Packers Take ‘Freak Athlete’ in Sports Illustrated’s NFL Mock Draft

In a new mock draft for Sports Illustrated, the Green Bay Packers addressed a big hole in the middle of the defense but bypassed two receivers.

Michigan defensive lineman Kenneth Grant talks to reporters at the Scouting Combine. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers are a little light at defensive tackle. Michigan’s Kenneth Grant, who was the Green Bay Packers’ selection in Sports Illustrated’s latest NFL mock draft, is not light.

“I initially had Shemar Stewart here, but took it back,” SI’s Conor Orr said. “At first, I stuck by the truism that this team loves untapped potential and high-end athleticism. Grant is not necessarily a ‘freak’ with a Relative Athletic Score of 7.18 but, if you watch the tape, he’s doing a lot of dirty work in that Michigan defense, he can get super-long to bat down passes (his skill on that front is actually kind of supernatural) and he has this silky swim move that gets him into the backfield with regularity to bust up runs.”  

The thing is, Grant actually is a freak. Or, uppercase Freak. He was No. 3 on Bruce Feldman’s annual Freaks List at The Athletic.

His incredible athleticism for a 330-pound man was encapsulated by one incredible play against Penn State in 2023.

“That play went viral, but he does stuff like that every day,” former Michigan defensive coordinator Jesse Minter told The Athletic. “It was cool to see him get recognition for that, but no one inside the program was surprised because we saw that every day.”

The potential is why Grant would make sense for the Packers.

At 6-foot-3 3/8 and 331 pounds, he’d immediately take TJ Slaton’s reps as Green Bay’s run-stopping defensive lineman. A former fifth-round pick who signed with the Bengals in free agency, Slaton was the fulcrum of one of the best run defenses – and one of the most improved run defenses – in the NFL last season.

The athleticism shows the potential to be so much more. Grant had 6.5 sacks and 11.5 tackles for losses during his final two seasons at Michigan.

“Definitely it’s my power” that is his best asset, he said at the Scouting Combine. “It’s working on my power watching Dexter Lawrence, Vita Vea, all those guys using their power and their body size.”

He added: “I’m a three-down player for sure. I can rush the passer with my strength and a little bit of finesse in there. Most guys think I’m just a run stopper, but I’m super-athletic and can rush the passer.”

Paired with potential top-five pick Mason Graham, Michigan’s defense was as ferocious as a wolverine.

“I just feel like every day in practice,” Graham said at the Scouting Combine, “us competing with each other, trying to one-up each other in practice, who can do the best stuff, who's knocking people back, who's pass rushing. So, it's just a friendly competition, but he's a freak athlete.”

Grant’s decision to leave Michigan a year early was supported by defensive coordinator Don Martindale, whose NFL history gave him insight.

“You talk about a grown man. Kenneth Grant certainly fills every bit of that,” Martindale said on the In the Trenches Podcast. “I talked to some scouts and told KG everything the scouts said. Most of the scouts were late first round, early second. When you have an opportunity to go to the next level and be drafted in the first or second round, you have to go.”

For Orr, Grant was the choice for the Packers over Kentucky cornerback Maxwell Hairston, Texas A&M edge Shemar Stewart, Arizona receiver Tetaiora McMillan and Ohio State receiver Emeka Egbuka.