The Green Bay Packers kept one Wisconsin player in state, added a candidate to replace departed center Evan Dietrich-Smith, and got another outside linebacker to beef up the pass rush on the third day of the 2014 NFL draft.
“It’s all about building a 90-man roster,” Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. “We definitely got better the last few days.”
The home state crowd loved the Packers’ move with their second pick in the fifth round (No. 176 overall), taking University of Wisconsin receiver Jared Abbrederis, who was a Packers fan growing up in Wautoma.
“We were a little surprised that he was there,” Packers general manager Ted Thompson said. “His first couple of years especially, he did everything but sell hot dogs.”
Abbrederis, a 6-foot-1, 195-pounder, had 78 catches for 1,081 yards and seven touchdowns last season for the Badgers.
Abbrederis will get a chance to compete at wide receiver and on special teams, where his 15.8-yard average on punt returns his sophomore year, before transitioning to a full-time receiver, was second in the history of Wisconsin.
The Packers started the third day of the draft by taking Arizona State outside linebacker Carl Bradford in the fourth round. Bradford will be another option in the pass rush for the Packers, who added defensive lineman Julius Peppers in free agency to complement Clay Matthews.
“We’re going to be a better defense this year,” McCarthy said. “You can write that in big letters.”
Ohio State center Corey Linsley is the only true center competing for the job left open when Dietrich-Smith signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“It’s good to finally draft one that’s played the position before,” McCarthy said. “It will be good just to have a natural center play that position.”
Linsley, 6-3, 296-pounds, will compete with J.C. Tretter and Garth Gerhart as the Packers look for their fourth starting center in the last four years.
In the sixth round. the Packers picked up Demetri Goodson, a 6-0, 200-pound cornerback from Baylor. The starting point guard for Gonzaga in 2011, Goodson made the transition to football the last three seasons and remains very raw.
The Packers' final pick Saturday was wide receiver Jeff Janis (6-3, 219) from Saginaw Valley State.
Picking three receivers in the draft, including second-rounder Davante Adams (6-1, 212-pounds, Fresno State), along with tight end Richard Rodgers (6-4, 257, California) in the second round, the Packers have reloaded after losing receiver James Jones to the Oakland Raiders and the availability of tight end Jermichael Finley still in doubt with a neck injury.
“With all the players that we drafted, I feel it definitely gives a lot of competition, especially at the wide receiver position,” McCarthy said.
Thompson said he thought the draft had a deep class of wide receivers.
“‘We tried to go with quality,” Thompson said. “That’s definitely how the board worked out.”
Overall, the Packers managed to take players at positions of obvious need. The first indication if they were successful at plugging the holes on the roster will come Friday, when drafted players and undrafted free agents report to Lambeau Field for rookie training camp.
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