Pro Football Network Mock Draft: Packers Grab Georgia Linebacker

The Butkus Award-winner impressed one draft analyst with his ability to read post-snap and make plays.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – De’Vondre Campbell changed the face of the Green Bay Packers’ season. The good news is he was the team’s first first-team All-Pro linebacker since Ray Nitschke in 1966. The bad news is All-Pro linebackers don’t sign one-year, $2 million contracts, like Campbell played under in 2021.

So, if Campbell has priced himself out of Green Bay, drafting a top-flight linebacker could be a priority for the Packers.

In a post-Senior Bowl mock draft for Pro Football Network, Cam Mellor, PFN’s senior director of college football and the NFL Draft, mocked Georgia’s Nakobe Dean to the Packers at No. 28. It was a tough pick to make considering the uncertain futures not only of Campbell but quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

“Without that knowledge at hand, the mock draft simulator grabs Dean, who immediately stands in as a Day 1 starter,” wrote Mellor in part of his summation. “Dean can go sideline to sideline like (Utah’s Devin) Lloyd (who went 15th to Philadelphia) but has tremendous football intelligence. He’ll be routinely seen calling out play calls and formations ahead of the snap and making perfect post-snap reads to disrupt plays at will.”

Dean is undersized – Georgia listed him at 6-foot and 225 pounds – but he’s fast and physical. He won the Butkus Award as the nation’s top linebacker and a leader of this year’s national champions. In 15 games, he had 72 tackles, six sacks (second on team), 10.5 tackles for losses (first on team), 31 quarterback hurries, six pass breakups and two interceptions.

More than a stud on the field, he was a star off the field.