It's no secret the Green Bay Packers could use an infusion of talent at the inside linebacker spot.
Despite the efforts of the unheralded Sam Barrington and the seemingly unstoppable Clay Matthews, the Packers are thin on the inside and doubly depth-less considering moving Matthews inside periodically means the outside pass-rush won't be nearly as deadly.
While Carl Bradford showed some glimpses his rookie season, an addition or two is sorely needed in order to spread the talent out more equitably on the Packers defense, allowing Matthews to move back outside on a full-time basis.
To that end, Packers GM Ted Thompson is reportedly very high on an inside linebacker prospect in the 2015 NFL Draft out of Miami - Denzel Perryman.
"Could the Packers get their desperately needed plugger linebacker in the second round? To be sure. They might even be able to get the 5-11, 236-pound Perryman there. But the Pack loves Perryman, and Ted Thompson's never been afraid to take a shot on a player others don't value as highly," writes Peter King of Sports Illustrated, who slots Perryman to the Pack at the 30th spot in the first-round of his first mock draft offering.
Perryman is a head-busting, downhill linebacker who plays with a vicious, physical edge. He lacks elite sideline-to-sideline speed, but brings a lunch-pail mentality to his work on the field and in practice.
"He's physical and plays angry at the point of attack. He's the type of guy you like having on your team because he brings toughness to practice. 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," an AFC East regional scout told Lance Zierlein of NFL.com.
When a player is dubbed burly, stout and old-school, you know he'd be a perfect fit for the Packers who, despite their high-flying offense, still seem to do their best to maintain that deep connection to the days of football past when bodies were sacrificed on the pigskin altar and strength and grit trumped speed and skill.
