runs and read-options, there are plenty of opportunities for hits on the quarterback in this game. Carolina is allowing just the 28th-highest stuff percentage to opposing defensive units, but Palmer is a tackle-racker anyway.

Palmer is available in 100.0% of ESPN IDP leagues. We project him for around 6.0 tackles, and a total score of 6.88 balanced fantasy points in Week 9.