Green Bay Packers Focus on Top Needs in TDN 3 Round 2021 NFL Mock Draft

In terms of outside additions, it’s been a quiet free agency period for the Green Bay Packers because, well, they haven’t made any yet. So their needs before free agency began are, for the most part, the same that they have today—minus running back and edge rusher with the Aaron Jones re-signing and Preston Smith sticking around.

While there are a lot of one-round mock drafts out there, there are far fewer that go into Round 3, but Kyle Crabbs of The Draft Network just released one, and he has the Green Bay Packers addressing those key needs right away.

Here is a look at who Crabbs has the Green Bay Packers selecting, along with my thoughts on each pick.

Pick 29: Christian Barmore, IDL, Alabama

"“With Christian Barmore, the Packers get a player who doesn’t have to tackle a big role right away but is someone who should be able to provide disruptive reps with his quickness and the talent of the other rushers in the Packers’ defensive front.”"

Takeaway: Addressing the interior defensive line — something the Green Bay Packers didn’t do in 2020 — is a must this offseason. Kenny Clark needs more consistent help inside, and not only will that help Clark and the run game, but better interior play will help the Green Bay edge rushers and linebackers as well. On top of that, with only five interior defensive linemen on the current roster and two of them being primarily practice squad players last season, the Packers simply need depth as well.

Overall this is a weak interior defensive line class, so it’s not exactly the best time to have a need to fill at the position, but Chrisitan Barmore is regarded by many as the best in this class–which would make passing on him at this point quite difficult for Brian Gutekunst.

In 2019, Barmore appeared in 12 games for the Crimson Tide, with one start, making 2020 his first full season as a starter. Barmore was effective both as a pass-rusher and against the run, recording 39 pressures with eight sacks, and his run-stop percentage ranked second among all interior defensive linemen. On top of that, his overall grade from PFF ($$) was the fourth-highest within his position group.

At his pro-day, Barmore clocked in at just over 6’4″, weighing 310 pounds, and posted an impressive 40-yard dash time of 4.93.

Pick 62: Tylan Wallace, WR, Oklahoma State

Takeaway: The Green Bay Packers are bringing back their top-3 receivers from last season, but at the moment, they have no receivers under contract in 2022. So it is incredibly important that they leave this year’s draft with at least one and preferably two receivers who will be on rookie deals.

Wallace is an experienced player out of Oklahoma State, with 340 career targets, including a whopping 149 in 2018. He would haul in 60.3 percent of his pass attempts at 16.7 yards per catch and with 26 touchdowns. His passer rating when targeted was 105.1 as well.

As a primary boundary receiver in this Oklahoma State offense that loves to push the ball, Wallace was heavily targeted downfield. He finished 13th among all receivers in deep receiving yards–which are targets that take place at least 20 yards downfield, and his 28 downfield targets were also the seventh-most last season.

In addition to being a downfield threat, as Crabbs points out in his pre-draft scouting report of Wallace, he was also used often in short areas and was “a frequent target on the backside of run-pass options.” Overall, Wallace averaged five yards after the catch in 2020.

Pick 93: Benjamin St-Juste, CB, Minnesota

Takeaway: In a perfect world, the Green Bay Packers would have been able to address the cornerback position earlier given how big of a need that it is, but this is the risk you run when relying heavily on the draft–we don’t know how the board is going to fall. Many of the top names were off the board in Round 1 but it’s worth noting that Asante Samuel Jr. was still available at pick 62.

St-Juste began his career at Michigan before transferring to Minnesota, where he sat out the 2018 season then started nine games in 2019 while appearing in 13 total. He would play in five games during the shortened 2020 campaign. Over those two years, he would record 55 tackles and had a completion rate of 56.4 percent on 62 targets. St-Juste has no career interceptions and 11 pass breakups.

He really impressed at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama, against some top competition and was also able to show off his wide-ranging skill-set. However, as Crabbs mentions, at the NFL level, St-Juste will be best in “press-man heavy defenses,” while PFF notes his ability to “erase receivers” at the line of scrimmage.

The new defense that Joe Barry is bringing to Green Bay asks his cornerbacks to play a mix of man and zone coverages. In Los Angeles last season, then defensive coordinator Brandon Staley oftentimes played Jalen Ramsey in man and everyone else in zone. Barry could potentially do the same with Jaire Alexander.