GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Adrian Peterson is gone to New Orleans, and the veteran running-back options have all but run out unless an injury-riddled Jamal Charles or a well-worn LeGarrette Blount look attractive.
So the Green Bay Packers will draft a running back -- or maybe even two -- this week in the NFL draft.
Just don’t expect it to be Thursday; 27 years of history says it won’t happen in the first round, so Darrell Thompson should remain the last running back the Packers drafted in the first round way back in 1990.
With the 29th overall pick, the Packers are almost certain to miss out on the top two running backs in the draft: LSU’s Leonard Fournette and Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey. The likely No. 3 back, Florida State’s Dalvin Cook, could be there for the Packers, but don’t expect them to take him at that spot. Indications are they consider that a tad too high for Cook.
Even though the Packers are deeper at receiver than in the backfield, they’d be more likely to grab another target -- perhaps Western Michigan’s Corey Davis -- for Aaron Rodgers than to take someone for him to hand the ball off to in the first round.
General manager Ted Thompson has never drafted a running back higher than No. 61, which also happens to be his exact spot in the second round this year. Even if Thompson takes a back there, that doesn’t mean his work is finished at that position. He might need to take a second back, a move that has precedent. Twice before, he has picked multiple running backs in the same draft (2007 and 2013).
Perhaps Thompson will try to replicate what the Chicago Bears did last year, when they found running back Jordan Howard in the fifth round. Only Ezekiel Elliott rushed for more yards than Howard did last season. There could be plenty of second- and third-day options if that’s Thompson’s strategy.
“I think Kareem Hunt from Toledo is the must under-rated running back in this draft,” ESPN NFL draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. said. “Downhill runner, runs hard, probably get him in the third or fourth round. I like Kareem Hunt from Toledo. I think another guy that has a chance to be pretty good down the line is Jeremy McNichols from Boise State [and] Aaron Jones [from] UTEP. There’s some good backs that you’re going to pick up in the fourth, fifth round. Again, like Jordan Howard last year out of Indiana. Liked him last year and I think there’s a lot of guys like that in this draft.”
Converted receiver Ty Montgomery led the Packers in rushing last season with just 457 yards. Still, the Packers view him as a potential No. 1 back after he goes through his first offseason of workouts and study at the position this spring and summer. Montgomery is the only one among the running-back group who is a lock to make the roster. Christine Michael, who was re-signed cheap (a one-year, $800,000 deal with only $25,000 guaranteed), and exclusive-rights free agent Don Jackson could easily be replaced by running backs from the draft or rookie free agency.
Thompson and coach Mike McCarthy promised that the Packers would add more running backs this offseason. It now appears the only way that will happen is through the draft.
"We’re going to have more running backs," McCarthy said last month at the NFL annual meetings. "I don’t know when they’re going to get there, but we will have more running backs come the middle of May -- I can promise you that.”
