The Green Bay Packers didn’t want to wait until Saturday to land their next prospect. The team traded back into the third round to select Oren Burks, a linebacker from Vanderbilt.
Under Ted Thompson, the Packers didn’t invest premium draft capital in off-ball linebackers. Burks’ selection represents a shift under new general manager Brian Gutekunst, who sent the top pick in the fourth round and a fifth-round pick (No. 147 overall) to the Carolina Panthers for the 88th pick.
Burks graded as one of the most athletic players at his position (95th percentile by SPARQ, behind only Matthew Thomas and Leighton Vander Esch in the draft class).