5 Inside Linebackers Green Bay Packers Must Consider in 2015 NFL Draft

Easily Green Bay's biggest need heading into the 2015 season, the Packers could be looking for not one but two inside linebackers in this year's draft. 

Neither of the Packers' starting inside linebackers heading into 2014—A.J. Hawk and Brad Jones—look likely to start next season. 

According to ESPN Stats & Information, Hawk played 94 percent of defensive snaps over the first 11 games of the season and just 31.1 percent over the last seven games (postseason included).

Brad Jones started only the Week 1 game at Seattle, playing all 70 defensive snaps, before his snap count decreased to an average of just 14.8, per Pro Football Focus, for the remainder of the season. (He also missed three games with a quad injury.) 

Sam Barrington and Jamari Lattimore split the remaining starts at middle linebacker. Pro Football Focus graded both higher than Hawk and Jones, but not a single Packers inside linebacker finished among the top 75 in the league.

Hawk and Jones both have one year left on their deals, and Lattimore will be an unrestricted free agent come March. The Packers could choose to cut Hawk and/or Jones and let Lattimore walk, but in any situation, they'll have inside linebacker prospects near the top of their big board.

What follows are five prospects Ted Thompson should be tracking. The inside linebacker class in 2015 is incredibly deep, and for that reason, analysts have these players all over the board. Those rankings are shown in the table below. 

CBSSports.com	ESPN.com	NFL.com
1. Eric Kendricks, UCLA	1. Denzel Perryman	1. Benardrick McKinney
2. Denzel Perryman, Miami	2. Benardrick McKinney	2. Denzel Perryman
3. Benardrick McKinney, Mississippi State	3. Stephone Anthony	3. Eric Kendricks
4. Ramik Wilson, Georgia	4. Eric Kendricks	4. Stephone Anthony
5. Stephone Anthony, Clemson	5. Hayes Pullard	5. Ramik Wilson

All player measurables vary from outlet to outlet. This articles uses information from NFL.com. College prospects' 2014 stats via Sports-Reference.com.

Benardrick McKinney, Mississippi State

USA TODAY Sports

Essentials

Height: 6'5"

Weight: 249 lbs

2014 stat line: 71 total tackles, 8 tackles for loss, 3 sacks

Analysis

Benardrick McKinney grades out as the top inside linebacker prospect in this class ahead of the combine by NFL.com, and recent mock drafts have him being taken off the board just ahead of the Green Bay Packers' pick at No. 30.

ESPN's Mel Kiper projects that the Denver Broncos, who are thin at inside linebacker, will want McKinney at No. 28. However, his colleague Todd McShay thinks that Denzel Perryman will be the only inside linebacker taken in the first round, which could leave McKinney on the board for Green Bay. 

Assume for a moment that both McKinney and Perryman are on the board for Green Bay at No. 30. They likely won't be unless something goes poorly at the combine, but as a thought experiment, why should the Packers take McKinney over Perryman?

First off, his size is hard to ignore. At 6'5", McKinney is the rare athlete who does not sacrifice speed for size. As CBSSports.com's Dane Brugler and Rob Rang note, "he is a well-built and fluid athlete for his size, showing good lateral agility and very impressive acceleration to track down ball-carriers from behind."

McKinney has above-average size for the position, and that could be an asset to Green Bay on the interior. 

Most importantly, McKinney can be a three-down player for Green Bay. Outside linebacker Clay Matthews has indicated that after speaking to head coach Mike McCarthy and defensive coordinator Dom Capers, he still expects to play some snaps inside in 2015, per Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 

And while Green Bay's defense could be stronger in 2015 with Matthews moving around, it would help to have a three-down player like McKinney stationed on the inside to free Matthews up to do what he does best and rush the passer off the edge. 

McKinney could also be a powerful run-stopping force, which the Packers desperately need. His above-average size will allow him to gain leverage and prevent ball-carriers from escaping to the second level of the defense.

Denzel Perryman, Miami

Jared Wickerham/Getty Images

Essentials

Height: 6'0"

Weight: 242 lbs

2014 stat line: 102 total tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, 1 interception, 3 forced fumbles

Analysis

Miami's Denzel Perryman has been ranked from the No. 1 inside linebacker in the 2015 class by ESPN to the second by NFL.com and CBSSports.com, and from pre-combine chatter it seems likely he could be taken in the first round.

At 6'0", Perryman isn't the tallest among this group, but he makes up for that with an explosiveness that led to him playing on the outside during his junior season. CBSSports.com's Derek Stephens and Rob Rang are impressed with his burst, as well as his agile hands: "He's difficult to latch onto at the second level due to strong, active hands, agile feet and good use of leverage when taking on bigger blockers, and he exhibits good burst and solid angles to either sideline when asked to pursue plays on the edges."

