It's the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. just no at. There's also a members-only group chat for fans of your team, plus a lot more. You can check it out by tapping the Everydayer Club link in the show notes. We saw the big boy defenders on the field Thursday. The front seven draft prospects took the field in Indy, and this class is shaping up to be exactly what the Green Bay Packers needed. you are locked on Packers your daily Green Bay Packers podcast part of the locked on podcast network your team every day you are locked on Packers part of the locked on podcast network your team every day I'm Peter Bukowski and I cover the Packers for the leap a newsletter I I would love for you to subscribe to subscribe to the podcast, wherever you get podcasts, iTunes, Spotify, Google, wherever you get podcasts, you'll find locked on Packers, the number one Packers podcast on the internet and the show for fans who know what happened. They want to know why and how thanks to everyone who makes locked on Packers their first listen every day. We hope you like starting your day with us as much as we like starting our day with you here on the locked on podcast network, the number one sports podcast network. Today's episode brought to you by our friends at Fandle. Use your profit boost on an NBA future and get entered for your chance to win a trip to the NBA finals. Play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. A bunch of talented tight ends at this draft. All of a sudden, a couple veteran centers on the market for the Green Bay Packers. But let's start with the guys on the field in Indianapolis. And we saw the defensive tackles, the defensive ends, the linebackers take the field. And the Packers, look, I would expect them to draft at least one of each of those positions in this draft. And it was already really a strong class at the top with pass rushers, edge players, defensive tackles. And the middle of this class, the linebackers in particular, really broke well for Green Bay in terms of having the players that they really needed to pop, pop. Now we'll get into the edge guys at some point. I think that that, depending on what happens to Rashawn Gary, I think Kingsley Nibari is out the door. I think Rashawn Gary comes back. If Rashawn Gary does go out the door, that just opens up such a big hole for them with their pass rush. I understand they like Colin Oliver. They like Baron Sorrell. I do too. but then you just have Micah Parsons and Lucas Van Ness and Brenton Cox but like I don't think that's enough and so I think that they're going to be looking at day three guys we'll look at some of those day three guys the top of this edge class tested very well even if some of the questions about length still persist with guys like Ruben Bain but the Packers don't have to worry about that because they're not going to draft any of those guys the big boys the big boys the defensive tackles. Caleb Banks is not going to make it to the Packers in the second round in all likelihood. He came in a full 6'6", 327, tested outstanding, a preliminary 9.84 relative athletic score. Remember what that is. Take size, take athletic traits, put them together. Where are they relative to their peers at the position? That means Caleb Banks is a 98th percentile athlete for the position. I think he's going to be defensive tackle one in this draft. And it's not just because of the class. Like there was really great advice. Dane Brugler, who covers the draft for the athletic, he said that, I don't remember if a scout had said to him once or he was just suggesting to someone, but I think it was a scout said to him, like go into the combine with an idea of how you think that player is going to test. Because if you go in thinking, well, that guy's going to be a great athlete and then they're a great athlete, you don't count it twice, right? But if a guy you think is going to be a great athlete doesn't, well, then you got to go, what are we doing? And if a guy thinks, I just an okay athlete on tape, and then he goes and blows out the combine, well, then you got to go, hmm, is he being used in the right ways? What are the traits that are translatable from the testing that maybe aren't showing up on the tape? There's all sorts of extenuating factors here. But I think Caleb Banks really helped himself. Lee Hunter is a name that you will hear connected to the Packers. And he's got a very wide range of outcomes. I've seen him as defensive tackle one in this class. And I've seen him as like defensive tackle five in this class. He could go 25. He could go 55. The testing was not good. Just was not good. And I saw people like raving about the movement skills in some of the drills. Okay, but the movement skills with the testing, they were bad. And at that size, with his play style, like relevant athletic score, you know, like below 50th percentile. I just don't see the Packers, especially with a premium pick. Like second round is probably where you'd have to draft him. I just like I would be hard pressed to see the Packers making a move like that. If he had no athletic profile, it may be better for his chances to be drafted by the Packers than if he had a bad one. And unfortunately for him, he had a bad one. so all right that's just one of the names one of the underrated names and I think if you're going to talk about okay could you get a nose tackle if you just want a guy to come in plug the nose with some pass rush upside you can do that on day three you can you can do the tj slayton thing I think the packers they may well think that that's the most prudent way to approach things