National Football League

2015 Packers draft preview: Early-round predictions

Published Apr. 30, 2015 6:00 a.m. ET

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GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Barring an unexpected trade-up in the first round Thursday night, Ted Thompson and the Green Bay Packers' front office will have to wait and wait and wait as 29 top prospects are drafted by other teams. That's the reality of being a good team in the NFL. It means missing out on the players who are viewed as the best of the best.

It will be especially difficult for Thompson to sit back and watch this year. The 2015 class is thin on deserving first-round talent. It's a draft in which a team is likely better off with two picks between Nos. 40-50 rather than a late first-round selection.

"Sometimes you like a guy, but there's no way he's going to get to you and you can't trade up to get him and you just live with it," Thompson said at his pre-draft press conference. "You know it's not going to happen. And then every once in awhile a guy stays on the board a little bit longer and you're fortunate enough to get somebody that you think is a really good player and you think that other people may not appreciate him quite as much."

Depending on the way the board falls, picking at No. 30 could either work out perfectly or terribly for the Packers. In most scenarios and mock drafts, it works out poorly to be stuck at the end of the first round this year.

There's no question Green Bay is in need -- desperate need, arguably -- of a starting inside linebacker. However, unlike in 2014 when Ryan Shazier and C.J. Mosley were studs and surefire top-25 picks, there's not that type of player at inside linebacker this time around.

Opinions in the draft community are split on how to rank the top six or seven inside linebackers. Eric Kendricks of UCLA is regarded by most as the top prospect, but even his draft stock isn't universally thought of as being worthy of first-round status. Some prefer the size of Mississippi State's Benardrick McKinney. Finding a consensus on the value of Clemson's Stephone Anthony or TCU's Paul Dawson is difficult. Miami's Denzel Perryman is a very solid player, but his lack of height (he's the shortest inside linebacker in this year's draft at 5-foot-10) makes him more of a fit in the second round.

It will end up being in the eye of the beholder when teams are deciding between these inside linebackers. Is Kansas' Ben Heeney -- a player who could be had in the third round -- really that much different overall than Kendricks? Unless Thompson is in love with a particular inside linebacker, it's not the best strategy to be the team that takes the first or second player at that position this year.

If not an inside linebacker, the majority of draft experts feel the Packers should target a cornerback in the first round. With the free-agent departures of Tramon Williams and Davon House, Green Bay no longer has the depth there that it recently had. But is there even a starting cornerback job available? Sam Shields has three years remaining on the $39 million deal he signed in 2014, and Casey Hayward seems more than ready for an increased role as he enters the final season on his rookie contract. When the Packers go into their nickel packages, Micah Hyde is certainly qualified to fill that role. If Green Bay uses its first-round pick on a cornerback, Hyde could quickly find himself as a player who sees the field sporadically. He's too talented to be used in such a limited fashion on defense.

Keep this in mind, too: Thompson has yet to draft a cornerback in the first round in his 10 years as Packers general manager. My belief is that he'll make it 11 consecutive years by going elsewhere at No. 30. That seems especially true if three or four cornerbacks have already gone off the board by that time. If cornerbacks coach Joe Whitt can help turn undrafted players like Shields and Williams into starters, and can help mold Hayward into a certified ball-hawk, Thompson might find it unnecessary to use his top pick at that position. Green Bay can add depth at cornerback in the third or fourth round and be more than fine.

Thompson has shown his preference to select big guys in the first round. He's drafted defensive linemen three times (Datone Jones, B.J. Raji, Justin Harrell), and offensive linemen twice (Bryan Bulaga, Derek Sherrod). The Packers' offensive line is set and doesn't have any contracts due up at the end of the 2015 season, so Thompson has little worry there.

Along the defensive line, Green Bay could use some upgrades. Florida State Defensive tackle Eddie Goldman is a fringe first-round prospect, but he's a realistic possibility at No. 30. If Oregon defensive end Arik Armstead is still on the board, taking a flyer on the high ceiling of the 21-year-old seems worth the risk. Thompson went with a UCLA defensive end in the first round recently, and he could be looking to do so again if Owa Odighizuwa is there for the taking.

Those are Green Bay's biggest needs right now: inside linebacker, cornerback and defensive line. If narrowing it down between those positions to find a group of five players who are most likely to become Packers on Thursday night, my list would be Armstead, Odighizuwa, Kendricks and cornerbacks Byron Jones (Connecticut) and Jalen Collins (LSU).

But why be the first or second team to take an inside linebacker when there will be a similarly ranked one available at No. 62? Why be at the back end of a run of cornerbacks late in the first round and wind up with the fifth-best one? Armstead and Odighizuwa may not make it to No. 30, and even if they do, Thompson's track record with first-round-pick defensive linemen isn't very good.

It's with all of that in mind that Thompson stays true to his word about not worrying what Green Bay's current perceived needs are. The only thing missing from an already terrific Packers offense is a playmaking tight end, and the official prediction here is that Green Bay grabs the best one in this year's class (by a significant margin) and makes Minnesota's Maxx Williams the No. 30 selection.

Then, the Packers take the best-available inside linebacker at No. 62 or trade up 10-15 spots to get the one they want, likely deciding at that point between Dawson, Anthony and Perryman. I'll go with Perryman, whose comparisons to Chris Borland are spot-on.

In an effort to add depth and competition to the cornerback room, Green Bay finishes up Day 2 of the draft by picking Oregon's Ifo Ekpre-Olomu. He's young (21), undersized (5-9) and recovering from a torn ACL, but Ekpre-Olomu is a top-50 talent who would have time to develop at a steady pace and eventually show why he would've otherwise been drafted much higher.

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