However, Green Bay already has a somewhat undersized inside linebacker on the roster in A.J. Hawk (6'1", 235 lbs) and will be looking for a player who can excel in pass coverage as well as against the run.

Hawk often gets burned when he tries to cover pass-catchers in his zone, and Green Bay may have the same concern with Perryman due to his more compact frame.

What can't be discounted, however, are Perryman's instincts. He's quick to react and he is a playmaker, as he demonstrated in his 2014 season with Miami when he had the most tackles for loss in his career. 

Depending on his performance at the combine, Perryman's stock may rise to put his value closer to the Packers' pick at 30th overall. If that's the case, he'd be a welcome addition to a struggling interior. 

Eric Kendricks, UCLA

Harry How/Getty Images

Essentials

Height: 6'0"

Weight: 230 lbs

2014 stat line: 136 total tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, 3 interceptions, 1 forced fumble

Analysis

Pre-combine opinions vary wildly about UCLA's Eric Kendricks, as evidenced by the fact that he's been ranked the No. 1 inside linebacker in his class by CBSSports.com, No. 3 by NFL.com and No. 4 by ESPN.com.

Why all the inconsistency? 

After Kendricks earned the Butkus Award in December as the nation's top linebacker, his stock trended upward. The selection committee praised his "exceptional instincts, motor, toughness and football intelligence," noting that Kendricks has been "overlooked much of his career."

Though he finished his undergraduate career as UCLA's all-time leading tackler, he dealt with multiple injuries in 2013, including a shoulder sprain, ankle injury and back bruise. Moreover, his lack of ideal size for the position has no doubt pushed him further down some draft boards. 

"Lacks ideal size and power. Doesn't possess a heavy punch," ESPN.com noted in Kendricks' draft profile. Indeed, given those concerns, Kendricks could struggle with some of the same issues that currently plague the Packers' inside linebackers. 

However, despite his size, Kendricks' impressive sideline-to-sideline run-defending skills that won him the Butkus Award could also make him a fantastic choice for Green Bay. Especially if the Packers choose to address another position like tight end or defensive tackle in the first round, Ted Thompson just might find Kendricks on the board in the second, depending on his combine performance. 

Stephone Anthony, Clemson

USA TODAY Sports

Essentials

Height: 6'3"

Weight: 245 lbs

2014 stat line: 72 total tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss, 3 sacks, 1 interception, 1 forced fumble

Analysis

At 6'3" and 245 lbs, Clemson's Stephone Anthony is an ideal size for a 3-4 inside linebacker, but the question is whether he has the coverage skills and agility to be successful there. Anthony was the Tigers' leading tackler over his last two seasons and there's no doubt that he could be a strong run-stuffer for Green Bay. 

However, if the Packers have one and potentially two positions open on the interior, at least with rotations factored in, it's unclear if Anthony could be a three-down player. 

"Complicating his projection as a 3-4 inside linebacker is the fact that Anthony currently struggles to disengage from blockers, relying more on his burst to beat them initially or defensive linemen to keep him clean," CBSSports.com's Derek Stephens and Rob Rang wrote in Anthony's profile. 

If Green Bay somehow misses out on McKinney, Perryman and Kendricks (which it shouldn't as long as Ted Thompson's evaluations of those players match current projections), Anthony could be a good rotational player if Clay Matthews continues to get snaps at inside linebacker in 2015.

NFL.com's Lance Zierlein broke down Anthony's potential best: "Anthony can make it in the league but he might be more of a depth-chart player than a long-time starter."

Ramik Wilson, Georgia

John Bazemore/Associated Press

Essentials

Height: 6'2"

Weight: 237 lbs

2014 stat line: 102 total tackles, 7 tackles for loss, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble

Analysis

Ramik Wilson is currently projected to be drafted in Round 3 or 4 by CBSSports.com. While he's not the every-down starter that Green Bay needs out of the 2015 class, he could be a great developmental player to come back to if the Packers select an inside linebacker in Round 1 and are looking to come back to the position in Round 4. 

That will, of course, depend on whether or not the Packers re-sign free agent Jamari Lattimore, or if they cut A.J. Hawk or Brad Jones, or both. But if the Packers are looking to build depth at the position, Wilson is an interesting prospect. 

Wilson led the SEC in tackles in 2013 with 133, and NFL.com's Lance Zierlein notes that he "shows downhill traits to make impact tackles." However, scouts and analysts alike hesitate to project that Wilson will be anything more than a backup at his position. Part of that has to do with his underdeveloped pass-coverage skills.

"Scouts worried about ability to "mirror and match" tight ends in coverage," Zierlein wrote in Wilson's draft profile.

At his current skill level, then, does Wilson project better as a 4-3 strong-side linebacker? "I think he can play inside in a 3-4 as long as he's not the 'take on' linebacker," an unnamed NFC scout relayed to Zierlein. The Packers could take Wilson on as a developmental prospect, but he doesn't look the part of a starter.