GREEN BAY, Wis. – Mel Kiper Jr. and Todd McShay can agree on one thing when it comes to the Green Bay Packers and the 27th overall selection in the draft: The pick will be a defensive player from Alabama.
They disagree on which one.
In their final mock drafts released just hours before Thursday’s first round, Kiper has the Packers taking defensive tackle Jarran Reed, while McShay went with inside linebacker Reggie Ragland.
Both would be good fits.
Reed would be a solid value this late in the first round. He could help immediately as a run defender much in the way B.J. Raji played last season before his unexpected hiatus from football in 2016.
Given that coach Mike McCarthy is adamant about moving Clay Matthews back to outside linebacker, Ragland would compete for immediate playing time with returning inside linebackers Sam Barrington and Jake Ryan.
It’s interesting to note that in our NFL Nation mock draft from earlier this week, neither Reed nor Ragland was available at No. 27. Both went in the teens. It left another Alabama defensive tackle, A'Shawn Robinson, as the pick for the Packers, even though it seems unlikely that he will actually be there. Kiper had Robinson at No. 21 to Washington, while McShay did not have him in his first round.
Here’s a look at how Kiper’s and McShay’s mock draft selections for the Packers changed throughout the pre-draft process:
Mel Kiper Jr.
Mock draft 1.0: Austin Johnson, DT, Penn State
Mock draft 2.0: Hunter Henry, TE, Arkansas
Mock draft 3.0: Kamalei Correa, OLB, Boise State
Mock draft 4.0: Kamalei Correa, OLB, Boise State
Final version: Jarran Reed, DT, Alabama
Todd McShay
Mock draft 1.0: Su’a Cravens, OLB, USC
Mock draft 2.0: Hunter Henry, TE, Arkansas
Mock draft 3.0: Reggie Ragland, ILB, Alabama
Mock draft 4.0: Vernon Butler, DT, Louisiana Tech
Mock draft 5.0: Andrew Billings, DT, Baylor
Final version: Reggie Ragland, ILB, Alabama
