Kennard Backman to Green Bay Packers: Full Draft-Pick Breakdown

There's been a lot of noise surrounding the Alabama-Birmingham football team. After the school shut down its football program, a lot of the draft media has focused on J.J. Nelson, a receiver on the team who was drafted in the fifth round. There were a lot of stories written around Nelson being the last draft pick the school might ever produce.

In the sixth round, the Green Bay Packers spoiled those headlines, taking Nelson's teammate, Kennard Backman. Backman was recruited to play basketball out of high school as well, but he went to UAB as a starter for at least part of his four years there. On the field, that basketball athleticism translates.

A lot of Packers fans wanted the team to address the tight end position in this draft class, but a sixth-rounder probably won't be fit for their tastes.

Green Bay took Richard Rodgers of California in the top 100 of last season's draft, but his upside isn't one of a top-20 tight end in the league. Rodgers is a solid stopgap, but no one should be content with his skill set at the position. He does afford the Packers enough consistency to attempt to develop someone on the bench, though.

Backman just may be that someone. At 6'3" and 243 pounds, he's no giant. Green Bay more than likely isn't going to be looking at him as a true tight end, but a move option. His best-case scenario is as a Charles Clay type of player who lines up in the slot, as a tight end and in the backfield—but primarily as a player who gets touches, not as a blocker.

The Packers have tried this mold before, taking D.J. Williams of Arkansas in the fifth round of the 2011 NFL draft. He didn't pan out, leaving the team after only a couple of seasons, but Backman could develop into the diamond that the staff wanted Williams to be down the line.

We've seen over and over again with basketball athletes like Antonio Gates and Jimmy Graham that the spacial awareness and quickness of that sport translates to tight end, where a pass-catcher is working the center of the field. Could Backman be the Packers' version?

Even if it's of the slimmest of chances, with their last pick, it's worth the risk. The good thing about taking super athletes at positions like edge-rusher and tight end, other than a higher hit rate, is that while they develop on the bench they can still be active on game day as special teams players.

General manager Ted Thompson knows how to unearth Day 3 gems. Defensive lineman Mike Daniels, left tackle David Bakhtiari, left guard Josh Sitton, center Corey Linsley and right guard Josh Sitton are all long-term starters for the squad in base positions. If people in the media think they more know than Thompson, they're fooling themselves.

If Thompson says Backman is worth a selection over all of the players left on the board, then fans should side with their general manager. For the most part, he's on the right side of history.