Scouting Combine Day 3 Winners: Packers Edition

GREEN BAY, Wis. – At the NFL Scouting Combine on Saturday, defensive linemen and linebackers sprinted, jumped and went through drills inside Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

The Green Bay Packers have needs at all three positions that encompassed those groups. On the defensive line, it’s mediocrity other than Kenny Clark. Dispatching promising former fifth-round pick Kingsley Keke in January didn’t help matters. Without Za’Darius Smith at outside linebacker, the Packers weren’t good enough behind starters Preston Smith and Rashan Gary. At inside linebacker, the Packers’ projected starting tandem would be Krys Barnes and Ty Summers if De’Vondre Campbell were to leave in free agency.

Going to the University of Georgia, where the Packers landed promising cornerback Eric Stokes with a first-round pick last year, would be like one-stop shopping. That absurdly talented defense led the Bulldogs to the national championship and stole the show in Indy. They dominated the Day 3 winners at SI.com’s NFL Draft Bible.

On the defensive line, Jordan Davis ran a 4.78-second 40-yard dash while tipping the scales at 341 pounds. That was faster than five tight ends and two linebackers.

While Davis will be long gone before Green Bay is on the clock at No. 28, fellow Bulldogs defensive lineman Devonte Wyatt could be within striking distance. Wyatt ran the fastest 40 (4.77 seconds) among the defensive linemen and turned in a sensational all-around workout.

“He is a freak,” NFL.com draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah said before the Combine.

The 6-foot-3, 307-pounder was first-team all-SEC and a second-team All-American as a senior. In 14 games, he had 39 tackles including seven tackles for losses. While he had only 2.5 sacks, Georgia’s coaches credited him with 24 quarterback hits.

Wyatt got on recruiting radars during his junior year in high school in Decatur, Ga. He competed in the shotput and discus on the track team. When he saw who was running in the 100-meter dash before one meet, he asked the track coach if he could compete. The coach said only if he won the shotput. He did – then he won the 100.

“I don’t feel like the other guy,” Wyatt said of Davis at the Scouting Combine. “I felt like part of the family, I felt like the brother. Nobody ever acted like they were bigger than the other person. We always balanced and came together, and that’s one thing I love about my boys. Jordan always kept me up, and I kept him up, and we push each other.”

At outside linebacker, Travon Walker has a freakish physical toolbox. He measured 6-foot-5 and 272 pounds. He’s got 35 1/2-inch arms. And he ran his 40 in 4.51 seconds.

The Packers love big guys on the edge. That’s Walker. They’ve bet on tools with Gary. Listed as a defensive tackle by the Bulldogs but playing up and down the line, he had six sacks, 7.5 tackles for losses and a team-high 36 pressures. He might have tested his way out of Green Bay’s spot, though his limited experience on the edge and the depth of the class could push him into range.

At inside linebacker, the Bulldogs were so insanely stacked that Channing Tindall never started a game in four seasons. He finished third on the team with 67 tackles as a senior. At 6-foot-2 and 230 pounds, he ran a 4.47 in the 40 with a 42-inch vertical jump. That’s DB-style athleticism.

That makes Tindall a potential-packed option in the third round if Nakobe Dean is gone in the first and Quay Walker is gone in the second. Georgia’s other stud linebackers, Dean (5-11, 229) did not go through testing while the rangy Walker (6-4, 241) ran his 40 in 4.52 seconds.

“It was all our dream to be in this position,” Dean said. “I would say halfway through the season, one of us probably just brought it up like, ‘Man, we can all possibly get drafted’ and things like that. We still working towards our goal, the draft hasn’t happened yet and it’s very unpredictable. We’re just working, just trying to do our best to try and control what we can control because that’s the only thing we can do at the end of the day.”

For more Day 3 winners, CLICK HERE.

The #Packers could have a major need at linebacker, depending on whether they can find enough pennies in the couch cushions to keep De'Vondre Campbell.
If not, @BadgerFootball's Leo Chenal had one hell of a Combine workout after one hell of a final season.https://t.co/k0DkmdHkGl
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) March 6, 2022