At No. 109, It's OL T.J. Lang

by Brandon on Apr 26, 2009 12:03 PM CDT Comment 1 comment

With their 4th round pick, the Packers selected Eastern Michigan OL T.J. Lang. He wasn't even invited to the NFL combine back in February but he's been rocketing up draft charts since then.

NFL Draft Scout had him as the No. 2 offensive guard in the draft, although he played left tackle in college too. At 6'4", 316 lbs. I would imagine he would be able to play guard or tackle in the NFL.

He's very similar to last season's 4th round pick, OL Josh Sitton. Both players are a similar size, were established players at small colleges, and shot up draft charts after GMs and scouts got better looks at them leading up to the draft. And Sitton worked out pretty well last season. Sitton was on track to start at right guard as a rookie, but an injury late in the preseason sent him to the bench. He ended up playing in 11 games, starting 2 games, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him replacing starting RT Mark Tauscher next season. Now add Lang to the competition in training camp.

0 recs | Comment 1 comment | Share

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Draft so far...

So far, I’m pretty impressed with our draft…

BJ Raji was exactly what we needed. He should be an excellent nose tackle and we now have a very solid defensive line. Cullen Jenkins has proven himself to be a serviceable DE at the very least, Harrell will finally have his chance, Raji is a stud, and if any of them don’t work, Pickett and Jolly are very solid for backups.

Clay Matthews may not be the answer right away, but he has a lot of upside. Poppinga has never really impressed me, so having a guy like Matthews is a welcome change as far as I’m concerned. I believe that having Kampman and Matthews on the outsides and Barnett and Hawk on the inside is a very solid linebacker core, and Poppinga and Hunter are nice-looking rotation guys.

TJ Lang will most likely not play much for awhile, but as a project, he looks really bright. Clifton’s not getting any younger, so having a guy like Lang ttraining and waiting for a chance never hurts.

by kalbee127 on Apr 26, 2009 1:09 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs