Packers Conclude Draft with Safety, Pass Rusher
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers wrapped up the 2020 NFL Draft on Saturday by selecting TCU safety Vernon Scott with the first of their seventh-round picks and Miami edge rusher Jonathan Garvin with the last of their nine overall selections.
Scott, the 236th pick, was a full-time starter only as a senior and has experience at corner and special teams. He recorded 44 tackles and was third on the team with seven pass breakups. He produced four turnovers in a span of three games, with a 98-yard pick-six vs. Oklahoma, a fumble recovery vs. Oklahoma, a forced fumble to help save a victory over Texas Tech and a forced fumble in the season finale against West Virginia.
"Making that play, that was the biggest play of my college career," Scott said of the pick-six vs. the Sooners during his conference call. After a long wait and believing he might not be drafted, he got the call he was waiting for. "I'm in a great place and the place I need to be."
TCU listed his height and weight as 6-foot-2 and 206 pounds. He was not invited to the Scouting Combine and TCU’s pro day was canceled due to the pandemic.
“We played a lot of man coverage and I feel I’m one of the best cover safeties in college football,” Scott told the Star-Telegram. “Playing weak safety at TCU is one of the hardest and most challenging positions. You have to make a lot of calls and you have to be a good athlete. We go down in the box in certain coverages. It’s challenging, but also very rewarding because you can make a lot of plays.”
Garvin, the 242nd pick, recorded five sacks, nine tackles for losses and two forced fumbles among his 37 stops in 2019. He delivered more impact plays as a sophomore, when he delivered 5.5 sacks, finished fourth in the ACC with 17 tackles for losses and broke up five passes. His three-year totals consisted of 12.5 sacks, 29 TFLs and four forced fumbles.
“I would say my attitude and my presence, as far as being a hard worker and it being contagious,” he said at the Scouting Combine. “People seeing me, people seeing success and growth. Really, I’ll encourage them that they can do it themselves.”
Garvin (6-4 1/8, 263) had his stock sink with a 4.82 in the 40. He’s got 34-inch arms to take on blockers.
“That doesn’t matter. I’m here. For me, I was joyful throughout the whole thing. You’re happy to be wherever you going to be. I’m happy to be a Green Bay Packer,” he said on his conference call.
His mom and dad played college basketball – his father at Bethune-Cookman.
“I believe I was 9 or 10 years old,” Garvin said at the Combine. “I just kept saying, we kept saying, ‘Hey Dad, I want to play football, I want to play football, I want to play football’ for years. And they finally broke down and let me play it, and since then I haven’t looked back.”
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