Green Bay Packers 2021 Draft Prospects to Know: Carlos “Boogie” Basham
By Paul Bretl
Looking at the edge rusher position heading into the 2021 season for the Green Bay Packers, it isn’t exactly a major need. To the surprise of many, Preston Smith is back, and he will be joined by All-Pro Za’Darius Smith and the up and comer Rashan Gary. They also have two young and exciting prospects in Jonathan Garvin and Tipa Galeai.
However, the draft is about planning for the future— or at least it should be — and as we look ahead to 2022, there are some unknowns. Preston Smith likely won’t be back next season given his monstrous cap hit, while there is no guarantee that Garvin or Galeai will develop into reliable contributors. On top of that, there is simply no such thing as having too many pass-rushers.
While Brian Gutekunst has thrown us some curveballs during his tenure as GM, he is one to plan ahead in the draft, which makes drafting an edge rusher this year very much in play.
One prospect in particular who would be a great fit with the Green Bay Packers is Carlos “Boogie” Basham from Wake Forest.
Basham has four years of experience, three of which came as a starter, and was a playmaker for the Wake Forest defense. From 2018 to 2020, Basham tallied 137 total pressures, including at least 50 during the 2018 and 2019 seasons that weren’t shortened, along with 23 sacks, 20 tackles for loss, and seven forced fumbles, according to PFF ($$).
Basham has excellent functional strength, is a terrific athlete, and can win a pass-rush rep in a number of different ways as pointed out by Joe Marino of The Draft Network, “he wins with power, technique, effort, and angles to get home.”
In addition to lining up outside of the tackle as he often did at Wake Forest, Basham is someone who can play inside as well and would provide the Green Bay Packers’ interior defensive line group some needed help. In Joe Barry’s new defense, Kenny Clark would be the nose tackle while Basham would take snaps lined up in 4-tech.
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For more from Marino on what Basham can offer, here is the remainder of his pre-draft scouting report:
"“At the next level, Basham Jr. projects most favorably as a left defensive end in a 4-3 scheme that situationally gets chances to rush interior gaps. He’s a power style end that is strong at the point of attack, does well to contain, and features a sufficient pass-rushing skill set where his technique and effort leads to pressure on the quarterback. If a team is in search of a burst and bendy pass rusher, that’s not Basham’s game. He wins with power, technique, effort, and angles to get home.For Basham to reach his ceiling at the next level, developing his secondary pass rush moves, trimming weight, adding functional strength, and improving his block recognition skills on run plays will be important. If everything comes together, Basham can be a productive starter for a 4-3 defense.”"
PFF has Basham rated as the sixth-best edge rusher in this class and the 40th player overall. While The Draft Network has him as their ninth-ranked edge rusher and 77th overall prospect.
As far as where Basham could be selected, well, that’s always the million-dollar question. But the Mock Draft Database has a second-round projection on him based on all of the mock drafts and big boards they’ve compiled from draft analysts this offseason. Although it’s worth mentioning that about 25 percent of the mock drafts in the database have Basham going in the first round.
On the surface, taking an edge rusher early on doesn’t seem necessary for the Green Bay Packers, but Basham’s skill-set, athleticism, and ability to play inside makes him someone who I imagine is very much on their radar.