It's the lockdown podcast network, your team every day. What's up everybody? This is Ross Jackson, one of the hosts of the lockdown podcast network. And if you haven't heard yet, we started a club and we would love for you to join. It's called the every day or club. And one of the things that you get as a member is an ad free version of the podcast that you're listening to right now. It works with whatever podcast app you already use. Same episodes every day. Just know ads. 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 every day or club link in the show notes. Defense attacker Caleb Proctor has the talent to be the Packers next small school draft hit. You are locked on Packers, your daily Green Bay Packers podcast part of the locked on podcast network, your team every day. You were locked on Packers part of the locked on podcast network, your team every day. I'm Peter Bacowsk and I cover the Packers for the leap newsletter. I would love for you to subscribe to thanks to everyone who makes locked on Packers. They're 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. Another episode of goodies guys today this time with Southeast Louisiana defensive tackle Caleb Proctor and having it be this late in the draft process allows us to tell you that he reportedly has a 30 visit with the Packers. And so Green Bay is expressing some level of interest. We also learned on Tuesday that Kristen Miller from Georgia had a 30 visit with the Packers. So Green Bay is looking in that day two, maybe early day three range on defensive tackles, which is not surprising. Here's the thing. I don't think Caleb Proctor is going to be a day three defensive tackle. I don't think Caleb Proctor deserves to be a day three defensive tackle. I think he is one of the best defensive tackles in this draft class and has a chance to outperform at the very least his school, but certainly his standing among the draft, you know, Illuminati as we sit here today in early April. He is a little undersized at a shade under six to 291 pounds, but we're not talking about having a, you know, 265, 270 pound guy. He's not collage a can see from a size perspective and he's got pretty good size in terms of arm length, just a little below average in terms of his arm length, 43rd percentile arm length. But here's the thing. He uses his arms spectacularly well. He is, he is not only a violent, violent disengager when it comes to blocking, but also a polished pass rusher. He's got a bevy of moves he can use to get blockers off his body. He's just turning 22 years old. That's the other part of this is he is still a young ascending player. If you look at pro football focus does these percentiles based on their grades. He is on the far end of the sliders, like the 99, 9, 9, 9, 9 percentile in everything. Every pass rush category, he is just like the best, the best of the best 95th percentile speed score. So size adjusted for, for his, or speed adjusted for his size, 84th percentile burst score, a nine, five, one relative athletic score. Now he did not do agility testing, but you watch the way they use him on games up front, the twists and the stunts and all that stuff. They use him to drop occasionally in some, in some wonky zone blitz looks and he can do it. He can do it. He played a ton of snaps for three years at Southeast Louisiana, which I promise you, I will screw up the directionality of that more than once. I think I did the other day on our, on our daily show. He's played 1500 snaps over the last three seasons. That is a boatload of snaps. So conditioning should not be the problem. And if you didn't know he was a defensive tackle, you wouldn't know he was a defensive tackle. He is a proportionately built, thick, solid, muscular guy. He gradually got better according to the pro football focus grades, which is something you love to see. Had an 86.5 grade last year, 75th percentile run defense grade had nine sacks and 26 hurries last year. He stacks blockers, chests, he stacks them, extend his hands, control the blockers and get where he wants to go, not where the blocker wants him to go. He's got really good get off. He gets on blockers and that's where you can mitigate some of the length. It's not quite Ruben Bain in terms of the way that he does it. And he doesn't quite have the issues with length that Ruben Bain has. Remember, he's just below average Ruben Bain is like outlier, outlier, zero with percentile in terms of arm length. But the way that Proctor mitigates that is he brings the fight to the offensive lineman. He consistently disrupts as a pass rusher. And when you have a smaller school guy, what you want is someone who pops off the screen, who is dominant at his level and Proctor checks that box. He's the level of dominant you want from a lower level player. Now, if there's one knock that I have, he is so dominant as a disruptor, as a penetrator that he can lose track of the ball sometimes. He just wants to get up field because he knows he can shoot a gap or he knows he can take on half a man and win up the field that he doesn't know where the ball is. And maybe that's just what the defense is asking him to do. Hey, go be way more athletic than 95% of the teams that we play in a given season. That could be the plan. That could be a good plan, frankly. He's not just a finesse player, though. He's got violent shock back power. He can be into your chest, knock offensive lineman back and then maneuver wherever he wants to go. He gives good effort in chase. I would say, you know, on a scale of like zero to 10, it's not a 10. There are guys in this class, guys like Grayson Halton, who they're tackling guys 15 yards down the field. And he's not quite that. He makes moves that, that make you audibly utter involuntarily. So like you just go, whoa. And he had an arm over into a pass break up against Murray State where I was