here and considering some of the other names that we're going to talk about, maybe it is the best way to approach this particular class as well because a player like Demonte Capehart from Clemson goes out at 6'5", 313, runs a 4.85 unofficial 40 time. This guy put up a 9.97 relative athletic score and I understand that's just like, that's just the numbers. This is the eighth most athletic tackle out of the last 2,000 tackles going back to 1987. So if you're on day three, why wouldn't you just throw a dart on that guy? Right now on the consensus, you know, this is an internet consensus. It's early. He's at 161. So we're talking about like the fifth round. If you could get an athlete like that, and the Packers, maybe not as much as I would like, frankly, have not thrown a bunch of darts at super athletic, you know, day three defensive linemen the way that maybe you think, like that's when they get Kingsley Kiki and Carl Brooks and they've actually found some useful players not doing that. It's where they actually search for some outliers at times, though Baron Sorrell was also a very good athlete. I'd like to see them take some more shots like this. Chris McClellan from Missouri, another player who tested really well, absolute monstrous physical specimen, 11 hands 34 arms Those are elite elite numbers for a defensive tackle He 6 313 And he didn test amazingly Not a great 10 split But he's someone that you could get, you know, probably late third, early fourth round. You know, he was in Dane Brugler's top 100, but right now on the consensus board is 131, which would put you in position to get him in like the fourth round. I think that that would be something that would be appealing 8-4-8 relative athletic score for him now the linebackers this is where I think it broke really really well for the Packers and I want to I want to roll quickly through some of these because there's a lot of interesting names to check out here Jacob Rodriguez is someone we've taken in a mock draft Monday he's only 6'1", 231 playing at Texas Tech but he ran 4.57 that's a 91st percentile 40 yard dash for a linebacker but he also jumped 38.5 and had a 10 foot broad those are premium premium numbers at that position and he's someone who you know doesn't look like an all world athlete on tape but is instinctive and finds the ball at his size. He's got short arms, 30-inch arms, nine-inch hands. Packers like length of the linebacker position. I think he would be playing against type a little bit to take someone like that. But if you're going to take someone like that, it's gotta be because they're an outstanding athlete and he tested like an outstanding athlete. Speaking of outstanding athletes, Kyle Lewis, who I think at one point I called Kyle Louis, like I gave him the French pronunciation from Pittsburgh. Lewis Riddick said after the combine, and I would assume this is from tape study, not just the combine, that Kyle Lewis is going to be Derek Brooks. Six foot, 220. So like, is he a safety? Is he a linebacker? Is he both? Is he a dime linebacker? We've also talked about him on Mock Draft Mondays. Well, he ran 4.53 and jumped out of the gym. 39.5 foot vertical, 10.9 broad jump. Those are like primo, primo, 98th percentile numbers. he is an elite explosive athlete so at that size that's what you got to be i think kyle lewis is someone who as we move through this process is going to move up the draft board and right now he's 78th on the consensus board i think by the time we get to the draft he's someone that if the packers want to draft they're going to have to use their second round pick on him and this is the conversation we were having the other day is there an opportunity for the packers where they prioritize players we like this player we wouldn't normally prioritize him here but because of this new defense that's one of the routes that they go anthony hill is another guy in the second round 6'2 238 very similar in size in that way to edgerton cooper said he models his game after edgerton cooper doesn't quite have the length of edgerton cooper but ran 451 also jumped out of the gym these this linebacker group is really athletic jake golday could be another second round option for the Packers, a run defending downhill linebacker, 6'4", 240, but jumped 39 and 10,5 and then ran 4.62. Like that's a big dude to put next to Edron Cooper. And maybe you let him be the sort of like turbocharged Isaiah McDuffie, a downhill linebacker. Then you let Edron Cooper play the run and chase stuff. Now that would be a lot to put on a rookie to go be the Mike linebacker in a Super Bowl defense. but certainly we've seen stranger things in all of this. And so like, look, this broke right for the Packers. You'd like to see some similar testing numbers from one of the biggest groups of tight ends we've ever seen at the Combine. I want to talk about that next on Locked on Packers. Ever wanted to experience the NBA Finals live and in person? FanDuel is giving you the chance to turn that dream into reality with their NBA sweepstakes. Here's how it works. Use your profit boost on any NBA future and you'll automatically be entered for a shot to win an NBA finals trip for two. That's right. Flights, tickets, the whole experience. If you're already looking at the board and thinking about which team can make a deep run, this is the perfect time to lock it in. I love futures this time of year, whether it's picking a team to win the championship or grab a conference title. It adds that extra layer of excitement to every game down the stretch. and now not only can you pick cash but it could also send you to the finals