Packers 2018 Draft Board Projection: Athletic defensive linemen projected for day 3

The Green Bay Packers, like any NFL team, like players who are big, fast, and quick. Perhaps no position exemplifies that better than on the defensive line, where the Packers have tended to draft players who possess excellent physical attributes when accounting for players’ massive size.

Looking back at the Packers’ picks over the years, Justis Mosqueda used speed and agility scores to assess edge defenders and interior linemen; for those down linemen in the Packers’ scheme (ostensibly a 3-4), the Packers have been almost perfect in selecting players who have positive numbers in both metrics over the years. Although Justis set the bars at -0.30 for the speed score and +0.08 for the agility score based on the past selections, we’ll just use zero as the rough cutoff for both. That only knocks one more former Packer pick off the list — that’s Jerel Worthy and his -0.30 speed score.

This year’s group of defensive linemen is interesting, however. While there are few players in this year’s class projected to go on days one or two and who have positive numbers in both categories, there are actually several on day three or likely to be undrafted free agents who meet those criteria. We also included a pair of players who were just short on the cutoffs — one being a possible day-two pick and a second who had a pre-draft visit with the Packers. Finally, we included Wisconsin’s Connor Sheehy, a player who is likely to go undrafted and fell well short of zero on the speed score, but who also reportedly visited the Packers.

As always, remember that bolded players meet the thresholds, italicized players have incomplete testing profiles, strikethrough means a test fell short of the cutoff, and ALL CAPS indicates a player who had an official meeting with Green Bay. Finally, asterisks indicate that the measurement came from the player’s Pro Day rather than the Scouting Combine.

Packers’ Projected 2018 Defensive Lineman Draft Board

• VITA VEA, Washington; Projected Round 1; 6040, 347; 5.10 40, +3.173 speed score; no 3-cone
• Da’Ron Payne, Alabama; Round 1; 6024, 311; 4.95 70, +2.573 speed; 7.58 cone, +1.695 agility
• Nathan Shepherd, Fort Hays State; Round 2; 6036, 315; 5.09 40, minus-0.334 speed; 7.50 cone, +2.593 agility
• B.J. Hill, NC State; Round 2-3; 6032, 311; 4.99 40, +1.401 speed; 7.28 cone, +5.234 agility
• Deadrin Senat, USF; Round 3; 6000, 314; 5.16 40, +0.186 speed; 7.77 cone, +0.880 agility
• Kentavius Street, NC State; Round 4-5; 6022, 280; 4.87 40, +0.379 speed; no 3-cone
• Bilal Nichols, Delaware; Round 5; 6036, 306; 4.95 40, +1.325 speed; 7.51 cone, +1.417 agility
• Poona Ford, Texas; Round 6; 5110, 312; 4.94* 40, +4.734 speed; 7.40* cone, +5.875 agility
• James Looney, California; Round 6; 6026, 287; 4.89 40, +0.632 speed; 7.32 cone, +2.143 agility
• Zach Sieler, Ferris State; Round 7; 6056, 288; 4.83* 40, +0.549 speed; 7.14* cone, 3.348 agility
• John Franklin-Myers, Stephen F. Austin; Round 7-UDFA; 6037, 283; 4.75 40, +2.442 speed; 7.36 cone, +0.607 agility
• Sebastian Joseph, Rutgers; Projected UDFA; 6030, 299; 4.97* 40, +0.426 speed; 7.40* cone, +2.394 agility
• MIKE RAMSAY, Duke; Projected UDFA; 6015, 300; 4.89* 40, +2.845 speed; 7.54* cone, +1.336 agility
• CONNOR SHEEHY, Wisconsin; Projected UDFA; 6036, 295; 5.13* 40, minus-3.693 speed; 7.31* cone, +2.768 agility
• Tyler Lancaster, Northwestern; Projected UDFA; 6030, 313; 5.01* 40, +1.381 speed; 7.46* cone, 3.241 agility
• JULLIAN TAYLOR, Temple; Projected UDFA; 6044, 294; 4.94* 40, minus-0.348 speed; 7.32* cone, +2.176 agility