Read More... 

Articles like this make me think they will be looking for players in the draft who can also play special teams.

Connor Barwin, i bet went all the way up packer's scouting draft board. He been played special teams in college. He has the speed and motor to play 3-4 OLB. The fact he used to play TE means he has decent catching ability and that can help when playing in coverage on defence. i would not be surprised right now if he is no.1 OLB on their list.

It will be great news to see Hunter lose some weight and have the opportunity to play to the best of his ability at OLB as well as being a key special teams player. It just further solidified my view that moving to the 3-4 is still the right move.

I liked seeing McCarthy getting more athletic tight ends so that they could play special teams. Jermichael Finley is clearly an example of that. I hate immobile tight ends who is only good at blocking, i feel that the TE position is so much more than just that.

Edited by Pack93z - Please post less than 50% of the article and properly accredit the source please. See this for more details.... 

---

Oh, ye. I'm all for Barwin coming here in the 2nd round or so.

Also, this is something I didn't even think of. This will indeed be a big help, maybe even in coverage for Blackmon.



That doesn't sound very McCarthy-like btw. Maybe he's just very, very excited for the season to start aswell.

Linebackers always seem to be making plays in ST. So i agree having more of them can only help.

I like Hunter dropping weight for the OLB position. I think he was working to hard to get up to a good playing weight for DE, and now with the 3-4 he will be in a position that fits him more naturally.

The team has never come close to having a ST, like 96. Howard was able to get kick off returns because the blockers were opening up huge holes. If we can only get close to that again.

---

I fear that we may not even get Barwin in the 2nd. I would not be surprised if New England use their 1st pick (#23) on him. I project that to be the earliest he will go on the draft board.

If we want to get ahead of them, there are some teams who we could trade with for our no.9 pick. Our no.9 pick is worth 1350.

Detroit- 20,33 (value= 1430)
Philadelphia- 21, 28 (1460)
NY Giants- 29,45,60 (1390)
Miami- 24,44,56 (1520)
Minnesota- 22,54 (1140)
NY Jets- 17,52 (1130)
Tampa- 19,50 (1275)
Chicago- 18,49 (1310)

Whilst Detroit are best positionally, i just cannot see them wanting to trade down. NY Giants is superb because that means we would have THREE 2nd rounders!!! the total value of their picks is worth almost the same as our no.9. Unfortunately the downside is that their pick is after the Patriots.
Tampa Bay picks looks good and they have the cap space to accommodate a no.9 pick i believe. Whilst we would lose out on value, it would still get us ahead of the patroits.
Philadelphia would get us ahead of the patriots and also get another 1st round pick. So two late 1st rounders and a 2nd early rounder sounds really good to me.

---