The Green Bay Packers are equally excited about the long-term upside of first-round pick Lukas Van Ness and unconcerned about the perceived lack of experience from a player who actually didn’t start a game at Iowa.
Why? The answers can be found in his background as a football player, development as an athlete and actual playing time in college.
Van Ness, 21, transitioned from hockey to football and didn’t play varsity football until his junior season of high school. He redshirted as a freshman at Iowa and only played two seasons before declaring for the NFL draft, so there are legitimate development opportunities in front of him as a professional player.