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Mock drafts are flying in from all over the place lately, and we are recapping a handful of the recent projections. It is a widely-held belief that the Green Bay Packers will draft help on defense in round one, a belief which is illustrated by the vast majority of the picks in these mock drafts.
SB Nation
Round 1: ILB C.J. Mosley, Alabama
Mosley has got to be the most popular pick to the Packers in round one of mock drafts over the past month and a half. It seems like he's the pick in about 50% of mocks, and you'll find out if he's our pick in the APC mock at 11 central today.
Round 2: S Deone Bucannon, Washington State
As for the second-round pick, that's where things get interesting. Bucannon is a good fit at strong safety, but I'm still thinking the Packers would rather find a safety who is more comfortable patrolling the deep zone, which would allow Morgan Burnett to play closer to the line of scrimmage. Here's the SB Nation guys on Bucannon:
After Bucannon, there's a considerable drop-off in the quality of the safety class in the draft. He's a big hitter in the secondary who can come up and play the run and do just enough in zone coverage. While Bucannon is never going to be the kind of safety who will cover wide receivers in the slot, he can keep up with tight ends or running backs out of the backfield.
NFL.com
Daniel Jeremiah: TE Austin Seferian-Jenkins, Washington
Bucky Brooks: LB Ryan Shazier, Ohio State
Mike Huguenin: LB C.J. Mosley, Alabama
From NFL.com, we have a trio of mock drafts from the past two weeks which suggest two different directions the Packers might go with their first pick. I'm sure it will be no surprise when I say that I tend to agree with Brooks and Huguenin more so than Jeremiah.
CBSsports.com
Rob Rang: DT Louis Nix III, Notre Dame
Dane Brugler: S Jimmie Ward, Northern Illinois
Pete Prisco: LB Ryan Shazier, Ohio State
Pat Kirwan: LB C.J. Mosley, Alabama
Will Brinson: S Jimmie Ward, Northern Illinois
All defense - that's more like it. Ward seems like a rising prospect who won't be available when the Packers pick again in the second round, but I don't see them taking him with the 21st pick. I think they'd have to trade back from 21 or up from 53 to be in a position for him to be the right value.
Have you found any other mock drafts which have unusual or interesting picks for the Packers? Let us know in the comments.