Green Bay draft picks have a pretty decent chance of making the team as rookies - even the later round guys.
Ever since general manager Ted Thompson took over in 2005, all but six of Thompson's draft picks have landed on his final 53-man roster to start their first NFL season.
And that makes the immediate future of sixth-round linebacker Ricky Elmore difficult to predict.
Undrafted free agent outside linebackers Vic So'oto and Jamari Lattimore played double the number of snaps of Elmore in the Indianapolis game Friday night, a sign that they have leapfrogged Elmore.
Assuming Clay Matthews, Erik Walden and Frank Zombo - whose status is somewhat up in the air because of a broken scapula - are the top three outside linebackers, that leaves two spots, maybe three, for veteran Brad Jones, So'oto, Lattimore and Elmore to fight over.
It's hard to imagine Elmore as the odd man out given Thompson's track record of keeping his draft picks. But with the cut to 80 due at 3 p.m. Tuesday and the final cut to 53 due at 5 p.m. Saturday, the evidence is against him.
And from Elmore's perspective, that's nothing new.
He said the naysayers have been calling him out his whole life: that he wouldn't get a scholarship to a Division I school coming from a small high school or that he wouldn't be able to compete at that level in college. He played at Arizona and leading the Pacific 10 in sacks last year.
"It puts a chip on my shoulder, makes me work harder," said Elmore. "I like to prove people wrong."
There's no shortage of criticism in Green Bay, either. Days after Elmore got to Titletown, someone on the Packers' staff gave him three news articles and asked him to read them out loud. They summarized that Elmore would not make the conversion from defensive end, his position in college, to outside linebacker in the NFL.
"They asked me, how does that make me feel?" Elmore said. "I was just like, I've been told this my whole life. I got here, and I'm not going to leave.
"It doesn't matter who is in front of you or who is behind you. It's how you fit in the team, how you help in certain situations. Last year they had seven outside linebackers. You never know."
Roster spots can be won with special teams play or because of injuries, he added. But before that, Elmore has to prove he can make two transitions: to the NFL level and to linebacker.
Elmore lost 10 pounds leading up to the combine in February to arrive weighing 255, so he fits the size as the hybrid linebacker. He's still confident in his pass-rushing ability, but admits that he needs time to work on his coverage responsibilities.
"D-end or outside linebacker, it doesn't matter," said Elmore. "They're both the same thing. You just have a little more responsibility as an outside linebacker. You still rush the passer and then sometimes drop into coverage to cover receivers."
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