The Green Bay Packers already have many of the building blocks on which Super Bowl championships tend to be built in place. A franchise quarterback, a group of offensive playmakers (when they're all healthy and in shape) and a talented young secondary complemented by a strong pass rush. And yet, this past season ended in all-too familiar fashion for quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the rest of his Packers teammates. Sure, injuries played a big part. Rodgers losing Jordy Nelson early was always going to be difficult to overcome. But there are also fundamental issues with the makeup of the Green Bay roster and it sure sounds like Packers GM Ted Thompson will be targeting some specific areas during the 2016 NFL Draft and free agency.
Per Tony Pauline of Draft Insider and Walter Football, the word out of the NFL rookie scouting combine this weekend was that Thompson and the Pack "most desire" Michigan State offensive tackle Jack Conklin in the first-round of the draft. Unfortunately, with Green Bay set to select at No. 27, Conklin may well be long-gone.
Conklin, 6-foot-6, 325-pounds, isn't a finesse guy. He's a "scrappy" player who utilizes his power to overcome his lack of elite athleticism.
"That is a dude, right there. He was busting up Ohio State in the fourth quarter of that game not because he was more talented than those guys but because he just wanted it more. He's tougher than old beef jerky," an NFC North scout told NFL.com's Lance Zierlein. "He fits in our division."
While the Packers offensive line is continually underrated, the team's tackles simply have not been up to snuff in recent seasons. Last year, the Packers offensive line excelled in pass blocking, but struggled to generate anything against the run. Now, how much of that is a product of Eddie Lacy's offseason donut-eating regimen is difficult to say, but when the tackles specifically are having a difficult time getting push in the run game, it's going to immediately minimize the effectiveness of an offense that wants to power through people and attack the perimeter.
Bryan Bulaga especially, left much to be desired from his right tackle spot in 2015. His injury history is extensive, though when healthy, Bulaga is usually a plus player. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case this past season.
Interestingly, Bulaga is a guy that Conklin has been compared to, in that he "doesn't have elite left tackle feet, but his feet are good enough" and he's "very consistent," an unnamed NFL scout told Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
With Bulaga a question mark and guys like David Bakhtiari, TJ Lang, Josh Sitton and JC Tretter playing on deals set to expire after 2016, depth is needed at the tackle position in Green Bay. If Conklin falls to the Packers, it sounds like there's a good bet he could be their pick.
