With Season Complete, Packers Learn Draft Slot

The Green Bay Packers will be picking four spots earlier than they had hoped.

With their season ending on Saturday night with a 13-10 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, the Packers are penciled in at the No. 28 spot of the first round when this year’s draft begins on April 28 in suburban Las Vegas.

Green Bay has picked 28th twice in the Super Bowl era. It landed Nick Perry in 2012 and Ezra Johnson in 1977.

There have been more misses than hits at No. 28. A lot more. Here is the last decade of 28th picks.

2021: Patrick Turner, DE, Saints: Played in five games before going on injured reserve. Even when he was healthy, he was only a part-time player. He had one sack.

2020: Patrick Queen, LB, Ravens: Has started all 33 games in his two seasons with 204 tackles, five sacks, three forced fumbles and three passes defensed. He’s been OK but not as good as the numbers might suggest.

2019: Jerry Tillery, DT, Chargers: Has started 26 games the past two seasons and had a career-high 4.5 sacks this year. Overall, he’s been a disappointment, especially as a run defender.

2018: Terrell Edmunds, S, Steelers: Has started 60 of a possible 65 games, including all 17 this season. In four seasons, he has five interceptions and zero forced fumbles. The Steelers didn’t pick up his fifth-year option.

2017: Taco Charlton, DE, Cowboys: Didn’t even make it to Year 3 in Dallas. A big-time pass rusher at Michigan, he has 11.5 sacks in five seasons. He had a half-sack in 11 games this season for Pittsburgh.

2016: Joshua Garnett, G, 49ers: Started 11 games as a rookie but none thereafter due to a knee injury in 2017 and toe and thumb injuries in 2017. He retired at midseason in 2020 while with Washington.

2015: Laken Tomlinson, G, Lions: Finally, a quality player taken at No. 28. He’s been a starter for all seven seasons. At the end of camp in 2017, the Lions traded him to the 49ers for merely a fifth-round pick. He has become a high-quality starter.

2014: Kelvin Benjamin, WR, Carolina: In five seasons, Benjamin caught 209 passes. Nine of his 20 career touchdowns came as a rookie. He last played in 2018, though he spent this past offseason with the Giants as a tight end.

2013: Sylvester Williams, DT, Broncos: His career started with four seasons in Denver and ended with a return to Denver in 2020. He started 63 games, including 55 from 2014 through 2017, but had only 5.5 sacks.

2012: Nick Perry, OLB, Packers: Injuries sabotaged his career. He had only 12.5 sacks during his four seasons before a breakout 11-sack season in 2016. Great timing. He turned that into a five-year, $60 million contract, then collected eight sacks in 20 games the next two seasons and was out of the league.

2011: Mark Ingram, RB, Saints: You have to go back this far to find a Pro Bowler – a three-time Pro Bowler at that. Ingram had 1,000-yard seasons in 2016, 2017 and 2019. He returned to New Orleans for another tour of duty this season. In 11 seasons, he’s tallied 7,878 rushing yards, 9,935 total yards and 74 total touchdowns.

There hasn’t been an All-Pro selected at No. 28 since Buffalo selected defensive tackle Trevor Pryce in 1997. Two years before that, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers drafted linebacker Derrick Brooks, a five-time All-Pro, 11-time Pro Bowler and Hall of Famer.

Other noteworthy No. 28 selections of semi-recent vintage include six-time Pro Bowl left tackle Joe Staley by the 49ers in 2007 and venerable tight end Marcedes Lewis by the Jaguars in 2006. Brooks, Darrell Green (Washington, 1983), Paul Warfield (Buffalo, 1964) and Bobby Dillon (Green Bay 1952) are the four Hall of Famers.