Packers Must Sort Through Red Flags at ILB Position in 2015 NFL Draft

Finding answers at inside linebacker—the Green Bay Packers' biggest positional need coming into the 2015 NFL draft—has required general manager Ted Thompson and his staff to sort through numerous red flags among the top players in the class.

By the end of the week, the Packers will still likely have one—if not two—new players at the position. With nine picks in the draft, Thompson can afford to double dip at inside linebacker, where Green Bay currently rosters a handful of mostly untested players. 

It will be interesting to see how the Packers stack the top of their draft board at inside linebacker, given the variety of options and the range of flaws associated with those potential picks. 

Very few draft prospects are perfect, and even fewer perfect options are available for a team drafting No. 30 overall in the first round. But the inside linebacker position in 2015 possesses the diversity of talent and blemishes that has likely made the process a difficult one for Thompson. 

Pick a name among the best of the class and there will be a red flag or two to discover. 

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UCLA's Eric Kendricks might be the best off-ball linebacker in the 2015 draft, depending on who you talk to. The Butkus Award winner is a legitimate four-down player at the NFL level, a trait the Packers want in their next inside linebacker. Kendricks also has football in his blood—his brother, Mychal, stars for the Philadelphia Eagles—and he'd be an immediate asset as a coverage linebacker in Green Bay's heavily used nickel and dime packages. 

But at 6'0" and only 232 pounds, is Kendricks big enough to play the inside of a 3-4?

"His production and character makes it easy for a scout to bang the table for him," an NFC West scout told Lance Zierlein of NFL.com. "The only blow-back I anticipate in my room is regarding his size, but if you stick him at the WILL spot, I don't think it matters."

A fellow scout told Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel something similar. 

"He's too small to thrive in a 3-4," the scout said. "Between his instincts and his willingness, he can do it. But you wouldn't be playing to his strengths if you made him play uncovered in a 3-4."

Another scout called Kendricks "really, really small."

McGinn also heard from at least one team that took Kendricks off their board because of his knee. He suffered through various dings to his shoulder and ankle while at UCLA, but any problem with his knee is a recent development. 

It's unknown if the Packers have any serious medical concerns about Kendricks. His size could very well be an issue, however, as Green Bay's three-man front requires inside linebackers to routinely take on and shed blocks. The worry is that bigger, more athletic linemen in the NFL could overwhelm and overpower Kendricks, who was at his best flowing freely to the football at UCLA. And it's possible his smallish frame could be more prone to injury if asked to man the inside of a 3-4 defense. 

While similarly talented, TCU's Paul Dawson has even more issues to sort through. 

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No inside linebacker prospect was more productive than Dawson in 2014. Plugged into Gary Patterson's attacking 4-2-5 defense, Dawson played as if he were shot out of cannon, making tackle after tackle at or behind the line of scrimmage. His tape from last season displayed a player with first-round ability. 

The predraft process has not been kind to his draft stock. 

Fair or not, both Dawson's character and work ethic have been called into question. 

"He's an early round player without any question, but you don't have to dig around very deep or very long to realize that his personal character is going to be a major issue for some teams," an AFC West scout told Zierlein. "My grade will be two rounds later than just the talent grade. It has to be factored in." 

A two-round adjustment based on character alone is significant enough on its own. Dawson then did little to calm worries about his football work ethic at the NFL Scouting Combine. 

Despite ample time to prepare and the numerous resources now available to draft prospects, Dawson still ran the 40-yard dash in a lineman-like 4.93 seconds and posted a vertically challenged leap of 28.0". Both were among the worst at the linebacker position. While Dawson rarely looked like a 4.9 player on the field, his timed speed was potentially indicative of the work he put in prior to the event. 

"He just doesn't love to prepare," one scout told McGinn. "But on Saturday they love him."

The Packers might love him on Sundays. 

Another scout knocked him for being "late for meetings," and three others called him "surly" in interviews. 

Zierlein noted concerns about Dawson's "commitment to the process." He also labeled the TCU star as "not a film-studier." 

Dawson thrived in Fort Worth on rare instincts. Patterson's defense kept him clean and he made play after play. But once in the NFL, his lack of preparation, speed and size (6'0", 235 lbs.) could manifest into significant problems. 

The biggest challenge for the Packers is in deciding if Dawson's 2014 film is good enough to risk working through the blemishes. Can professional preparation be taught? Can elite instincts mask size and speed? It's a delicate balancing act, especially for a player likely to go within the first two rounds. 

The process will also be difficult for Mississippi State's Benardrick McKinney. 

There's no questioning his size. At 6'4" and almost 250 pounds, McKinney is an imposing linebacker with the look of an immediate NFL starter. He should be a ready-made asset against the run, especially if asked to routinely take on blocks and fill gaps on the interior. And there's a possibility for positional versatility, as he delivered occasional production as an edge-rusher. 

Yet how much value does a likely two-down player have in today's modern, pass-heavy NFL?

