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As the Green Bay Packers consider a wide range of options, these five players will be on their radar in the first round of the draft.
The 2019 season was a great success for the Green Bay Packers, with a 13-3 record and a trip to the NFC Championship Game in Matt LaFleur’s first season as head coach. As a result, they currently hold the 30th-overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.
The Packers were not aggressive in free agency as they were a year ago, but it’s not as if major moves were necessarily needed either. Linebacker Blake Martinez was a notable loss in free agency, but other than that the players who are gone define the word replaceable.
With immediate help or the future in mind, the Packers can go multiple directions with their first-round pick. There are multiple positions that qualify as some level of need in Green Bay, even it’s somewhat on the margins or to bolster depth.
Here are five players the Packers could take in first round of the 2020 NFL Draft.
5. Ross Blacklock, DL, TCU
The Packers were 24th in the league against the run last year (120.1 yards per game), and they also allowed 4.7 yards per carry (26th in the league). Based on Pro Football Reference’s Expected Points Added metric, Green Bay had the league’s 31st-ranked run defense in 2019 (-42.18).
Kenny Clark is a keeper on the nose, but the rest of the defensive line (Dean Lowry, Montravius Adams) is simply lackluster. Clark is also set to become a free agent in 2021, so cultivating his replacement might land on Green Bay’s radar.
Blacklock gets high marks for his athleticism, first step quickness, agility and hand usage. He primarily played a two-gap role at TCU, but he’s more broadly considered scheme diverse even if work is needed to fully get to a ceiling as a three-technique defensive end. He can give the Packers some interior pass rushing force, while certainly disrupting things in the running game.