Aaron Ripkowski to Green Bay: Full Draft-Pick Breakdown

John Kuhn has been a fan favorite in Green Bay for years. Every time he touches the ball, you hear the inevitable "Kuuuuuuuhn" mumble in Lambeau Field. Those days just might be numbered, though.

Kuhn is reaching an age where the team no longer wants to give him any sort of job security. This offseason, the Packers let Kuhn test the market, only to re-sign him on a one-year veteran-minimum contract with only a workout bonus, no signing bonus.

If Green Bay wants to move on from the 32-year-old, it can do so without repercussions whenever it wishes.

In the sixth round, Kuhn's job security became even more threatened when the Packers chose a fullback with the first of their three choices in the round. Though head coach Mike McCarthy has kept multiple fullbacks on the roster before, it seems unlikely that the squad would do so considering how it's presently constructed, with so much depth down the line across the board.

The fullback's name is Aaron Ripkowski, and he played for Oklahoma. I'm assuming that the majority of Packers fans are also Wisconsin Badgers fans on Saturdays. Wisconsin's Melvin Gordon broke the FBS single-game rushing record last season, but soon after, the Sooners' Samaje Perine put up a 427-yard total to break Gordon's fresh mark.

Who was the lead fullback for that effort? Ripkowski.

Ripkowski is going to be an interesting test case for the squad, as he's not really much of a running or pass-catching threat out of the backfield. He's a blocker. He's a small lineman.

While Kuhn has taken blocking responsibilities in the past, he's also played tailback at times and has come up with big catches in the postseason. Can the team trust that Ripkowski will produce in the same way? Does that aspect of the fullback position even matter for Green Bay anymore?

When running back Eddie Lacy was drafted in the second round of 2013, the squad's mentality flipped. With a longtime zone-blocking scheme under McCarthy, they switched to more of a power scheme with a bruising back like Lacy in the backfield.

When you're running power, you need a fullback to kick-out block. While the position is "dying" across the league, one of the main reasons is there aren't 32 rosters with a Lacy-type of power back.

Realistically, the decision to keep or cut either Kuhn or Ripkowski will come down to how much the squad values versatility in the backfield. Before Lacy, the Packers liked tailbacks to do a little of everything, as they targeted catching specialists in the draft for that very reason. Now they have a hammer, and they seem to be fine.

They could be content with just having a hammer at fullback as well. If nothing else, Ripkowski might be able to stick on the roster as an active player on special teams, waiting a year for Kuhn's contract to run out before stepping into the starting role.

Another option would be Ripkowski lying low on the practice squad, but then there's the risk of another NFL franchise coming in and swiping him off the team.