"Benardrick has to prove he can be impactful on third (down) and sub," one scout told McGinn. "Is he going to be Lavonte David or Mychal Kendricks on first and second downs as well as play third down?"

McKinney looked like a liability in coverage at Mississippi State. Playing in space is not among his strengths. In fact, it's probably his biggest weakness.  

Pro Football Focus considered him one of its most overrated draft prospects in 2015. 

"The trouble is that all of our analysts who broke down his games agreed they wouldn't trust McKinney as anything more than a two-down linebacker," PFF's Mike Renner wrote. "That still has value, but not early-round value."

The Packers could certainly use a thumper against the run. A.J. Hawk and Brad Jones—who both departed Green Bay this offseason—were far from physical run-stuffers. McKinney would bring the toughness the inside of the defense needs, but at what price? Is a two-down player worth a top-50 selection? 

"I don't know if he's a dinosaur or he's a new-breed backer," a scout told McGinn back in March. 

Miami's Denzel Perryman is a throwback in his own right. 

At 5'11" and 238 pounds, Perryman has a thick, squatty frame built for mashing inside. He matches his bulldog frame with a bulldog attitude, which has drawn comparisons to former San Francisco 49ers linebacker Chris Borland. Few players in this draft like to hit more than Perryman. 

But the same worries about McKinney exist with the former Hurricane.  

"He's the type of guy you like having on your team because he brings toughness to practice," an AFC scout told Zierlein. "He's going to lay the wood to ball carriers when he gets a chance but college teams were already finding ways to go after him in the passing game."

Perryman did not test poorly at the combine, but he's clearly not a quick-twitch athlete. In the NFL, he could be exposed in space. 

"I like him, but he's short and doesn't run particularly well," a scout told McGinn. "(Stephen) Tulloch could run. This guy's 4.7. I think he's a two-down player in a perfect world. You can get by with him but he's going to have space limitations."

Again, what is the worth of a two-down player? The Packers are likely smitten with what Perryman can do against the run on first and second down. But do you take a player in the first two rounds without knowing if he can be a full-time player?

Maybe the greatest of the unknowns is Washington's Shaq Thompson. 

A college running back, safety and linebacker, Thompson arrives in the NFL as one of the more uniquely versatile athletes in recent memory. He even played a little minor league baseball. Thompson is explosive, and there's no doubting his playmaking skills (four defensive touchdowns in 2014). 

However, his projection to a 3-4 defense is a near impossible one. 

Thompson weighs under 230 pounds. Some teams believe he's a safety; others want him to play on the edge at outside linebacker. He isn't well-versed at any one spot. 

"He hasn't played linebacker very much," a scout told McGinn. "Lavonte David was much more instinctive. You hope if he just sticks to one position he can learn how to use his hands, which he doesn't now."

A creative defensive coordinator will find a place for Thompson. But he's an undeniable risk given the amount of projection needed, and his fit behind a three-man front is shaky at best. At some point, he would become a value selection for the Packers defense, which needs more playmakers. But it's more likely that such a point never materializes. 

The cleanest of the inside linebacker prospects—at least, in terms of the Packers' most likely point of view—is Clemson's Stephone Anthony. 

He checks off all the boxes. College production. Size. Workout measurables. Clean off the field.

The 6'3", 243-pound Anthony was a Butkus Award semifinalist as a senior. He ran the 40-yard dash in 4.56 seconds and finished the 20-yard shuttle in 4.03 seconds in Indianapolis. And he has no character red flags.

Chris Trapasso of CBS Sports named Anthony as one of the six "safest" players in the 2015 draft. 

"Anthony's an under control thumper who runs like a much smaller weakside 'backer," wrote Trapasso, who favorably compared his workout numbers to Luke Kuechly and Patrick Willis. "He'd be a steal in Round 2."

Safe players like Anthony are usually taken in the first round. It's possible he could be off the board by No. 30, and it's equally as possible that the Packers pass on him at No. 30. In an ideal world, Thompson would move back and take Anthony 10 or so picks later. But the draft rarely works out so perfectly. 

The Packers may find themselves in a position where Anthony is not the best player available. Or Thompson may be hesitant to use a first-round pick on an inside linebacker, which is not universally considered one of the game's most important positions. Anthony probably won't last to the No. 62 overall pick. 

But it's also probably a good thing if debate over draft value is the worst of Anthony's flaws for Green Bay. 

The Packers' need at inside linebacker is not a recent revelation. The position has been an issue for the better part of the last two or three seasons. Thompson must now use the 2015 draft to fix it, potentially with one or two selections. 

Which inside linebackers he picks will depend heavily on how he's stacked the Packers' board. A big part of that process has been an offseason-long evaluation of the top players and their corresponding flaws. By the end of the week, we should have a good idea of how Thompson and his staff viewed those red flags. 

Zach Kruse covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. 

Follow @zachkruse2