just like, holy cow. And you want to see how it stacks up against LSU, right? And I looked at the pro football focus grades and I was like, okay, he doesn't have a great PFF grade. I would like to, I would like those grades to be audited. What is going on? What is like, I don't understand. He was, he was the best when, when LSU was on offense. Proctor was the best player on the field. He had a, you see it even against LSU with the movement skills had a stack on a stunt where LSU where he bounced off two blockers and chased down the QB LSU LSU brought double teams. They brought chip help and you saw him convert speed to power to push blockers back into the pocket had a tackle for loss on a third and one on a run stunt. Speaking of agility where he turns the corner and bang takes on the running back and gets a, gets a TFL had another sack in the red zone against LSU two sacks and a TFL against LSU. He was excellent. He was excellent. This is what I wrote in my notes. What am I missing? Why is this not a top 100 player? He's an outstanding athlete who beat the ever loving crap out of a lower level of competition and then made a slew of slash plays against LSU. He's never going to hold up against the double as a run defender, but he's stout and attacks blockers. He's not a long DT, but he's so explosive and slippery. It doesn't matter. He's violent with his hands, shocking blockers back and can win with quickness, speed to power or hand fighting. Plus he's still not even 22 and has played a ton of football. I understand the questions about the level of comp, but he showed the requisite domination at his level you'd want. And when given the chance to play LSU, not only did LSU regularly double and chip him when they didn't proctor made them pay for it with two sacks and a huge TFL in the run game. He is my Ted Hurst for defensive tackles where if he played in an ACC school, we'd be talking about a no doubt top 50 pick, but he didn't. And so that brings some question into this evaluation. I, I have still a second round grade on him, but it is a lower second round grade. I will tell you, I have him above Peter Woods, who it seems like is going to go in the first round. That's how good I think Caleb proctor can be. Now, how does he fit with the Packers? Let's talk about it next. This episode is sponsored by better help. Financial stress is something a lot of people are caring right now. And it's not just about the numbers that can affect your sleep. Your relationships, your overall mental health in ways that build up over time. And the reality is struggling with money doesn't mean you failed. Sometimes it just means you haven't had the right kind of support. It's something I thought about how easy it is to put pressure on yourself financially without really talking about it because it's impolite. We're taught to talk about money. So who do you have those conversations with? Well, maybe it's your partner. Well, your partner is probably feeling that same stress and burden. You're trying to figure everything out. Even if you even if you have the chance to do it together, it can feel like a burden. Therapy isn't about financial advice. It's about working through the stress, the anxiety and the emotions that come with it. With over 30,000 licensed therapists and more than 6 million people served, better help makes it easier to get matched and start focusing on what you need. When life feels overwhelming, therapy can help. Sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com slash locked on. That's better. And don't forget to check out the everyday air club for ad free episodes and access to a group chat with me and other listeners of the show. Tap the link in the show notes are going to locked on Packers dot supercast.com for more. Yesterday on the show, we talked about the Packers being okay with shorter defensive tackles. Caleb Proctor is six one and change a shade under six two, but he is 291. And so you look at someone like Jor-El worthy. He was 308 at the combine. He actually cut weight. They wanted him to lean into his penetrating, you know, upfield stuff. And he played listed more like 298 at six two. That's right in the same sort of range where Caleb Proctor is not Caleb Proctor is a significantly better athlete. He's not as thick as Jor-El worthy, but maybe that's why he's a significantly better athlete. I think he has the frame where because he's so lean right now, I think he could add five pounds pretty easily and not lose much of what makes him him. I think he could be, he could put on 10 pounds. He could get to 300 and not lose much of what makes him him. But I think you also have to just let him be him. And that means letting him get up the field, letting him attack blocks, letting him be a penetrator. And that is something that from a run defense standpoint, this Jonathan Gannon defense at its best in Philadelphia, they're using slants and run blitzes and different, and different games upfront just because they're not going to bring a lot of blitzes except on third down and they're not going to play the biggest bodies upfront. And so you have to do things to create negatives in the run game. He is a splash run defender Proctor is. And so from that standpoint, he fits what they want to be here. And I think fits what anyone in any defense wants to be because even in an odd front, you want to have a three technique that can get up the field. And of course, if you're playing an even front, you want to have a three technique that can get up the field. So he's not a no tackle. That's okay. But he profiles as the kind of guy that I think can be a very, very good, pass rushing, disruptive interior defender. Not unlike a J. Von Hargrave where it is all about penetration, not unlike Devontae Wyatt where no, he's not going to eat two in duo and keep your linebackers free. But if you're going