Making draft choices such as Mississippi State's Derek Sherrod are how top National Football League organizations stay on top for the long haul.
Twelve years after the Green Bay Packers drafted left tackle Chad Clifton with the 44th overall pick, the Packers landed his heir apparent Thursday night with the 32nd and final selection of the first round.
"I hope he's as good as Chad Clifton in terms of pass setting and doing what we want him to do," general manager Ted Thompson said. "We'll see. We're going to give him a chance to play, though."
Sherrod, 6 feet 5 inches and 315 pounds, is a three-year starter at left tackle in the Southeastern Conference just as Clifton was a four-year starter in the SEC for Tennessee.
Besides similar body types, personnel people said there are also similarities how Sherrod played compared to how the 34-year-old Clifton has played for 11 seasons in Green Bay.
Sherrod is regarded as more of an athletic player than a power player. By style, he probably fits better as a left tackle.
"He plays with good balance and base," Thompson said. "Hard to knock off his feet. He has ability to run block and cross over to pass block. We think he has a chance to be a complete player."
Somewhat surprisingly, Sherrod was the sixth tackle to be taken, although the Packers had him ranked several rungs higher. When Sherrod fell to Green Bay, Thompson said the mood in the draft room was jubilant.
"We were pretty happy," he said. "I feel OK. If you can get a quality big man I think you always lean that way."
Sherrod's bid to play early in his career and become a long-term player will be enhanced by his intelligence. He graduated, earned a 3.54-grade point average and scored 25 on the 50-question Wonderlic intelligence test.
That gives him the edge on Clifton, who has always required extra repetitions throughout his career as one of the most gifted pass blockers in the business.
When the Packers get back to playing football, the assumption is that Clifton will be at left tackle, Bulaga will be at right tackle and Sherrod will be stationed behind Clifton with the capability of playing both sides.
"I think either he or Bryan could play left tackle," said Thompson. "We'll kind of see. It just works itself out."
Thompson said he wouldn't rate Sherrod as a better athlete than Bulaga or Bulaga as a stronger player than Sherrod. On the bench press, Sherrod came up short with just 23 reps.
"We were surprised Bryan was there (23) where he was last year and we were kind of surprised Derek was still there," Thompson said.
They say the best time for a team to draft a left tackle is when they don't need one. The Packers didn't plan to start Bulaga as a rookie but when Mark Tauscher was injured he was there to offer solid performance at right tackle on a Super Bowl champion. Now the hope is that Sherrod can do the same if the oft-injured Clifton were to go down.
"I hope he's a 10-year player," said Thompson. "But I don't know if I'll be here then."
The selection of Sherrod undoubtedly means that T.J. Lang will play guard in his third season. He and Nick McDonald are expected to compete for the No. 1 job at left guard even if Daryn Colledge is resigned.
Marshall Newhouse, a fifth-round pick in 2010, might have the feet for left tackle and will go to camp as the No. 4 tackle. Tauscher almost certainly will not return.
Of the six top tackles, Sherrod's arm length of 35 3/8 inches ranked third longest and are about 2 inches longer than Bulaga's. His size-11 hands tied with Colorado's Nate Solder as the largest.
"He's a big, long guy," said Thompson. "I guess the other guys that took a left tackle would say their guy is the best. We liked how it turned out."
Thompson said he had some discussions from teams interested in acquiring the 32nd pick but nothing was serious in the last hour before the pick was made at 10:38 p.m.
"It never was close," he said. "There were some stupid deals offered to us."
Thompson said he was not offered a first- or second-round pick in 2012 in exchange for No. 32.
"Once it got to be our pick we were ready to go," he said.
Unlike the last two drafts, when the Packers traded up for linebacker Clay Matthews (first round) and safety Morgan Burnett (third round), they stood pat this time even though several players they liked slipped down the board.
Alabama running back Mark Ingram, a player that friends of Thompson said he had tremendous admiration for since last fall, fell all the way to 28 before NFC rival New Orleans traded up with New England to take him.
"I won't talk about that," Thompson said. "That player is on another team."
Meanwhile, Thompson bypassed Clemson's Da'Quan Bowers even though sources said the Packers had serious interest in him. The word was that the Packers planned to use Bowers as a third-down pass rusher while teaching him how to play right outside linebacker opposite Matthews.
In time, the feeling was that the 285-pound Bowers might have been able to bulk up and play end in the 3-4.
After the combine re-check two weeks ago, the doctors for just three teams flunked Bowers because of his post-operative knee. The Packers cleared Bowers, but there are degrees of clearance.
Having been stung by defensive tackle Justin Harrell and his multitude of injuries, Thompson decided against taking an explosive pass rusher in favor of the safer pick at perhaps an even greater position of need.
Asked if Bowers was a fit for the Packers' 3-4, Thompson replied, "It's part of the discussion we were having. It's debatable. But he's a good football player."