Packers Draft Mailbag: Front Seven Is Most Likely First-Round Target

The Packers would fill a need by addressing either the defensive line or linebacker in the first round of the NFL Draft.

Florida State defensive end Mario Edwards—Brian Carriveau, CheeseheadTV.com.

Florida State defensive end Mario Edwards—Brian Carriveau, CheeseheadTV.com.

In the run-up to the NFL Draft, we are publishing a weekly “Mailbag” feature here at Cheesehead TV.

If there’s something you’d like answered, tag your queries with the hashtag #PackersDraft on Twitter.

First of all, realize that anything I say is just a guess. Even the best NFL Draft analysts can typically predict no more than eight specific players to a specific team in any given year. Hard to believe, but it's true.

If I were a betting man, however, I'd wager the Packers address the front seven on the defensive side of the football in the first round of the draft just based on need.

As much as executives like to say they take the "best player available," I tend to think there's always an unspoken caveat that they omit: "within reason."

Even if Melvin Gordon or Landon Collins is available when the Packers are on the clock in the first round, they're not taking those players. If Ted Thompson wants to make the 2015 edition of Packers better. they're not addressing running back or safety in the first round. Later in the draft, sure, but not the first round.

If that particular scenario happens to play out, it's a good situation to be in if you're the Packers. They could perhaps trade backwards with a team looking to take Gordon or Collins and maybe pick up an extra Day 2 draft pick.

But back to the original question, it's most likely the Packers go after a defensive lineman or a linebacker in the first round, but I couldn't rule out a tight end or an offensive lineman, especially if Bryan Bulaga leaves via free agency, or a cornerback, especially if Tramon Williams and Davon House leave.

I guess our first question leads perfectly into the next. If there's one position on the roster I don't have much of a feeling for, it's cornerback. I do know that if the Packers have designs on keeping House or Williams on their roster, it would behoove them to get deals done with Randall Cobb and Bryan Bulaga done A.S.A.P., before the start of free agency.

It makes sense that the Packers won't begin negotiations with House or Williams until Cobb and Bulaga are done first, because they won't know how much money they'll have left on the salary cap. That will be dependent on the amount of years and guaranteed money they give Cobb and Bulaga.

House and Williams, however, might not have the patience to wait on the Packers once free agency starts. They have every right to explore other options. And hypothetically, should they happen to leave, I wouldn't be surprised if the Packers target a cornerback, even as high as the first round. Not that it would be a necessity, however.

The Packers have pretty good depth at cornerback. Sam Shields, Casey Hayward, Micah Hyde and Demetri Goodson are all coming back. Hayward and Hyde in particular have the slot positions locked down. If the Packers do happen to look at cornerback, it would more than likely be a perimeter type of player.

There's always a debate about track speed and playing time every time the Combine rolls around because there's either a player that blows everyone away with a fast 40-yard dash that was merely an average player in college, or on the other hand, there's a good player that turned in a surprisingly poor time.

I think we did a pretty good job of summing up an example of the latter in a piece published here at Cheesehead TV on TCU linebacker Paul Dawson, who ran a shockingly slow 40 of 4.93 seconds. When you watch Dawson on film, it certainly doesn't look like he plays slow. A defender can make up for slow foot speed by having good instincts and taking proper angles to the football.

Obviously the 40 is not the be all, end all metric of player evaluation. Very rarely do players sprint 40 yards in a straight line in football, particularly if you're not a wide receiver. That's why evaluators time 10- and 20-yard splits and as well as shuttle drills, where a player's change of direction is the key.

The player with the fastest time at the Combine was UAB wide receiver J.J. Nelson, who covered 40 yards in 4.28 seconds. More than likely, the casual fan hasn't even heard of Nelson. He caught an average of only 2.9 passes per game for the Blazers this past season, but he'll have scouts looking at more film on him now that he turned some heads at the Combine.

I saw this comment posted on Twitter by Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com the other day, for what it's worth:

I am fairly impressed with the Penn State tight end's production in college: 78 career receptions for 1,005 yards (12.9 ypc) and 11 touchdowns in three years. Not bad for a big tight end.

And I actually think the Packers could go after big tight end in the middle rounds that's both a good blocker and a red-zone target, but I'm not exactly sure James is the guy.

Players like Tyler Kroft of Rutgers, Nick Boyle of Delaware, Jean Sifrin of UMass and Blake Bell would all be preferable in my opinion.

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Comments (2)

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RCPackerFan's picture

February 24, 2015 at 12:46 pm

Right now, before free agency and all that. I think the front 7 will be their first choice for the 1st round. It all depends on who is available.

I can see them going ILB, OLB, DE, DT/NT all pending on who is there.

Its very hard to pick one person this early, especially you don't know who might drop and whatnot.

Right now at ILB, I would have to say there are possibly 3 options. Shaq Thompson, Eric Kendricks, and Denzel Perryman.
I have seen varying ranges for Kendricks and Perryman, but the Packers maybe higher on a player then others.

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Allan Murphy's picture

February 25, 2015 at 03:40 am

Their's a lot of time before the draft and for me i would have too see what free agents they bring back before my pics but ILB,DT,NT,TE,CB,OLB,DE would be my pics but witch one comes first can't tell yet brian C guess we will no more mid march my guess .

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