New Positions for 2022 Draft Picks

Tariq Carpenter talked about it before the draft, and now it’s official. Drafted by the Green Bay Packers as a safety last year, Carpenter is listed with the linebackers on the official roster.

Whether it’s been individual drills or 11-on-11 periods, Carpenter has been practicing with the inside linebackers through the start of organized team activities. Most of that work has come with the third unit, though he got a bit of run with the No. 1 unit in a special package on Wednesday.

Before the start of OTAs, defensive backs coach Ryan Downard, who works mainly with the safeties, was asked about Carpenter’s best position.

“I don’t know. You tell me,” Downard said. “I stood up here last year and said he’s a hybrid. He’s kind of a freak athletically. I think he gives us some options to do some more exotic things with him just because he can rush the passer. We’re going to see if he can do that, we’re going to see if he can cover. I’m sidestepping your question right now because I don’t have an answer. He’s got the ability to play both really.”

At Georgia Tech, Carpenter was a four-year starting safety. Before the draft, he measured 6-foot-2 and 225 pounds and ran his 40 in 4.52 seconds. That’s a rare combination of size and athleticism. When the Packers drafted him in the seventh round, general manager Brian Gutekunst said Carpenter’s position would be determined.

“He’s a little bit of a tweener because he’s got the size of a linebacker but he plays safety and he has that kind of speed,” Gutekunst said. “He’s really, really physical. I think we’ll kind of figure out exactly where he fits, whether he goes to that safety room or the linebacker room at different times and what packages he plays in on defense and certainly on special teams. That was one of the big reasons we took him.”

Carpenter spent almost all his rookie season playing safety. There was one late-season practice in which he worked with the outside linebackers during the media viewing window. Then, it was back to safety the next day.

During the Packers Virtual Draft Party, Carpenter told team play-by-play announcer Wayne Larrivee that he was being moved to linebacker.

“I originally thought I was going to play linebacker, but Green Bay decided to let me play some safety when I first came in,” Carpenter said.

Because he thought he’d be playing linebacker in the NFL, he reported to the team weighing about 230 pounds. By season’s end, he was down to 215, which is closer to his preferred playing weight of 220.

Less weight meant more impact on special teams. He finished sixth on the team with eight tackles. All those tackles came during his final six games of the season.

“Coach said they’d use me to my strengths,” Carpenter said. “I’m willing to do whatever I need to do. I trust the coaches here. If they see me being a great linebacker, I’m going to go in the meeting room every day and try to be who I am.”

Carpenter isn’t the only 2022 draft pick working at a new spot.

Green Bay’s third-round pick, Sean Rhyan, was a three-year starting left tackle at UCLA. He spent almost all last season at right guard. During the two days of OTAs that have been open to reporters, most of his snaps have come at center.

“At this time of the year, we kind of experiment with a lot of these guys,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “Absolutely, he’s a viable candidate to potentially be inside. We need more than one guy to snap and we always want to try to train three or four guys to be able to get that done.”

Rhyan is coming off a dismal rookie season in which he played one snap on special teams through 11 games before he was suspended for the rest of the season.

“If you’re not a starter on this team, you better be able to play a lot of positions,” offensive line coach Luke Butkus said.

Finally, undrafted rookie Henry Pearson is listed as a fullback but has spent individual drills working with Joe Dunn’s tight ends rather than Ben Sirmans’ running backs.

During his final season at Appalachian State, Pearson was a second-team all-Sun Belt tight end after catching 25 passes for 329 yards and five touchdowns.

At 6-foot-2 3/8 and 249 pounds, Pearson has the same physical skill-set as tight end Josiah Deguara, whose offensive snaps in 2022 were split between slot receiver (82), fullback (78), tight end (77) and receiver (21).