PFF Three-Round Mock Starts with Offensive Tackle

GREEN BAY, Wis. – While re-signing cornerback Kevin King and tendering slot defender Chandon Sullivan means the Green Bay Packers haven’t upgraded in the secondary, those transactions will take the pressure off general manager Brian Gutekunst to find a starting cornerback atop the draft.

So, perhaps the new Pro Football Focus three-round mock draft authored by Mike Renner is onto something.

In the first round, Renner went with Stanford offensive tackle Walker Little.

Don’t know much about Little? Don’t feel bad. Little suffered a season-ending injury in the opener to the 2019 season, then opted out of the 2020 season due to COVID concerns.

Once upon a time, Little showed signs of being a very good player. He was a freshman All-American in 2017 and first-team all-Pac-12 in 2018. But it’s been a long time since he’s played. Could he help as a rookie? Remember, All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari missed the end of the season with a torn ACL and might not be ready for Week 1. Last year’s No. 3 tackle, Rick Wagner, played more than half the offensive snaps but is no longer on the roster.

“The Packers quite obviously don’t care about addressing their most glaring roster needs via the draft,” Renner wrote. “They also consistently invest in the trenches early on and covet athletes on both sides of the ball. All that points to the man who’s played just one game over the past two seasons but ran the fastest three-cone in modern history for an offensive lineman at his pro day (6.9 seconds).”

Little measured 6-foot-7 and 313 pounds.

"He's not going to wow you with the testing. That was just kind of borderline. But what we did see was just a big, massive guy who moved around pretty well when they got out to the field workout portion of the day," NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah said. "In a league where we are starved to find offensive linemen, you've got a big, smart, tough guy in Walker Little that's got a chance to be a solid player."

Green Bay picked an outside linebacker in the second round and a defensive tackle in the third round.