like the Spurs odds right now they can't lose lately and they have the Thunder's number a little bit like that you find some value there a little bit visit Fandle.com to get started use your profit boost on an NBA future and get entered for your chance to win a trip to the NBA finals play your game with Fandle the official sports betting partner of the NBA the offseason doesn't exist for the everyday or club And remember, we are modeling our Friday news dump show live at noon central time off of the questions in the group chat. And in fact, they reminded me yesterday, hey, you still need questions for the show tomorrow. And I was like, yes, hit me with them. And all of a sudden we got an avalanche of questions in the group chat. Head to lockedonpackers.supercast.com to join the group chat and get ad-free episodes of Locked on Packers. So this is interesting. We just talked about this. I love it when a plan comes together. And we were just talking about the need at tight end for the Packers, how it is probably greater than has been discussed over the course of the offseason. And there are, at the Combine, almost 30 tight ends. I think there are 27 tight ends who got invited to the Combine. And remember, the invites come from the National Scouting Services, like the teams vote on the players that they want to see at the combine. So these are already the players that the teams like. Well, normally it's fewer than 20. So we're talking about a 50% increase in this draft class at the combine. So that means a lot of opportunities for the Packers to find that next guy. whether it's, you know, you want to find that blocking tight end, whatever it is. And it's not that it's so deep in the top 100. Right now, the consensus has five guys in the top 100. Kenyon Sadiq from Oregon is the first round guy. Then Eli Stowers from Vanderbilt is the second round guy. There's a couple third round guys. Michael Trigg from Baylor, Justin Jolie from NC State. and so Max Clare from Ohio State that's your group I don't think the Packers are going to play in those waters I think that would be too high like they drafted Luke Musgrave and Tucker Craft because they needed one of those guys to hit and I'm sure they thought well they're actually very complimentary one is your vertical one is your physical run after catch guy and if they both hit now you've really now you've got Gronk and Aaron Hernandez. That's not what happened. And you don't need to invest premium draft capital. I understand Matt LaFleur wants to play more, you know, 12 personnel, unless they just shoot the moon in free agency. And that, you know, I don't know that that would be totally surprising to me. They seem pretty locked into going for it this year. But unless someone that they think had a first round grade falls to them in like the second or the third round I would be surprised if they went and used their picks there After that though, that's where the draft gets really interesting. Guys like Oscar Delp from Georgia, Sam Rausch from Stanford, Joe Royer from Cincinnati, Dallin Bentley from Utah, Nate Borkerscher from Texas A&M, Eli Raritan from Notre Dame. There's a lot of guys. Daquan Wright from Mississippi, probably going to test really, really well. There's a really long list of guys after that that could all be in the mix to be drafted or be UDFAs that the Packers could just come bring in. And we talked about this when we talked about the tight end position. You need a diverse skill set of players. And actually, we were talking to Coach Jags on the squad show, and he mentioned when he was in Atlanta, he had Algie Crumpler, who was his do-it-all tight end. He had a blocking tight end, and he had a special teams, kind of wide tight end, F tight end. Excuse me. He was really more of like a receiver, but he was a really good athlete. And so that's why he became the special teams guy. Well, the Packers have the complete guy. Luke Musgrave is not like a big special teams player. So even though he's the receiving tight end after Tucker Craft, he's not really helping on special teams. And then they don't have the blocker. You need to find the blocker to me. That's the guy you need to find. And if he has some upside, great. So you want to find, let me find the best athlete I can find who can block. That's got to be the goal. like who can come in and block right away and then they can be also a special teams player for you because you're just like that's what you're gonna have to be if you're the tight end two and they don't have to be tight end two this year they can be tight end three this year so then you can come in in some blocking situations and give that and then in in special team situations you've got the athleticism Luke Musgrave moves on and in a year because it does take time with tight ends it usually takes two years to come with tight ends though they're they're coming in more ready to produce than they've ever been remember tucker craft came in mid-season he didn't look ready at all in training camp and he came in mid-season as a rookie and produced immediately and so did luke musgrave he produced immediately as well and in the playoff game famously he stayed on his feet barely but he stayed on his feet and so they need to find that guy and this class provides an opportunity for that now i've said this before and i will say it again what i would do in this class in particular is round five round six every year i'm throwing a dart at a freak athlete tight end. And some are going to hit in small ways, get a nice special teams player. But you would expect if you do it often enough, at some point, you're probably