2. Boost your pass rush That trailed late last season in the absence of Rashaan Gary has three additions to the defensive front, all with track records in the quarterback pursuit.
Iowa’s Lucas Van Ness I fits the typical Green Bay mold of an outside linebacker, and he’s just 21 years old with plenty of growth ahead of him. Fourth-ranked Colby Wooden from Auburn and Sixth-ranked Carl Brooks from Bowling Green are disruptors at work as inside linemen who made plenty of backcourt plays during productive college careers.
“Impulse pass, right?” General Manager Brian Gutkunst said what he focused on upfront. “They are able to get up and down the line of scrimmage and rush the passer.”
3. They set up instant fights For backup kicking and quarterback points.
Gutekunst said he’d never close the door to bringing back unsigned Mason Crosby, but Auburn’s sixth-round pick Anders Carlson to compete with undrafted prospect in Parker White suggests the Packers will figure out if it’s time to move on from the franchise’s all-time leading scorer.
Since taking over as Packers special teams coordinator last year, Rich Bisaccia has greatly influenced the team’s acquisitions at that point, and that’s another matter. Bisaccia has known Carlson for a long time, having coached his older brother Daniel with the Raiders.
The younger Carlson has struggled with multiple injuries that have prevented him from repeating a strong 2020 season, but the belief is that the talent is there to get him back on track.
“We felt really good about where he was going,” Gutkunst said of Carlsson. “Rich has a very successful track record, and I felt really good about how he felt about Anders.”
At quarterback, Penn State’s fifth quarterback Shaun Clifford will meet with Danny Etling to decide the No. 2 job behind Love, and the suggestion of bringing in a veteran QB may be on hold until the Packers see how that goes. .
As with most third-day picks, Clifford visited Green Bay during the pre-draft process and appeared to be a solid culture fit for the kind of QB room the Packers were looking for.
“We went through meetings with him and were impressed by his footballing acumen and his general intelligence,” said Lafleur.
Gutekunst added, “We really liked the person’s makeup. All these guys need actors.”
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