to run, you know, any sort of run, run fit where he can just get up field or he can shoot a gap or he's got a one on one block to beat, he can do that. He can do that. And he's going to create negatives for you in the passing game. He's going to create pressure. He's going to create hurries. He's going to create sacks and for the Packers with the uncertainty around the future of these players, they are, they just need bodies here. Now remember Carl Brooks, a potential extension candidate. We'll see about Devontae Wyatt. They have J. Von Hargrave under contract for the next two seasons. Technically though, really just one season. And then we'll see. I think Proctor is whether or not he can be that, that quite that level of player, but I just see someone like, like Nick Collins for the Packers where, where the fans go, wait, uh, Southeast Louisiana, what in the second round? And you go, yeah, yeah. And he's that good. He really is. I have him as my 60th player right now. I have a second round grade on him. Packers take him at 52. It would not be a huge reach. Now relative to consensus, it would be maybe you'd rather get him in 84. I also think that happens to be 84 happens to be the sweet spot for your corners in this draft because I don't think CSA or Chris Johnson is going to be there at 52. And I don't think, you know, let's say if A.B. on Tyrell falls or someone like that, that that's going to be a packer. D'Angelo Ponds not going to be a packer. So Davis and Igbenosin, maybe, I mean, I like Davis and Igbenosin. I don't think the Packers are going to like Davis and Igbenosin. So who, who do you like at 52? If it's not Kristen Miller, could they surprise with someone like Kayla Proctor? I don't think it would be an insane thing to do. Now, I think eventually, you know, he's, he's in the, in the early hundreds, like 107th, right in there on the consensus board, that would mean he's not going to get to you in the fourth round. So if you like him, you got to take him in the third, at least. Um, if they could get a corner at 52, then, then I think in the 80s is a no-brainer. If they trade back from 52, maybe you can get a corner and a defensive tackle this way. I just think he's the kind of guy from a, an athletic profile standpoint. They need the juice. They need the future at that position. And yeah, sure. He's a little duplicative of Devonte Wyatt and Karl Brooks and Jay Von Hargrave, but we don't know if any of those guys are going to be on the team next year. So you can't be worried about duplicative skill sets. You just can't. And if you want a big body to run defender, either go sign DJ reader or do it on day three. So I, I think Kayla Proctor and, you know, ideally in the fourth round, but I don't, I just don't think he's going to make it there. Daniel Jeremiah saying, um, as we record this on a Tuesday, he thinks he could sneak into the top 100, sneak into the day two range. That seems more likely to me. It seems more likely that the Packers would have to use the 84th pick on him than that he would make it all the way back around for them at 120. I just, that seems unlikely to me. And I think that he could come in and contribute right away for this team. I really do. Now, is he going to be an early down run stuff or no, but could he be an early down penetrator where if you're going to run play action, you sure as hell better block him up or he's going to get in your quarterback space. Yes. Because his past rush ability. I mean the, the versatility that he has with the moves he from really, truly, maybe outside of Javon Hargrave. Like I think he has a more varied and deeper past rush bag than Devonte Wyatt right now, right now. Now Wyatt has accelerated that bag. We've seen him add some pieces over the years, but like he's already got that arm over, he's got that chop rip. He's got, you know, a lot of different things that speed to power bull rush. He's, it's not just, oh, I can, I can win shooting a gap. No, no, he can get off blocks. He can stack and shed. And so I just think from a versatility standpoint, sure, he's not the run defender you'd want him to be, but I think he can play on early downs because he can get negative plays and he can absolutely be one of your past rush guys on third down and you're protecting Javon Hargrave. You're protecting Carl Brooks. If he's going to have to play some nose tackle on early downs from, from getting tired out with their reps, Javon Hargrave getting up there in age. And then he becomes a core piece for you in 20, 27 and beyond. I just, this is one of my favorite players in the draft. The Packers brought him in for a visit. It makes a ton of sense relative to value. And I think he could, he could surprise people how, how he's going to go. Don't be surprised if it is to the Green Bay Packers in the third round. All right, back tomorrow with more locked on Packers and other goodies guys, a ton more to come and get to here unlocked on Packers. So subscribe to me on the social media, subscribe to the podcast, wherever you get podcasts, if you're here every day and listening to all of these. And I've gotten a ton of feedback. People are really enjoying these series. I hope we're able to look back on them. The Packers draft a couple of these guys and we can come back to them and enjoy them again. Um, join the everyday air club, add free episodes of locked on Packers, plus plus access to the discord server or group chat. So come hang out with us over there, locked on Packers. Supercast.com is the website or click the link in the show notes for more. Uh, check out locked on NFL draft. Make that your second listen. Otherwise, for those of you on video are a locked on NFL channel, the, the world's first 24 seven NFL channel is here for you. We've got a locked on squad show coming for you later. We're always here for you to stay locked on Packers.
