Green Bay Packers: A Scout's Take on Stephone Anthony and Paul Dawson

Now that the NFL Scouting Combine is over and we are within a couple of months of the 2015 NFL draft, teams like the Green Bay Packers are really zeroing in on solidifying their respective draft boards.

It's pretty obvious that the No. 1 priority for the Packers in this draft is to improve the talent and depth at inside linebacker. Especially now that the team has released both A.J. Hawk and Brad Jones.

At the combine, head coach Mike McCarthy compared the situation this year at inside linebacker to the position of safety last year as he addressed the media.

"I think the inside linebacker position probably can be compared to where we were last year at the safety position," McCarthy said. "Obviously we had a number of moving parts there, so we'll see what this process that we go through as far as player acquisition and how that affects it.

"I really like the steps that Sam Barrington made. I thought he made a huge jump. And that's what you look for. He's a second-year player that needed to take a big step and Sam did that."

In the 2014 NFL draft, the Packers selected safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix in the first round to fill the biggest void on the team's roster. Not only did Clinton-Dix play well as a rookie, but his presence allowed Morgan Burnett to have perhaps his best year ever at the other safety spot.

This coming after the worst season of Burnett's career in 2013.

In terms of the inside linebacker position, I had an opportunity to talk with NFL scout Chris Landry about a month ago to talk about three of the top inside linebackers prospects in the NFL draft.

Those prospects were Denzel Perryman of Miami, Eric Kendricks of UCLA and Benardrick McKinney of Mississippi State.

About a week after our discussion, I put out my first mock draft for the Packers. I had the Packers taking Perryman in the first round. I'll be doing my second mock draft in the near future.

On Friday I had another opportunity to talk with Landry on 620 WDAE's Steve Duemig Show. Landry was at the combine and talked to a number of top-level NFL executives and coaches, which included Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy of the Packers.

It should also be noted that Landry was one of the scouts who first started the combine. Landry is a consultant to a number of NFL teams and just as an example, he was allowed to sit in on several meetings with various teams as they talked to the two top quarterback prospects, Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota.

I wanted to get Landry's take on a couple of other inside linebacker prospects, but before I could, Duemig and Landry put out a very heart-warming gesture by recognizing the passing of my father earlier this week.

I was very touched. My dad meant a lot to me, which is why I wrote a tribute article about him.

The other inside linebackers that I wanted Landry's take on are Stephone Anthony of Clemson and Paul Dawson of TCU.

Landry talked about Anthony first. The former Tiger had 69 tackles, 10.5 tackles for a loss, 2.5 sacks, one interception and two forced fumbles in 2014.

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"I love Anthony," Landry said. "I think he's really an instinctive player and I like him a lot."

At the combine, Anthony had a very good outing, as he ran a very quick 4.56 in the 40, which is outstanding for a player of his size (6'3", 243 pounds). He also leaped 37 inches in the vertical jump and had a very solid 4.03 time in the 20-yard shuttle.

Anthony is overshadowed by a fellow linebacker from Clemson, Vic Beasley. A number of draft experts, including Bucky Brooks, Charles Davis and Daniel Jeremiah of NFL.com, all have Beasley going in the top 10 of the draft as a matter of fact.

Landry then turned his attention to Dawson, who had 128 tackles, 18.5 tackles for a loss, five sacks, two forced fumbles and four interceptions for the Horned Frogs this past season.

"I love the kid from TCU," Landry said. But I've got to go to Dallas because he and the safety [Chris Hackett] had awful workouts.

"So, I've got to find out. Were they dead-legged? Did they not train? Did they train inappropriately or didn't rest enough? Or are there some other issues going on, because they play a lot faster than 4.8 or 4.9 at safety and linebacker.

"They play like 4.5 guys. So, we got to figure that out. Remember what I say. The combine is a 90 percent rule. 90 percent of the time, the workout matches the tape. It's the 10 percent that doesn't. That's when you have to do more work.

"Those two [Dawson and Hackett] fall into the 10 percent. So stay tuned."

As Landry alluded to, the combine did not go well for the 6'0", 235-pound Dawson. He ran just a 4.93 in the 40 and leaped only 28 inches in the vertical jump.

Yes, more work has to be done. That is true for all NFL teams. The individual pro days will be coming up soon. That is where prospects will try and better their performance at the combine if they decide to do so.

As Landry said, "Stay tuned."