Green Bay Packers: 3 Day Two IOL Prospects
By Kenny Jilek
The NFL Draft is fast approaching, and while the Green Bay Packers don’t have a lot of high picks in the draft, they need to get value out of the picks they have in the top 100 spots. This will make day two of the draft huge with their second and third-round picks.
At first glance, the interior offensive line might not look like the biggest need, and it definitely isn’t the most exciting position, but think about what a guy like Elgton Jenkins did for this line the last couple of years after being a second round pick. Also, replacing Corey Linsley is no easy task, and it could take a top draft pick to find a good long-term solution.
Every draft board looks different, but there are three guys who can play on the interior that could be good fits in Green Bay with either their second or third-round pick.
Quinn Meinerz – University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
Did you really like Jake Kumerow when he was here? Did you wish he could’ve just had some more production? Do you have any association with the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater? Are you a fan of the classic Wisconsin beer gut? Do you like seeing offensive linemen absolutely bury defenders into the ground? If you answered yes to any of those questions, you definitely should be rooting for Quinn Meinerz to go to the Green Bay Packers in the draft.
Meinerz is an absolute mauler who’s always looking to attack and never on his heels. He is very consistent in coming out of his stance low and ready to drive whoever is in front of him. He excels in every kind of running scheme, and Whitewater has a very diverse running scheme, so he has experience with many different types of blocks. Whatever the play, he always gets to his aiming points on his man and turns them where he wants them to be.
Where he’s the absolute best is in combo blocks getting up to the second level. He is great at quickly passing off his man on the line of scrimmage to his teammate and getting to the linebacker. Once he gets to that linebacker, it’s lights out. If Meinerz is up to a linebacker, that is very bad news for the defense, and he’s looking to drive him through the ground all the way to China.
Where this attacking mentality does hurt Meinerz is in pass protection. He often gets too far over his toes and loses his balance, making him very prone to push-pull moves from interior pass rushers. The great thing about pass pro on the interior is you often have help, so the concern is not a huge knock on his report.