going to hit on a pretty good player. This is just the nature of the tight end. Athleticism is a big damn deal. And we talked about some of the traits. It's broken tackles. It's 10 yard split. Those sorts of things are really important. So find those big, strong tackle breaking guys with explosive short area quickness. That's what you want in a modern tight end. So when these guys test, keep an eye on that stuff. That's where you want to find the developmental players. I don't think they're going to be in the market for an Eli Stowers. I don't think they're going to be in the market for a Michael Trigg from Baylor. Like those guys are going to probably go in the top 100 and they're probably going to look really good at the combine they're going to test well the market at the top is limited but it's really deep after that and that's I feel like that's the way that this draft looks like there are a couple guys at the top of each position like Kenyon Sadiq the top tight end we all know it and then like you could have five guys that you think are the best guys after that and then there's 15 guys who are solid to good players that you would be happy with. This is not a great draft. It's just not. And it's a good draft for the Packers to not have a first round pick because you're not going to be, you know, oh, damn it. I wish we could have gotten like, it's not going to be that. Look, it still might be the Packers traded their pick. If that pick turns into a really good player, you're going to go, man, that's kind of a bummer. you got Micah Parsons. Like there is nothing to be annoyed about, period. No one is going to draft. Like I promise you, no one is going to draft a player as good as Micah Parsons that the Packers could have drafted with their first round pick. I can, like would say with 99% certainty that will be the case. And if they do, it will be someone that no one in a million years saw coming from the fourth round. They just turned themselves into, you know, an all-world player. But remember, Micah Parsons is on a historic pace that only Reggie White is on. Like we're talking about a guy who could go down as one of the best defensive players to ever play the game. The odds of anyone finding a player in this class or any class that good is slim to none. So it's not worth worrying about. this class is deep where you want it to be and that is on day three that's where if you're the Packers you want to take some dart throws a tight end now the Packers could take a center early but the veteran center market just got a little more interesting and the Packers could be in play here we'll talk about it next on Locked on Packers Speaking of the draft, welcome to the 5-Hour Energy Flavor Draft with 18 different flavors to choose from, including new options like Confetti Craze, Fruity Rainbow, Cotton Candy. There's something for everyone. The flavors are set. The board is ready. I've got my number one pick for the 5-Hour Energy Flavor Draft, and you guys know where I'm going. This is basically the Fernando Mendoza of the 5-Hour Energy Draft. It's Hawaiian breeze for me. the passion fruit, the orange, the guava. It's sweet yet smooth. It's like if you went to a tropical island and you were like, okay, what I want is a boozy punch, but I need it for breakfast, so don't put the booze in it. Like I'm waking up, I wanna sit on the veranda overlooking the beach and just sip a tropical juice. Hawaiian breeze, man. Hawaiian breeze is the vibe. Find your new favorite flavor at 5R Energy Shots available online at 5hourenergy.com or Amazon. The backers are in all likelihood going to cut Elton Jenkins. And that will leave a big hole at center. And it is otherwise not an outstanding center class, though there are some bargain guys that they could sign just as backups. I don't see them doing that. I think more likely they sign a real football player to do that, or they draft somebody. And there are some players in this draft that I really like If I were a betting man and I been known to dabble I would say Logan Jones from Iowa. Not just that he's from Iowa. He's gonna test incredibly well. He's an older player, 24. I think he'd be ready to come right in. He's gonna turn 25. I think he'd be ready to come right in, and they would say, this guy can do it for the Packers. Now, that doesn't mean he'll be any good. I'm just willing to bet on Iowa offensive line more often than not, frankly. So, that being said, Lloyd Cushenberry was cut from the Tennessee Titans. And he was someone who, before the Achilles injury, was really playing good football. And then he had the injury and then did not play as well afterward. And then the Titans moved on. Now they're trying to get younger and cheaper and all those things. New coaching staff, new-ish front office. A year removed from the Achilles. And then remember, if you sign him, he does not affect the comp pick formula. The Packers are going to get a big-time comp pick from Malik Willis and a big-time comp pick from Rasheed Walker. They may want to spend some money. so you're going to get some offset on those. If they want to spend some money on the offensive line though, someone like Cushenberry could be an option. The thing is, he's not the only option. Tyler Biotis was also just released from the Commanders. Now he's getting older, of course, too. Former Badger. And I'm not just bringing this up because he's a former Badger. played in Washington last year and this was a bit of a surprise. Like, it talks to some of the people that cover Washington. Like, yeah, he's, you know, getting a little bit older, but like, he's still a good