Latest Packers Predraft Visitor Would Stuff Run Games Into ‘Fridge’

If the Green Bay Packers were to play a game today, Jonathan Gannon’s nose tackle likely would be Nazir Stackhouse, an undrafted free agent last year.

The Packers, of course, aren’t playing a game today. What is happening today is they are hosting Texas Tech defensive tackle Lee Hunter with one of their 30 predraft visits, according to his Instagram page.

https://www.instagram.com/stories/lee_hunter7/3875861174512672640/ | Lee Hunter's Instagram

Hunter redshirted at Auburn in 2021 and transferred to Central Florida in 2022. He emerged as a starter in 2023, when he had a breakout season with three sacks and 11 tackles for losses, and he added one sack and 9.5 TFLs in 2024.

In 2025, he hopped back into the transfer portal and was a second-team All-American for Texas Tech, where he recorded three sacks and 11 tackles for losses to help the Red Raiders reach the College Football Playoff.

The Fridge

If he were to be drafted by Green Bay, he not only would beef up Green Bay’s run defense but add another layer to the rivalry with the Chicago Bears.

Hunter, who stands 6-foot-3 and 318 pounds, according to his measurements taken at the Scouting Combine, goes by the nickname “The Fridge.”

That nickname, of course, was made famous by William Perry, who was one of the stars of the 1985 Chicago Bears. Perhaps B.J. Raji, the nose tackle the Packers selected in the first round in 2009 when they moved to a 3-4 defense under Dom Capers, would allow Hunter to use his self-proclaimed nickname of “The Freezer.”

He explained the nickname in an interview with NFL on NBC at the Scouting Combine.

Texas Tech's Lee Hunter attempts to make the tackle against BYU in the Big 12 Championship Game. | Nathan Giese/Avalanche-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

“‘The Fridge’ came from when I was at practice one day,” he said via On3. “My defensive coordinator walked up and said, ‘I’m going to call you The Fridge.’ I’m like ‘Why, Coach?’ He’s like, “If people want to eat, they got to get through you.’ And I kept it and I ran with it. So, if you’re hungry, you got to get through ‘The Fridge’ if you want to eat.”

Whether it’s a refrigerator, a freeze or a dump truck, the Packers could use someone big in the middle of their defense, which is what NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah projects Hunter to be in the NFL.

“Hunter is a two-gapping nose tackle for odd or even fronts,” NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein wrote in his scouting report. “He has the size, strength and length to do battle in the heart of the trenches but requires better block take-on technique to sit firmer in his grass. He won’t win in the gaps, but he can stack and shed single blocks or slide and stabilize his run fit against zone blocks.”

Hunter said run defense is the strength of his game.

“Taking up two people and two gapping, I really take pride in it,” he told NFL on NBC.

NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah ranks Hunter as the No. 36 overall prospect. The Athletic’s Dane Brugler has him at No. 55.

While run defense matters, the linemen who can rush the passer are the ones who tend to get drafted the highest and eventually make the most money. Hunter can certainly rush opposing quarterbacks, as he piled up three sacks and 25 total pressures, according to Pro Football Focus.

He had seven sacks during his three years as a starter.

“When you stop the run, then you get a chance to pass rush,” Hunter said at the Scouting Combine. “Especially, when you’ve got dogs inside, you’ll get more one-on-one blocks. I think I could beat my one-on-one blocks. But when you slide to me on third downs, you’ve got 600 pounds to get off on. I feel If I’m one-on-one that I’m going to beat you.”

How Lee Hunter Would Fit Packers

Adding someone who can play the nose in Green Bay’s front not only would boost the run defense and improve the competition but keep their two best players on the interior focused on penetrating and rushing the passer.

Javon Hargrave played some nose tackle last season in Brian Flores’ defense in Minnesota but did not seem to enjoy playing there. Devonte Wyatt has always been best suited in a role where he’s been asked to hunt big plays.

Adding Hunter to the middle of that group could slot everyone into appropriate roles with returning players such as Karl Brooks and Warren Brinson set to work behind Wyatt and Hargrave at defensive end.

One potential concern could be the athletic profile that Hunter possesses. He did not run fast, and his agility scores were all poor for a man his size, which caused him to score just a 3.72 Relative Athletic Score.

Will the Packers worry that much about athleticism for a player who is set to be a space-eating nose tackle who tipped the scales at 318 pounds? Maybe, maybe not.

“I wasn’t trying to show anything,” he said during a powerful week at the Senior Bowl. “I just wanted to be myself, just be Lee Hunter and whatever takes place, takes place. But I just want to stay true to myself, who I am on a day-to-day basis, who I’ve been throughout my college career. I just want to be myself and just help others around me be successful.”

If nothing else, bringing Hunter in to Green Bay shows they could be willing to add “The Fridge” to help cool off opposing run games.

“I ain’t at my best yet,” he said at the Combine. “I still got a lot of work to put. I still have to get better. I still got to grow and learn in many ways. I just want to keep getting better and do what I do best.”

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