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Joe Thomas battles to keep his inside linebacker spot

Credit: Mark Hoffman

Green Bay — After three rounds came and went during the 2016 NFL draft, the Green Bay Packers finally addressed a tissue-like thinness at inside linebacker. General manager Ted Thompson, flush with compensatory picks, tabbed Blake Martinez of Stanford as the player who, he hoped, would assuage uncertainty after Clay Matthews' positional relocation.

Within minutes of the pick, director of football operations Eliot Wolf arrived at the podium at Lambeau Field. And of Martinez he spoke effusively.

"I like everything about him," Wolf said. "Athletic. Productive. Played big-time football. He can cover, he can blitz.