Green Bay Packers

Packers select Stanford LB Blake Martinez in fourth round of NFL Draft

Published Apr. 30, 2016 1:49 p.m. ET

foxsports

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The Packers got defensive again on the third day of the NFL draft.

They bolstered depth for a front seven that has had some offseason turnover, and even added an inside linebacker with Clay Matthews headed back outside for more pass-rushing duties again.

Matthews will probably like the selection Saturday of Stanford inside linebacker Blake Martinez with the 131st overall pick, a compensatory selection in the fourth round.

"Clay prefers to play outside," said Eliot Wolf, director of football operations with the Packers. "Anytime you can add someone to facilitate that, that's a good thing."

He'll join first-rounder Kenny Clark, a tackle from UCLA, and third-rounder Kyler Fackrell, an outside linebacker from Utah State, among general manager Ted Thompson's defensive selections.

It's not necessarily how the Packers thought the draft would go.

"A lot of times that's just the way the board works out," Wolf said.

Inside linebacker might have been their biggest need left going into Day 3 of the draft. Coach Mike McCarthy would like Matthews to play more on the outside again after being used inside to help stop the run.

Like any good prospect, Martinez looked at depth charts to try to figure out which team might need inside linebacker help. His father bought gear for all 32 teams, just to be safe, so Martinez would be ready for his post-draft picture.

His mother had other ideas.

"She was always telling me throughout the process, she was like, `I believe you're going to end up at the Packers,'" Martinez said. "And obviously it was just a lucky guess type of thing. ... My mom said right after, `Moms are always right.'"

The 6-foot-2 Martinez will look to compete for playing time with returnees Jake Ryan, a fourth-round pick last year, and Sam Barrington, who missed most of last season with a foot injury. He was productive at Stanford, where he led the Pac-12 Conference with 10.1 tackles a game.

An NFL.com scouting report listed Martinez with a 40-yard dash time of 4.71 seconds. It's a fraction of a second quicker than Alabama's Reggie Ragland, who was taken in the second round by Buffalo, and had been thought to be a potential first-round pick for the Packers.

That speed should help if the Packers look at Martinez as a potential linebacker on passing downs to cover tight ends down the seam.

Here is his pre-draft STATS Inc. bio:

Following a tremendous season at Stanford, Martinez is likely to get a chance to prove himself at the NFL level. Coming off a 102-tackle season as a first-year starter at inside linebacker as a junior in 2014, Martinez led the Pac-12 with 141 tackles last season, earning a spot on the All-American third team. The all-Pac-12 selection welcomes contact and is a heavy hitter. He explodes into the ballcarrier and uses his strength to wrap up and take his man down, rarely allowing him to break free. He impressed with 22 reps in the bench press at the NFL scouting combine, tied for fifth-most among linebackers, and also had strong showings in the 3-cone drill - finishing second - and in the 20-yard shuttle - tying for third. Martinez possesses speed and quickness, obviously big positives for an inside backer, but he sometimes plays too aggressively and finds himself out of position. He also is fairly one dimensional, as he excelled at stuffing the run in the middle of the field but doesn't offer much in pass coverage or in pass rushing situations. Despite racking up the fifth-most tackles in the FBS, only 6 1/2 of them went for a loss. He also only had 1 1/2 sacks with an interception. Martinez plays with a high motor and flies around the field so scouts believe he has a shot of playing on special teams in the pros and he could be picked as early as the fifth round.