player. And I think that's a name that the Packers could be interested in. He's been relatively healthy over the last two seasons. and so that's part of what you need that's part of the worry with older offensive linemen is are they going to stay healthy it just makes the the line deeper than with these centers and what it does is when you add to the market like this first of all you can get a head start okay Lloyd what do you want okay Tyler what do you want where is the market for an older veteran center who has maybe had some injury questions, but has shown a track record of playing at a high level. Well, here's the market. And then you can kind of use that to extrapolate out, okay, well, that means these guys are probably going to slot in right here, and that this is 8 million, and this guy's 4 million, and then this guy's 15 million. And you can slot it in that way. It gives you information as much as it does an option and an opportunity. I think either one of those players, if you slot in at center for the Packers, could be a potential upgrade from what they got last year. And unfortunately for Elton Jenkins, he just never really settled in at center. And it's hard to explain what went on there with Elton Jenkins, why it didn't work out. The Packers expected him to be really good. And he was just really not. And so I think for the Packers, there is a piece of this that is about asset management and you're paying Aaron Banks a lot of money you're paying Zach Tom a lot of money now you've got cost-controlled players on rookie contracts at right guard and presumably left tackle with Anthony Belton and Jordan Morgan but that is big time investment as well so how much investment is sufficient in the offensive line. How much do you want to invest? And I think with guys like Cushenberry and Biotic, there could be an arbitrage opportunity where those guys, if you can get in early, maybe you don't have to pay the free agent premiums and you can convince those guys, maybe Cushenberry in particular, Hey, it's been pretty miserable in Tennessee. Why don't you come play for a contender and you can get them on a lower money deal. that would make some sense there's not anybody like Tyler Linderbaum is not going to do it for me if I'm Green Bay he's not going to push you over the top I don't think there's a team in the NFL where a center is going to push them over the top and I don't know that Tyler Linderbaum is the kind of player frankly who could push a team over the top I just I think those those guys at center I don't think they really exist I'm not sure they ever did I was going to say anymore I'm not sure they ever did, frankly. And the Packers weren't so bad that going from like, you know, bad to meh is going to be a big upgrade for them. I think Anthony Belton going from bad at times to meh and not being the floor, that could be a big upgrade for Green Bay. But at center, like I think they need to, they need to either go with a rookie or, you know, you think Jacob Monk could maybe do it. But I think there are options in free agency where you draft somebody or you'd sign somebody on a low money deal. Like there are guys out there you could have, I think, for the bet minimum. You could have for two, three million dollars that come in to compete. They give you some backstop if the perfect center doesn't fall to you. And you go, well, we're fine with this guy because we like Aaron Banks and we think Anthony Belton can take the next step. And Zach Thomas, you know, a potential all pro caliber player, certainly a pro bowl caliber player. We'll see what happens with Jordan Morgan. And we trust Jordan Love to make all the calls so we don't have to worry about it the same sort of way. New guy system, all that stuff. Most of the league runs the Shanahan-McVay system anyway or some permutation of it. So it's not going to be crazy different. It would be a much bigger adjustment if we're talking about a rookie. Now, that being said, I don't think that's going to make the Packers shy away from drafting somebody. I still kind of think that's the most likely outcome, but this at least gives them another option to consider when it comes to the center position. We're going to see these guys out on the field. We're going to have plenty more to talk about with these players, how they test, all that good stuff. We will not have more before the next time we talk to you. We will have the Friday News Dump live at noon central over on our YouTube channel. And we will have the Sunday OT, which we may, we normally record that earlier. We may wait to record that just so we have some more players to talk about. but I kind of like to have some more evergreen content because it's going to be Sunday. You may not get to it till Monday, Tuesday. I don't know. So we'll see what we do there. Send me your questions for the Friday News Dump show on the social medias. Make sure you subscribe to the podcast wherever you get podcasts so you get all the episodes right there in your feed for you. And then we're going to be live, as I said, on Friday, every Friday at noon for the Friday News Dump. So come hang out with us. If you're subscribed, get the notifications, all that good stuff. If you never miss an episode, the Everyday Air Club is built for you. Get Locked on Packers ad-free plus members-only Discord access and more. Head to Locked on Packers to join the club. For those of you on video, we send you to the first ever 24-7 national NFL YouTube channel on audio. Make sure your second listen is the Locked on NFL Draft or the Locked on Packers squad show so you can stay Locked on Packers. Thank you.
