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It's finally here. The 2017 NFL Scouting Combine is underway today, with the first round of players - and likely most team officials - arriving in Indianapolis for the week-long event. APC will be on-site starting Wednesday morning, in time to cover Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy's press conferences before player interviews begin on Thursday.
In the meantime, we have one more day until the fun really begins, so we spend today's Cheese Curds both looking back at Combines past and trying to predict what might happen on the Lucas Oil Stadium turf. Then again, for many individuals, the bigger impact to their draft stock will come about as a result of what happens in the interview rooms and the medical facilities.
Still, the top workouts in the past several years demonstrate that players can explode out of nowhere, but also that those who post some of the best results can also quickly fade into obscurity.
Meanwhile, we have a compressed schedule between the Combine and the start of free agency this year, so we are also trying to pack free agent speculation into a smaller time frame. Also in today's curds, we find a look at one Packer free agent who is probably having a tough time judging his own value and will likely have his agent making plenty of calls once the league's "legal tampering" period begins next Tuesday.
Defensive countdown: 2016 by the numbers | Packers.com
The Packers had in impressive number of players with multiple sacks last season - eight - and they only allowed one successful two-point conversion.
Micah Hyde's market value hard to measure | Packersnews.com
What do you do with a problem like Micah? One estimate of his value puts him around $3 million per year, since he likely cannot play on the perimeter for any length of time; if that's what it takes to bring him back, it should be a no-brainer for the Packers.
2017 NFL Combine: 5 players who need a big week - SBNation.com
This includes both on-field workouts and medical exams, and one player who is mocked to the Packers often - Takkarist McKinley - is listed for the latter.
The top combine showings at each position since 2006 | PFF
It's tough to pick out one or two players at each position over the last eleven years, but names like Robert Griffin III, J.J. Watt, and A.J. Hawk litter these lists. It's easy to forget that Hawk has the record for the fastest short shuttle time by any linebacker in Combine history.
NFL draft, combine prospect breakdown by Mike Mayock | The MMQB with Peter King
For whatever it's worth, Mayock compares Wisconsin's T.J. Watt to his brother J.J. in terms of motor, but says the "easy comparison is Clay Matthews."
Packers should focus on finding defensive help at the combine - ESPN
There's more Watt-to-the-Packers speculation here, but the more interesting "target" for me is USC's Adoree Jackson. If the speedy corner is still on the board at 61, Ted Thompson should have an easy decision.