I think all you guys thinking that the 9 pick will be a tweener OLB prospect are reaching a bit..
Look at the roster at linebacker prospects.
Poppinga
Bishop
Hunter
Thompson
Monty - if he resigns.
Chillar
Kampman
Barnett
Hawk
There are plenty of pieces to work with there.. to find someone that can get the job done.
Now look at two other positions on the roster..
OT.
Cliffy
Colledge - If you slide Colledge over.. which he should be, then the gap at Guard becomes larger.
Barbre
Tauscher - Resign?
Or Defensive line..
Pickett
Jolly ????
Harrell ????
Jenkins
Malone?
Combine that with BPA theory and I don't think Maybin, Brown, Orakpo or any other of those edge players will fit that bill.
How many of these high draft pick edge players really turn out to be the outstanding edge players.
Suggs, Ware and Merriman... Players like Harrison, Woodley, Scott and so forth were later round picks.. hell Harrison was cut by the Steelers how many times?
Will we add talent at LBer.. I hope so, but if we are going to draft players at particular positions.. somehow I don't think backers are going to fit.
DT, DE or Oline... yep.. maybe even a corner that can play in space..
"porky88" wrote:
You can't argue anything against players who are different people. I think trends are to a certain extent overrated.
The chances of every hybrid linebacker working out is slim to none, but the chances of one or two working out is probably good. The same goes for most positions. Joe Thomas is an excellent tackle, but Robert Gallery is a bust.
The Packers have Jeremy Thompson, Jason Hunter, Aaron Kampman, and Brady Poppinga on their roster as outside linebackers.
The rest are probably projected to be inside backers.
It's not exactly a stout position.
Furthermore I believe that the weakest link on the team is also a pass rush. Moving Aaron Kampman to outside linebacker and not giving the defense another pass rush threat just puts the Packers back to square one except they run a different scheme.
I would say you can't say anything is for certain in the draft especially with a guy like Jason Smith and B.J. Raji all in play and Ted Thompson could move down for Tyson Jackson, but a outside pass rusher is very much in the mix.
EDIT:
It's also not a secret that Ted Thompson isn't scared to take a project in round one and then fill in positions of needs in rounds two, three, and four. I could see a Jason Smith like pick in round one and Smith not starting early on and then I could see Clay Matthews in round 2 and Matthews starting from day one. Obviously nothing can be ruled out.
"pack93z" wrote: